SOCIAL MARKETING GHOSTWRITERS – Agree or Not?
There is heated debate in the Social Networking circles about those who completely “outsource” social networking response maintenance to another person or company. Recently, comments such as “I just don’t have the time to do it myself” have been made by those doing the outsourcing. Also, comments like “They pay me to do it, so I do it” came from some in the industry who perform this service and believe this is an administrative task and a way to generate revenue. Others strongly believe that this is a core ethics issue and misrepresents the intent of social networking.
There is no law against hiring someone to represent your social networking initiatives, so the playing field is wide open to do whatever you like in this situation. However, remember that your social networking presence is all about YOU, who YOU are and what YOU think. Nobody else in the world can represent your thoughts, opinions, and personality like YOU can, that is, unless they dictate every word to you beforehand.
The result is that everyone looking at your online presence will not know the real you. They may not even like your online personality, as it is represented. To quote Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Black Book of Connections, “All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. All things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends”.
Can you afford to take that risk? Personally, I think NOT.
What do you think?
Susi Schuele
Chuck Schuele
Hi, Great subject. I’m presently going through training to become a Social Media Specialist via VAClassroom (great resource too). IMO, authenticity is critical within Social Media. The voice, tone, etc. should be the “real” you.
However, as an 18-year Executive Assistant, for C-Level Executives (President, CEO, and Global Executive VPs), I’ve written in “their” voice for years, based on our collaborative partnership. I knew them well enough to speak in their voice – that’s a skill and an art. As they managed their teams, timely and effective communication was critical, and this was a role that I filled for them at times. It helped to keep them connected with the team. Many never knew it, some did. The key to being effective is this: true connection with the person that you are responding for and knowing when it is inappropriate for you to do so. If you can strike that balance, and you have a collaborative partnership, then you might be able to pull off an authentic voice, because YOU are their voice.
Not all can do it, and if you have several clients, it might be challenging to have that level of engagement in their business that you are an effective voice for them within Social Media.
Tiffany Odutoye
December 11, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Very interesting topic. I just had this discussion with colleagues the other day. I think, like anything, that some people are skilled in this area, and others are not.
I am a Certified Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant, and I have taken social marketing training.
Note: just because someone is trained doesn’t make them an expert.
I have clients whose social networks I would feel very comfortable updating, and others that I wouldn’t go near.
I don’t think it can be compared to writing a letter for your boss, and I don’t think it should be turned over completely to an assistant. Oversee rather than overlook.
I do think that it’s possible to maintain their brand and keep things up to date for them when they need it. The key to 2.0 is to keep updating, and using a VA to get that done can be a smart move for busy entrepreneurs.
Tracey
Tracey
December 19, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Thanks for the insightful comments. It’s interesting that they share a common theme that if you know the client well enough, you may feel comfortable speaking on their behalf. I tend to agree that IF you know the client well enough, and have had more than just a passing client/VA relationship with them, you may be in a better position to speak on their behalf. This could get much more difficult as your client base increases. There also may be some maintenance tasks involved with a particular engagement that won’t require the same level of “personality” as others and these could also make good candidates for VA’s to participate in.
When we speak to prospective clients, we try to educate them on the amount of time and energy it requires to be successful with Social Media Marketing. It’s a very big leap for some looking for a silver bullet and they may not be up for the commitment/responsibility. So here’s a follow up question… if you find yourself with a client that you feel will not commit the time to make this engagement successful, do you go ahead with it anyway, knowing that it may fail and result in an unhappy client pointing a finger at you for over-selling the concept in the beginning? Or do you simply say to the client before starting “if you don’t commit the time to make this successful, it will fail”…mmm sticky wicket.
What would you do?
myvirtualblog
December 19, 2008 at 6:45 pm
It is funny that everyone “just had this conversation”. It proves that it’s a hot topic.
I am negotiating with a potential client as we speak about how much of the social networking I will do for her and how much she will need to do for herself. I agree that when you’ve been working with someone for quite a while that you can learn their voice, but when it’s a new client there’s no way you can speak with passion and authority about their expertise. Although, if all your clients are in the same niche, then you will be the expert on that subject. Right now I don’t have 2 clients in the same niche at all. Plus, I think working virtually makes it even more difficult to learn a client’s voice.
As for the second question, I am afraid this prospective client of mine will not put in the time and effort so I told her what I believed her commitment would have to be and told her that if she wasn’t willing to put her time into this, then maybe social marketing isn’t right for her. I also told her that I believed that once she got into it, she would probably enjoy it. I mean, who doesn’t love speaking about your passion to people who have the same passion?
Now, if she comes back and says she still doesn’t want to be a part of it, that she still wants me to do it all, then yes, I will do it as a representative of her company.
Crystal Pina
December 31, 2008 at 3:13 pm