Managing a social media team for a client’s large organization can present complex challenges. At the same time, it can result in a positive outcome for its audiences and surrounding communities. I’ve come to learn that working with our clients to manage company-wide social media campaigns requires dedication, preparation and structure. This can be especially difficult when the organization is not your own. However, when organized effectively, team members are able to work in cohesion, content topics become abundantly available and objectives for each channel are met.
Delegate roles to team members
When working with our clients to lay the foundation for a social media plan, it’s important to delegate roles to team members and identify responsibilities. When spreading social media management tasks, it’s vital to identify the main point of contact for each business unit or location. For our team, this is often the plant manager or HR assistant. They tend to have the most knowledge of upcoming events, projects or community-related news.
Establish accountability
Aside from setting responsibilities, it’s key to hold everyone accountable for their roles. Sometimes team members let real-time media objectives or goals drop off their radar because more “important” projects arise that need their immediate attention. Although this is often unavoidable, it helps to set due dates or schedule meetings with the team members in advance. This requires them to have material or content prepared in a timely fashion.
Communicate with your team
Communicate—all the time. We make a point to reach out to team members on a biweekly to monthly basis. We inquire about event information, inform them of any photo release requirements and explain changes in social media policies. It’s our job as an agency to stay up to date as social media policies, rules and regulations change. These revisions then need communicated with each team member to ensure consistency.
Encourage engagement
To actively sustain social media channels, we encourage team members to engage with the various channels. After a team member provides us with content for a new post and we post the content, we ask if he/she will share the post, comment or share the story with others within their BU or location. This sparks more interest with other employees inside the company. As a result, they contribute ideas for future posts and spread post information to family, friends and other co-workers.
Managing a social media team is different for every organization. However, identifying the main objectives or goals for each channel and delegating responsibilities are the first steps to get started. Know that communication is a must and holding everyone accountable will ensure they meet deadlines. Be sure to promote engagement and encourage team members to spread post information.
Have a thought about this process? Share with us how you manage a social media team, or let us help you manage your organization’s social media team.
