The other day I had a thing on Twitter with someone who said community managers are making social media, more specifically Twitter, shit because of their rubbish content. While I understand where he is coming from, it is wrong. And I will attempt to explain why.
You so, community managers (social media people) are very limited in the content they post. Well, to an extent at least. The thing about social media is that it is quite a personal thing. You have people expressing their opinions and what not in a personal capacity. This leads to other people engaging in that and so on. The problem comes in when brands try and "fit in".
While brands want to be people, they are still very much brands. This is no fault of the community manager. We understand people and we understand brands, we are also hired to bridge that gap which is not alway possible. Let me explain even more...
The community manager will write an awesome content plan. A content plan is a document that basically has every post written a month prior to posting. This content plan goes through a whole process before it is approved to be put in the internet. I will explain this more now...
Step 1:
Community manager writes a month's worth of content. The posts are awesome, funny, risque in some circumstances, and very much human. This is from the perspective of a person who spends a substantial amount of time online and observing their communities - you people.
These ideas are rad for the most part. Well, I think so at least.
Step 2:
The content plan is then passed on to the next step of the process. Usually the account manager or client service person who understands where the community manager is coming from but also understands what the brand wants. They have to find a middle ground before the client receives their content plan. These people usually want to have the cool content (human stuff) happen, but unfortunately there is still one more step... They will come back to the community manager with reverts and advice on changes that will please the client. This is where it gets a bit more bleh.
Step 3:
Hold on I just need to check on my roast potatoes.
Real Step 3:
The client.
You see, more often than not the client is a person who doesn't completely understand social media. They just know that it is important and they need it, which, in this day and age, they do.
They are usually more worried about what will sell their product, whether the content is in the "brand tone", and whether the content it is safe or not. This is where the problem lies, because these people don't always understand that social media is quite a personal thing they don't understand that the brand tone needs to be adapted to a more natural, conversational tone.
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| The Community Manager At This Point In The Process |
Are we still on the same page?
If not, holla at me.
Ultimately you want brands to not talk to you in a generic, high level and bland tone. You want them to talk to you like you would with any of your friends or followers. The thing is that brands cover such a broad spectrum of followers that it's quite difficult to be a cool person as a brand and appeal to everyone –
Having said that, some brands have it down. Those brands are usually a lot smaller and a lot more niche so they have a better idea of who is in their their community.
A brand is very much like a musician. It has its own way of saying things, its own outlook on life. And much like musicians, not everyone likes the same music. Some people understand some types of music while others just don't because it's not their thing.
I may have gone astray, but the point is that a lot of the time so much has changed from where the Twitter post you might see compared to where it starts. In the same way that a musician might have a great idea for a song, but by the time the record label and producer sees it they will have changed it to make it work for the listener. The only difference being the client of the community manager will more often than not know less about the industry and the audience than the producer and record label will.
Are we still on the same page?
If not, holla at me.
So when you see a shitty post from a brand on Twitter, take a second to process that the original idea may have been different. Also, the person you are ranting to is not the brand, it is a human. The postman between you and the brand.
I've lost count of the amount of times I've wanted to tell people to fuck off simply because f the horrible tone and abusive language they use. Remember, these platforms are still run by humans and these humans merely represent the brand, they are not the brand. So chill.
Pro Tip:
The next time you see a promoted Tweet, hover your cursor over the ad, click on the little x where it says "dismiss" and you can carry o living your life.
PS.
Stay lekker.
PSS.
Jon Snow dies.
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