So you think you can manage a social media account for a company professionally just because you loooove Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Loving all these social media portals and knowing how to post on them is one thing. Knowing how to professionally handle a social media presence for a commercial entity is another thing.
If you think that being a social media manager is a piece of cake and is a job you can easily do with your eyes closed (okay, maybe not eyes closed, but I think you get my point, hahaha), you should know that it is an entirely different monster. Managing a social media account for a commercial entity is a combination of marketing, psychology, content writing, and scheduling. In short, it is a mutant that you will need to learn how to handle before you can even consider succeeding in handling it.
Differences Between Personal Social Media and Social Media Management
While the portals and controls for posting are basically the same for these two, those are basically where the similarities end. When you are handling a social media presence for a company, you are taking on their persona, and not yours. This means you need to be extra careful about what you say, post, and do with these accounts.
For your personal account, you can post snippets, statements, images, and just about anything you want simply because you have the freedom to do so. Although I strongly advise against posting indiscriminately using your personal accounts due to the possibility of it biting you in the a** down the line, what you do with your personal social media accounts is actually your business. What you do with corporate or company accounts is THEIR business.
When you post in the name of your company, you are speaking for them, in their voice. People will not see it as you posting but rather as them posting. So if you spew profanity on their Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook accounts, it is not you swearing your head off but the company that you are representing.
Repercussions That Come with Indiscriminate Posting on Social Media
There are many things to be said about posting carelessly on social media, both with personal as well as corporate accounts. For personal accounts, aside from being the “talk of the town” among friends, colleagues and even strangers, you paint yourself in a light that is not flattering. This can bite you in the a** later on (as I already mentioned earlier) when you are looking to apply for work (yes, some companies check your social media profile for the possibility of negative sides to your persona), and when you become famous (anything that the media can use to get a story, they will use).
When it comes to posting indiscriminately for a company, you will find that there is a bigger price to pay. This is not just in terms of you getting the boot for posting BS on an account that is not yours but also for putting your company in hot water. Yes, you got that right! Posting the wrong stuff on a company’s social media accounts can backfire bigtime, and can even lead to lawsuits, which can lead to your company needing to shell out money in settlements as a form of apology.
This is why we keep on reiterating that even though it is easy enough for you (or anyone, for that matter) to post on Facebook, Tweet on Twitter, post pictures on Instagram, and share pins on Pinterest, when it comes to social media management as a job, it is no walk in the park. If you are still up to the challenge of becoming a social media manager however, there is one thing you can do before pursuing that career path.
What do you do? You train. Just a like a boxer needs to train before engaging in a professional match, you need to train before you take on a professional social media profile. Where do you train? Why at PTB Digital Training Hub, of course (hahaha, talk about shameless plugging of products and services huh, but then again, if it helps my readers, why not ).
When do we hold training sessions for Social Media Management and what will you learn from it. For starters, what you will learn is how to become the company that you are posting for before you even start typing that next status update or post that next picture. You will also learn how to post responsibly, how to create a social media marketing plan, how to stick to a posting schedule, and many more. As for the training schedule, check out PTB Digital Training Hub’s website for further details on when these will happen, or follow my Facebook page (or theirs) to learn more about when these training sessions will be happening.
