How can you prevent social networks from doing your brand a disservice?
Social networks have become the place to be. For a company, not being on one means running the risk of being forgotten or considered non-existent. Conversely, being only half-involved, or taking so little care of your e-reputation that it escapes you, can be risky. So how do you go about it? Find out all our advice on using and managing social networks.
Social networks have become essential
Be there for visibility
Having a company page on professional social networks (Linkedin and/or Viadeo), and non-professional ones: Facebook, possibly Twitter, Google+, or even Instagram and Pinterest depending on your activity, is basic. What do you risk by not being listed?
- Be less visible than your competitors.
- As a result, you'll have fewer customers and orders.
And this applies whether your business is BtoB (Business to Business) or BtoC (Business to Consumer).
Be there to stay informed
Beyond visibility, social networks are an invaluable tool. For the good reason that "it's where it's happening". And for you, keeping abreast of trends, competitor prices and industry events is an advantage. Without an account, it's hard to keep track of what's new, to be aware of the launch of a new offer from your supplier, or the countdown buzz orchestrated by your No. 1 competitor.
Be there to meet and unite your target
In that case, why not settle for a private account, linked to an individual profile and designed to remain anonymous, rather than a company page? Of course, this will enable you to be seen without being seen. But not giving your brand a status means depriving people of the opportunity to show their commitment to it. Once your company has a page, they can like, rate and comment on it. It's an opportunity for you to meet your target audience, get to know them better and bring them together.
Opportunities tinged with threats?
Yes, you may say, but what if people express themselves in a way that castigates the brand or is derogatory?
When buzz does you a disservice
Fear of bad buzz is commonplace. And it particularly affects SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), which are often insufficiently structured internally to deal with it. But first, let's put things into perspective. While cases of bad press do exist, they represent only a tiny fraction of the gigantic number of existing e-reputations.
Be present AND vigilant
Now, even if this is a rare occurrence, you don't want it to happen to you. So what can you do? Take care of your e-reputation. Don't leave people hanging. Whether it's praise, a reported problem or criticism, you have to show that you're there.
Time-consuming, but also laborious
Agreed in principle, but in practice it's time-consuming. And even if you allocate dedicated resources, such as hiring a community manager, he or she can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the task.
How do you manage your e-reputation?
Dedicated tools...
A number of social network management platforms are available. Their aim is to simplify your day-to-day communications. They enable you to :
- track users' interactions with your brand,
- adapt and relay your posts to different communication channels,
- program alerts or future actions,
- etc.
... but not all are created equal
From one to the next, differences appear. Firstly, for reasons of ergonomics and fluidity, as well as functional aspects. And this difference becomes decisive as soon as you resort to advertising on social networks. After all, advertising on Instagram, for example, is treated as a dark post. In other words, it emanates from an unpublished, ghost page. And since it's not your account that's linked to it, you don't receive the associated notifications. As a result, user comments can be posted all over the web, without you even knowing about them.
THE right tool
To date, the only tool capable of managing user comments is Agora Pulse. As a global management platform, it makes your communication actions more fluid. Its inbox allows you to quickly read new content, both for monitoring and responding to users. Extensions for the various networks reduce the number of operations you need to carry out on your side. Last but not least, a catalog of turnkey contests is at your disposal to inspire you and support your successful campaigns.
Refine your actions for greater impact
Equipped with the right tools, you can better fine-tune your actions. After all, each network has its own way of reacting, its own user profile and its own type of interaction. Treating your Facebook and Instagram posts identically, for example, would be a shame and could even be counter-productive. To optimize your target's engagement on each channel, it's up to you to adapt your message. When you don't have the right tool, it's a gas factory. But with the right social media management application like Agora Pulse, it's easy and seamless.
Social networks are a powerful lever for visibility and conversion. As a meeting place for your customers and prospects, you can't afford to ignore them. To avoid falling into unmanageable or incomplete use, the minimum is to equip yourself with the right management tool and thus progress in ever finer and more efficient use.
Article translated from French