Before a company jumps into social media, it must make sure it has a strategy. This strategy must be more than a way to simply engage in conversation. In order to have a successful social media strategy, a company must implement a social media plan within a larger strategy. A social media strategy cannot stand alone. It must provide and drive value for the bigger picture.
Today, our class developed a “Social Media Best Practices” list. This list incuded…
1. Be transparent.
2. Be honest.
3. Do not bribe, threaten or manipulate in order to alter online content like posts, comments or blogs.
4. Disclose resources and tools, especially in the case of user reviews.
5. Know your audience and appropriate channels of communication.
6. Avoid making negative comments about the organization in your public and private social media presence.
7. Do not control the conversation.
8. Disclose your identity at all times. If you are going to speak under someone else’s name, disclose your own identity.
While all practices are important, the third practice got me thinking about successful social media strategies.
An example was used in class showing Honda’s questionable social media practices. Honda posted new pictures on Facebook about their upcoming new car release. After receiving hundreds of negative reviews and comments, a Honda representative, acting as a regular customer, posted a positive comment about the car. The Honda poster was quickly revealed and the new release took a huge hit because of the controversial, dishonest post.
This manipulation definitely hurt Honda’s reputation, but does this type of action always hurt a company? Call me a conspiracy nut, but I think Apple just successfully pulled off this similar trick last week with their “accidental,” new ipod slip. I think the forgetfulness was on purpose, and it has worked very well for Apple. It has caused a lot of buzz about their new iphone on the social networks. Call it dishonest. Call it manipulative. It has worked, so I call it great marketing.
Sure, the two situations were a little different, but the basic principles are similar. All of the social media best practices we listed are generally good across the board, but in some cases these practices can be manipulated to fit a certain audience.
