Four (Surprising) Solutions for Corporate Comms Pros Managing Social Media

What social media platforms should I advise my company to be on? What kind of content is currently the most successful? To be relevant, should I focus my energy more on TikTok than on Facebook? What’s the smartest way to build my company’s brand on social media?

The IABC New York Chapter panel discussion about the influence of social media today, moderated by Chapter President Audra Hession and held on October 20th yielded great insights and surprising answers. During the program, our guests, Aaron Hulbert, social media and content expert at Moreland Properties; Nicholas Love, vice president of digital Marketing at G&S Business Communications; and LaShanna Martin, senior brand strategist and marketing consultant, shared wisdom on dos and don’ts for corporate communications teams.

The wide-ranging discussion covered everything from practical steps to ethics. Below are a few of the frequently asked questions the panel discussed:

What social media platforms should I advise my company to be on? 

It‘s common for the corporate executives to tell their corporate communicators that they/the company should be on every platform sharing viral content and get thousands of viewers per post. But what is true for life is also true for social media: you cannot be everywhere and everything for everyone. Social media channels have different formats and behaviors as well. The panel also joked that you better have a big social media budget to test and learn as you go if you are going to try to be everywhere for everyone. 

Instead, help your team and company leaders articulate objectives for social media and tie those back to your business strategy. Are you trying to raise visibility, create loyalty or simply to entertain and engage? Use social listening tools to identify who your stakeholders are and where they are online. These elements form a rock-solid basis for making excellent decisions about what platforms you should use, and ways you will measure success.

What kind of content is currently the most successful?

Over and over again, the panelists re-directed questions about what to do on social media to advise listeners to identify their organizations’ communications objectives first. Social media success can mean very different things—going viral versus developing a cadre of involved regular followers. There are data metrics associated with different outcomes, and when you land on the ones that pertain to your goals, then you should think about content.

That's new. When our moderator mentioned the well-known phrase “Content is king”, our panelists had an update: “Data is king”. Knowing your audience and how they use social media wins the crown. 

To be relevant, should I focus my energy more on TikTok than on Facebook?

First, our panelists advised expanding your definition of social media.  Audio social media, i.e. podcasts, are part of the landscape; Zoom calls meet the criteria of social media, and Glassdoor is a widely consulted platform. Additionally, internal channels such as Slack and Microsoft Teams Chat should be assessed as well.

Looking more widely at what's considered social media has at least two benefits: first, it de-privileges the place of a few giant companies as sole holders of the keys to your company succeeding on social media. Secondly, it emphasizes the tactic of finding appropriate-for-your-company communities and micro-communities to join, wherever they may dwell.

What’s the smartest way to build my company’s brand on social media?

The answer to this question started with expanding the definition of your brand.

Your brand is no longer just what your company conveys. It’s the actions of your employees, executives, distribution partners and agents in person and online. It’s what anonymous consumers post about their experience with your service or product. It’s YouTube videos of your executive leadership team in a bar, at the market, wherever there are cell phones (aka, everywhere) recording what they do. It’s what reviewers say on Glassdoor and employees say on Slack. 

Bottom line: you must be prepared for anything. All panelists agreed on the importance of having social media policies and a crisis media plan in place that outlines exactly what to do when things go awry. This includes training executives on the nature and risks of social media and when and why to weigh in on a conversation. There should also be a chain of command and chain of ownership for various crises.  

Overall, it was a fantastic program, and one that IABC New York is proud to present to kick off our programming season. We look forward to sharing our upcoming events with you soon. Thank you again to our wonderful panelists!