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Making social media human

Tessa Reed
By Tessa Reed, Journalist
Johannesburg, 15 Aug 2012

Businesses engaging with customers on social media channels can follow many of the guidelines they use in real life.

So says Melissa Attree, business development manager at communication agency Cerebra, who addressed ITWeb's Social Media Summit, on Tuesday.

Speaking about the need to put human behaviour back into social media, Attree stressed that brands need to remember they are talking to people. For example, she says, if a business receives a complaint via social media or even e-mail, it should respond in a way that is human and authentic, such as “that sucks, we're sorry”, as opposed to “thank you for alerting us to your problem”.

Attree compared engaging on social media platforms to attending a party. She argued that, as people shouldn't attend a party and only talk about themselves, companies shouldn't make their conversations on social media only about their brands or products.

Instead, she suggested businesses should talk about things their customers are interested in.

Businesses should also avoid bragging about how many followers they have on Twitter or how many likes they have on Facebook, said Attree. She explained that consumers do not want to feel like they are just a number.

According to Attree, planning is also important. Before businesses embark on a digital strategy, she said, they should engage with their customers and find out what they are doing on the Internet, instead of assuming everyone wants to talk to them on Facebook.

“Don't just throw yourself into the Internet and push out content,” she warned.

Right person for the job

According to Attree, hiring the right people to manage a company's social media presence is important. She said it is concerning that many organisations appear to be employing kids to manage their social media accounts.

Attree stressed that hiring someone who understands technology but cannot interact with people face-to-face will not benefit a company.

She added that social media is not so much about technology as it is about customer service, public relations and marketing. For this reason, Attree said social media managers need to have a grasp of all of these elements, as well as the ability to think clearly and quickly.

Attree also noted that companies must make sure they hire someone who is strong enough to lobby between the various silos within an organisation, be it human resources, marketing or sales.

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