When a business prioritizes social media marketing, they must also be equipped with a plan for moderating their accounts. Social media moderation is the process of keeping an eye on user-generated content on social media sites to make sure it abides by the community standards and platform policies.
Reviewing, removing, or flagging content that goes against rules governing hate speech, spam, the use of personal information, or other sorts of illegal material might be part of this process. Social media moderation is to ensure a respectful and safe online community, safeguard users' privacy, and encourage responsible platform usage. Businesses should also be well aware of the policies on each of the social media platforms they utilize when posting content.
Photo courtesy of Marten Bjork
Ultimately, loyalty is increased through providing assistance to audiences when they most need it. Customers are growing more savvy, too. They are aware of when a brand's values and its methods of product or service promotion diverge.
We want businesses to be successful in all aspects of their social media management (we care so much we even created a social media management tool in our platform!), so we’ve got a few tips for your business to get started.
Photo courtesy of Joshua Hoehne
Tip #1: Create a communications plan of action for social media
Understanding your circumstance requires evaluating your current strategic communications. It might be beneficial to start out a communications plan with an audit. There’s an analysis for this that can help you develop a strategy and get you ready to be proactive rather than reactive in the face of global events.
Your company’s core beliefs should direct your efforts in social media marketing, particularly when connecting with your audience. If you're unclear of when to get involved or not, you might want to speak with your company's legal department to determine when a reaction is necessary. They can aid in directing your interaction and preserving your brand if a response is required. You may want to employ social listening tools to determine sentiment of current events across social media, as well.
Get ahead of any situations that may occur. With a well-designed and strategic guide, you can plan for communication in times of crisis. Your plan should help build support while maintaining brand values.
Creating a list of brand dos and don’ts that can guide your team in moments of uncertainty could be helpful. Creating a flow chart that determines if the situation is relevant to your brand or values may be beneficial, too. If it is, proceed by mapping out response scenarios. If not, consider pressing pause. Organize response templates that can help inform what to say, so you can be prepared to address comments your brand deems worth responding to.
Another beneficial step is electing a member or team to monitor conversations on your social posts. Having strategic steps like this in place for social moderation will help you be ready should any situation strike.
Photo courtesy of Gabrielle Henderson
Tip #2: Figure out what issues are appropriate for your business to speak on
When in doubt about whether to speak up or keep quiet, consider whether it would be appropriate or necessary. Keep in mind that being silent can have implications for public perception, as well.
To be clear, silence refers to a planned halt on posting content that is either not pertinent to the current circumstances or does not offer information that is urgent for your followers.
For brands, navigating societal challenges is to be expected. Before interacting, brands must first comprehend the environment in which they operate as well as the space that engagement takes up.
In addition to refraining from making cultural commentary, you might want to think about delaying the publication of social media posts that aren’t pertinent or important to your audience. Consider whether the world needs to hear from your brand right now before pressing the pause button.
Photo courtesy of Austen Distel
Tip #3: Develop a framework to respond to public criticism
The way forward for preserving your reputation depends on how you respond to criticism in public. The most crucial strategy is to not overlook criticism. Aim to respond to the majority of remarks, whether they are kind, unfavorable, or neutral.
When receiving criticism, you want to help resolve the issue rather than let it get worse. It takes a lot of thought and patience to address criticism.
Consider educating your team on the advantages of knowing how to provide good customer service.
To help you negotiate difficult situations, you should also establish escalation management rules and a social media crisis plan.
Your brand's relationship with its customers will be strengthened if you personally respond to customer postings or comments. However, remarks that cross the line into hate speech (racial, sexist, and disparaging) might not be resolved or call for a specific reaction.
Consider including a list of comments that are excluded from your sites so that spam will be automatically removed. To let users know what kinds of comments won't be accepted, you could also pin your brand's community participation policies.
Photo courtesy of Marvin Meyer
You can handle and mitigate any challenging interactions that may develop through social media moderation.
Consider developing a social media crisis communication strategy now that you are aware of how to control difficult interactions online. For social media, being able to anticipate problems and swiftly adapt is essential. You'll be equipped to deal with delicate circumstances or emergencies if you have these resources at your disposal.
—
Ready to start posting on social media? Synup is offering a free trial today to help your company reach more customers by uniting your social profiles on one platform. Start a conversation with us to find out how we’re making this process stress-free with maximized results.
.svg)
.webp)
