Consistency is Crucial in Social Media

Does your blog look like this? Then add a dose of consistency!

Launch, launch, launch!

Facebook, Twitter, a blog and maybe even a YouTube channel.

Create a lot of new content.

And then…

For many companies this is when social media assets start to wilt like flower gardens in August.  They launch various channels during a campaign for a new product or service and then – just when they they have a beachhead – they let the new social channels languish.

The urgency is over and a new discovery is made.  Updating content for social media channels is hard work.

But consistency is crucial in social media.  Social media is a conversation.  A constant and ongoing discussion about your company, its products and services, its market, and trends and news happening in that market.  People have questions.  Other people have comments.  If you stop talking – so will they.

Here’s are six tips for keeping your social media channels consistent – and therefore viable.

1. Create a social media editorial calendar

Use a spreadsheet to integrate social media into your company’s ongoing PR and marketing efforts. Make sure that any news worthy of a press release gets an equivalent treatment on social media: a Facebook status update, a tweet for Twitter, a blog post, etc.  Write and track these updates out in advance through the editorial calendar and assign people to create the content.

2. Surround news events with social media

Using your editorial calendar as a guide, you can use social media channels to build up to a news event, then announce the event, and then do all the post event wrap-up.  One news event can give you 3-5 status updates, 5-10 tweets and even 2-4 blog posts.  You can even do a series of videos dissecting different aspects of the news.  This way you are surrounding a piece of news with details, insights and behind the scene access.

3. Create a social media task force

The task force will set editorial policy and manage the editorial calendar.  They should meet at least once a month.  The best and most effective teams are a mix of communications, marketing and IT experts from your company.  By including these different departments you make sure that you have a fully integrated team and the best ideas and content flowing through the task force and out into your social media channels.

4. Build social media management and content creation into job descriptions

Social media can’t be an after thought or something you can do in your spare time.  Creating social media content is time consuming – and hard work.  Make sure the people responsible for creating the content have the time and motivations to do so.

5. Hire a social media expert or outsource to experts

If you don’t have the resources on your communications or marketing teams for content creation, then see if your company will let you hire someone who can help.  If adding to your internal team is out of the question then hire an agency to help you do the work.

6. Hold regular social media brainstorms

Invite different departments.  Get people thinking all across the company on how they can utilize the company’s social media channels.

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Photo by Arne Hendrik (via Flickr)