SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
HERE’S HOW I APPROACH IT: ALLERGIC TO TOO MUCH AUTOMATION.
COMMUNITY TRUMPS CURATION. Obviously, there are many tools that can help manage and scale
your social presence. IFTTT (If This Then That) automates tasks
such as auto-saving Instagram photos to Dropbox. Buffer, dlvr.
it and others can help you manage multiple accounts and
multiple users, as well as see the analytics behind your efforts.
For growing companies, these tools can be handy time savers.
At both of my Twitter accounts, this is the approach that guides my
effort: Connecting with others in a kind of loose community and
finding the interesting and relevant amidst the abundance. (The
“curation.”)
But at the @MarketingProfs account, I tend to emphasize
community over curation even more—because I feel a
responsibility to represent and respond both to complaints and to
kudos on behalf of the larger organization.
BUSINESS CASUAL VERSUS BAR CASUAL.
In both of my accounts, I am who I am: My “bigger story” on both
accounts is that I’m waging a war on content mediocrity, and I truly
want to find the interesting and relevant. It’s in both my bios. But I
do that with more brand-centric perspective @marketingprofs; on
@annhandley, I tend to have a broader view.
And I’m a bit looser at the account with my name on it, too, sharing
my Instagram photos and personal perspectives that I might not
share from MarketingProfs. It’s not that what I do on @annhandley
wouldn’t be appropriate on @marketingprofs—just using that word
makes me feel like an old-school librarian shushing rowdy patrons.
Eww.
It would, of course. It’s just that it seems more—I don’t know …
fitting? —sharing them with a smaller group of contacts.
What about you? You might be the owner of a cupcake truck. But
your bigger story could be that you are passionate about locally
sourced food or community-centered activism. Or perhaps you’re
just an advocate of embracing the simple joys in life. It could be
anything. What matters is that it’s simply true.
(I almost wrote “What matters is that it’s authentic.” But
“authentic” has become one of those social buzzwords that has had
all the color and life drained out of it, leaving an empty husk of
meaning behind. So, I didn’t.)
PERSONALIZED, NOT PERSONAL.
Social platforms do present an opportunity to show more of the
people behind a company. But there’s a fine line between sharing
yourself and sharing a little too much of yourself. Actually, I walk
this line on both of my accounts.
THINK OF PERSONALIZING YOUR BRAND, NOT GETTING
PERSONAL.
The former means showing that you’re a real human being, with
actual blood flowing through actual veins. You have a point of view,
real character, a personality.
The latter is sharing details that are intimate or too specific to you
to have relevance for the larger community you are trying to build.
Exactly where that line is varies according to your own brand and
that of your company. But to give a broad example: It’s one thing to
mention feeling under the weather—that’s personalized. It’s
another to say you have an irritating rash in a sensitive spot.
But I don’t rely on automation tools as social shortcuts. And
more generally, that day on stage, I suggested that people use
them to extend and ease their efforts … not supplant them.
I’d like to say that everyone understands this already. But if I
had a nickel for every time I got a robo-sent automated direct
message to greet me as a new Twitter follower … well, I’d never
fly coach again.
(I get a lot every day, on both accounts. Do you do it? OMG.
Stop.)
In social media (and in life, I suppose), true engagement trumps
technology.
And by the way, I realize that I’m talking mostly about Twitter
here. Probably because Twitter seems less constrained, less
boxed-in than most other social networks, at least to me.
Despite its longevity, Twitter persists as a bit of the Wild West
(thank god)—with fewer implied rules and a broader mix of
people hanging out there, from teens and Walking Dead to
March Madness fans to news outlets.
So that’s how I approach it. I suppose some people do all this
from one account; I just happen to do it from two.
But what about you? I’d love to know how you work it out.
BONUS MATERIAL
TM.MEDIA/TM108
GO HERE TO FOLLOW ANN ON LINKEDIN
Ann Handley is a Wall Street
Journal best-selling author of two
business books. IBM named her
one of the seven people shaping
modern marketing. She is the
Chief Content Officer of
MarketingProfs; a LinkedIn
Influencer; a keynote speaker,
mom, dog person and writer.
Every two weeks, she delivers
marketing advice and inspiration
in Total Annarchy, her acclaimed
newsletter. Sign up at AnnHandley.com/Newsletter
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