By Christine Carney, Account Supervisor
Last night, #SMPR and PRSA-NY hosted a panel addressing the issues surrounding the way that public relations agencies handle social media for their clients. The panel was hosted by Affect’s very own Leslie Campisi, and featured the following panelists:
- David Teicher, Social Media Manager, McCann Erickson
- Alex Payne, Digital Media Coordinator, MWW Group
- Danielle Mancano, Account Manager, SHIFT Communications
- Allison Martin, Assistant Account Executive, Zeno Group
- Keith Trivit, Account Executive, RLMPR
It’s interesting to note that all of the panelists were members of Gen Y. I can’t help but notice that Gen Y has grown up with social media (and has been its earliest adopters), and they are the generation that has created the role of the “in-house social media expert” at many agencies. All of the panelists were eager to share their experiences and help attendees understand the way that social media operates within their agency.
A few key takeaways:
- Be adaptable by understanding your audience: Regardless of what social media platform you choose, know your audience and respond accordingly and respectfully. In other words, “Don’t bring a ham to a party thrown by a vegetarian.” Remember that you don’t have to comment on everything, but identify key moments when a response from your client is required. It’s also important to remember that not every client is the same, so you may need to adapt your social media plan on a client-by-client basis.
- Measurement: It’s no secret that social media measurement can be challenging. Provide your clients with tangible metrics:
1. On Facebook: Look at the number of engagements (comments) and “likes” on the page, as well as fan growth over time
2. On Twitter: See how many re-tweets occur and take note of the number of appropriate and applicable followers. Don’t forget to evaluate the reach of your messaging.
3. Use Google Analytics for landing pages (it’s free!): Measure your website traffic to evaluate your tactics.
- Pay attention: As panelist Danielle pointed out, people are chatting about your brand and industry whether you participate in social media or not. It’s critical to be aware of what people are saying about your client to know what kind of buzz is being generated. Once you’re ready to engage you’ll be ready to jump right into the conversation.
- Learn from the mistakes (and successes!): As with anything in life, mistakes will be made when launching and maintaining a social media campaign and presence. Learn from them and adapt your campaign to move in the right direction. Also take note of what works for your brand, and build on it. And don’t forget to take a lesson from your competitors, watch and evaluate what they are doing to learn lessons that can be applied to your own campaigns.
We’d love to know how your agency sets social media strategy for clients. How do you measure the success of your campaigns? Leave a comment below or shoot me an email.
To read the tweet-stream from the event follow the hashtag #SMPR on Twitter.
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