Is It You?

If your company is going to have an internet presence, you have to make some sort of effort to respond on its behalf like a real person.  It’s part of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United.

But seriously, it’s what you have to do to not come across as creepy.

Having no internet presence is completely fine.  A little dated, not hip with the kids, but perfectly acceptable.  And trying out social media and making mistakes is totally okay too.  It’s a lighthearted and casual environment where you can talk about what your company is doing, who you are, or respond to complaints and deal with them.

But all too often there’s someone in charge who doesn’t take the time to put together a cohesive message, and tells an unpaid intern that they need to be on “the Twitter.”  So this terrified intern, not wanting to destroy the company, starts posting extremely vague glossed-over posts with zero value, not responding to comments, and never responding to criticism.  This dangerous non-commitment is like going to a middle school dance and standing terrified against the wall, people start thinking you’re weird and you wonder if you should have stayed home.  If you’re trying to be present but refuse to participate, people will think your company is:

• Phony
• Disorganized
• Incapable of putting together a cohesive message
• Out of touch
• Uninterested
• Selling a scam or product that they won’t stand behind
• Generally creepy

So you’re better off putting in the effort.  Of course if your stomach sank when you read down that list because those descriptions actually do apply to you, you’ll want to fix those root problems first.

Make sure that whoever is representing your business knows your business.  They should know your products, services, upcoming changes, sales, and most importantly: who your customers are.  That person needs to have easy access to the chain of command, so that they can get the information they need to answer questions.  The CEO doesn’t have to be on Twitter, but they should probably make themself available to the representative who is.  With just that basic information a good social media representative can fill in the blanks and come across as human.

If you’re comfortable with that, start pushing the limits but plan ahead.  Your posts tell the world what sort of person your brand is.  Serious or laid back?  Funny?  Snarky and sarcastic or family friendly?  Political?  Patriotic?  Progressive rights and freedoms or “family values”?  Easily offended or aggressively offensive?  Digital shock jock?

Whatever you go with, nail it down in advance and stick with it.  Don’t overthink every post, they’re meant to be transient.  It’s okay to screw up, some horrific posts have turned into huge boosts to the business.  Whatever you wind up with, it’s better than bland.

And of course if it comes down to it

“Sorry about that disaster loyal followers, the person responsible has been fired”

is well under 140 characters