Strategic Social Media Never Sleeps
How to ensure your social media program works around the clock.
When you returned to the office this week after a few days off for the holiday break, did you know if any surprises would be waiting for you on your social media profiles?
At Fahlgren Mortine, we recommend that social media should ideally be monitored at all times as part of a responsible online reputation management program. This includes at least a cursory glance at monitoring dashboards, Google alerts or social network profiles on weekends and holidays.
Social media never stops – it is 24/7, 365 days a year. A reputational crisis can strike at any time and spread virally through social media. Many social media users are not only active during non-working hours, but actually more active then. This is why businesses who understand the power of social media are implementing monitoring solutions that can be quickly and easily reviewed during the hours between close of business Friday and start of business Monday (or on holidays, etc.).
That said, when it comes to this issue, the jury is still out as far as what’s reasonable or customary. One social media pro notes it’s unrealistic to expect companies to be listening and responding 24/7, but admits he nonetheless does have that expectation.
A differing POV: this blogger feels social media does not necessarily need to be monitored 24/7. In the poll at the bottom of his post, however, 46.5% of people polled disagree with him and feel it does need to be monitored at all times. Another 34.9% of those responding agreed that it does not need to be monitored 24/7.
Here’s a post from someone who is not sure where he stands on the issue, so he queried his Twitter following and shared his findings about whether companies should be listening and responding to social media 24/7.
In general, most social media experts believe that social media monitoring only needs to be 24/7 if it feeds some 24/7 business process, such as responding to customer service issues. However, a look at infamous social media crises faced by brands such as Motrin and Domino’s, shows us that reputational problems can crop up on weekends and escalate quickly if they are not managed swiftly.
If processes and teams are not in place at an organization to monitor social media – at least cursorily – on weekends and holidays, then care should be taken to resume monitoring as early as possible on the next business day. These steps will allow maximum time for an expeditious response should an issue pop up that requires immediate attention and response.
What do you think? Do you monitor your brand’s social presence during evenings, weekends and holidays? Why or why not? Take our poll on Facebook.