We talk a lot about social media on our site – it’s our bread, butter and jam. From editorial postings to ad campaigns, our team is immersed in the best practices and latest trends. But a successful social media campaign goes beyond what you’re distributing on your channels, it also involves how your audiences engage and respond. Social media monitoring is crucial to maintaining a solid and reputable presence online.
Here are our top 4 tips for social monitoring:
1. Download the Facebook Pages Manager app. You have more important things to do than sit in front of your computer waiting for a comment. This app allows you to monitor and respond to comments on your Facebook page from wherever you are. (Bonus: you can also create and schedule posts, manage page settings, broadcast a Facebook Live video and boost posts from the app!)
2. Use the filters available: Most of the major social media players like Facebook and Instagram have the ability to include words or phrases that will automatically be hidden from the public if posted to your account. Consider those words that will cause issues, and proactively take the steps to block them from showing up. Also consider blocking www, http, .com, etc. to help prevent spammy links from appearing on your page.
Note: These words and phrases will automatically be flagged as spam and hidden from your page when they’re used in comments and posts to your page. However, they will still appear in private messages and reviews.
3. Create a response grid: If there are questions you receive over and over again, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Take your most commonly asked questions and come up with responses that can serve as a guide moving forward. You’ll want to tweak and personalize as needed, but this gives you a better jumping-off point to provide the best answer – which is what audiences expect on social. You can even add saved replies to your Facebook inbox, however, remember to personalize the responses so your page doesn’t sound like a bot.
Note: When we say personalize, we mean personalize – a variety of the same response will help you sound less like an automated robot.
4. Remember that you’re talking to people: If someone is taking to social media to share their opinion or ask a question, they’re putting the time in to do so. Do the same when it comes to your responses. Whether it’s a complaint or a glowing review, respond in a way that lets them know 1) they’re being heard, 2) you appreciate their input and 3) they’re talking to a human. Take a few minutes to put yourself in their shoes and respond in a way that would make you satisfied if the roles were reversed – this includes responding in a timely manner.
Just like Yelp and Google, Facebook does not permit pages to remove reviews. If a review on your page violates Facebook’s terms of service—threatens violence, mentions an employee’s name, or is not appropriate for the page—you can click the three dots in the top right corner of the review to report it to Facebook.
The fast pace of social media, along with the opportunity for anonymity, can make monitoring cumbersome and difficult. Using the tools available and tips from experts who do this every day can help alleviate the stress of what can be a consuming, though crucial, task.