Page 114 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

playing the role of the SMM voice, but it’s necessary. When making these deci-
sions, think about celebrity endorsements. People recognize that a celebrity may
not be the permanent SMM voice, but people would much rather be talking to
someone with whom they can form a relationship and relate to, even if it’s only for
a finite period, than to an anonymous brand voice. For an SMM voice to be real, it
has to be someone people can find through Google: There’s no question about that.

Engaging and conversational

Some people know how to have a conversation, and some really know how to. Your
SMM voice, whoever she is, needs to be truly conversational. She needs to be a
person who can start a conversation, build trust, and be responsive. The person
needs to have more of a customer service mentality than an on-message market-
ing or PR mindset. This is not about marketing or PR but about more genuine,
deeper conversations. The person or people who carry responsibility for the SMM
voice can come out of PR but need to keep in mind that this isn’t about PR.

Social web savvy

Your SMM voice needs to be someone who knows the social web intimately: the
rules, social norms, acronyms, culture, and best practices of participating in the
social web. This person ideally should have individual credibility that extends
beyond the brand that he works for and must be easily accessible on all the major
social platforms. Keep in mind that your SMM voices will make mistakes, and they
will probably get flamed at times, too. You have to allow for that to happen. It’s all
part of the learning process.

Unique to the person

In contrast to a brand voice, this SMM voice must be unique to him and not unique
to the company. This is incredibly important for the trust to develop. Otherwise,
the whole effort is a waste of time. Furthermore, this voice should be irreplacea-
ble. When the person goes on vacation, the voice cannot continue to participate
and be responsive to customer queries. Someone else has to take over and intro-
duce herself first. Think of it like a news anchor on a major television channel who
takes the night off. The replacement is a different person, and that’s not hidden
from the viewer.

98 PART 2 Practicing SMM on the Social Web