Industry Employment
Rather than analysing the social media marketing industry from an outside perspective, it is important to understand the practical strategies of using social media within a professional environment. Interviews with three individuals working within the industry give an insight into the different roles within organisations, the experience necessary to fulfil such roles and the structure of the workplace itself. Such an analysis highlights the emergence of social media within a broad range of organisations, companies and brands; showcasing the need to re-develop marketing strategies if social media has not already been employed within the organisation.
The first interviewee (working for a well known and reputable Australian and New Zealand fashion and homewares chain) has worked his way up from store level to customer service. With no prior experience he was given the role to maintain the social media due to his skills within a customer service role. The marketing department handed the role over to customer service with some brief guidelines regarding tone; however all knowledge held of the platforms by the professional was from prior and personal experience. In contrast, the second interviewee (working for an Australian wide company responsible for organising and running a number of well known major music festivals) came into the company as a marketing assistant well aware that managing social media would be a part of her role. She had no prior knowledge of using social media in such a capacity and had to learn about many of the platforms by teaching herself through online forums. Unlike Interviewee One, she works within a team environment and has another person to call upon for help who has a greater level of knowledge. The third interviewee (working for a globally renowned denim company established over 100 years ago) works within the marketing department and has recently been handed the digital marketing and communications to manage. Coming from a background where social media was used frequently, this has not been a huge jump and he already has a knowledge base of using social media professionally. The biggest difference here is the need to keep up with the company’s global content, manage newsworthy contributions from other departments and maintain the best image for the brand as possible. With this information it is easy to conclude that those who manage and run social media come from broad backgrounds, many with minimal specific experience but usually with knowledge of customer service, marketing or a digital background. It is worth taking the time to consider specific skills different social media operators may need. Developing a tone is certainly one of them, but this does include maintaining a level of professionalism without alienating the audience. Anyone walking into a marketing or customer service role faces the possibility of being handed social media management duties within their day-to-day tasks. Those who feel they may be potentially faced with such a task, or need to convey to their superiors that this is the impending change, should arm themselves with a vast knowledge on the differences between personal and professional social media.
The response of customers to the online presence of a business is something that needs to be monitored carefully for purposes of content producing and damage control. Interviewee Three finds that users respond in a manner that is no more positive than normal when faced with social media, however he has pointed out that it is a very public forum and all voices can be heard, both positive and negative. He points out that traditional forms of communication rarely allow customers to interact with each other and if monitored carefully, making sure all [negative] comments responded to rapidly, the company has the ability to turn a positive into a negative through careful management of the situation. Similarly Interviewee One agrees: “Complaints via social media are always treated with care and can turn a very negative post into a very positive outcome for the company”. He also asserts that everything needs to be done competently and with efficiency, as dictated by the immediate nature of social media. ‘Nature of the beast’ is a very appropriate phrase when analysing social media: everyone, whether it is for personal or professional use, needs to be careful with social media; it can be likened to an unpredictable wild animal. Crisis management plans need to be developed and ready for any situation on social media. Each situation will be unique; there will be occasions when, despite the best efforts of all staff involved, the negative comment cannot be turned around. This is when the crisis management plan is crucial as any negativity on social media can spread out of proportion rapidly. The feedback given from our interviewees highlights that the worst-case scenario is very rare. Overall, the feedback and response they receive from social media illustrates it has so far been a success for their company; one reason for this is their efficient response to negativity.
In order to build a fan base and encourage existing fans and users, all three companies promote their Facebook (and often other social media accounts as well) on any advertising or marketing campaigns they have, whether it is billboards, posters or within magazines. Interviewee One resonates what all three professionals stated: that Facebook is their most successful social media tool. Each professional uses it in a manner that is designed to begin a dialogue or interaction with the audience. It’s about asking questions and running competitions to keep the users involved, colourful and interesting content to keep them interested, and responding to what they ask or comment as rapidly as possible. Interviewee Three emphasises one of the key messages of social media when discussing user interaction “we want users to share their thoughts with us, just as much as we share with them”; reiterating the point that social media is a two way conversation and the only way to make it successful for a company is to take on a consistent voice and respond to both the positive and the negative. Each professional highlights that they work with multiple platforms other than Facebook. Interviewee Two utilises the broadest range of platforms including Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest in addition to Facebook. She uses the same principles for all of them; using colour to keep the content as vibrant as possible and also remembering that the fans are a community, which returns to the point that creating a dialogue is key. Interestingly, Interviewee One highlights that their Twitter account is used on occasion by customers to contact the company and while it doesn’t have the same level of popularity that Facebook does it is the most effective for getting a point across. Interviewee Two also finds their Twitter account to be highly useful, citing it as her favourite platform due to its capacity to link directly to musicians performing at the festivals. The company Interviewee Three is employed by is yet to engage with Twitter, working with Youtube and Facebook. Although, as the company is global there are social media teams in other countries that have chosen to utilise Twitter.
The three professionals interviewed have very different job titles and broad duties, however, they share the common tool of social media within their daily tasks and work duties. An analysis of each allows for a broader view and understanding of the place social media is beginning to have in any job from marketing to customer service. These personal accounts illustrate that anyone from a university graduate through to someone who has already established their marketing career needs to be ready to embrace and understand social media and its capacity as a marketing tool; a very different capacity from personal use and a very powerful tool in today’s digital climate.