Social Media Manager or coordinator is a person willing, ready, and prepared to wear many hats. A key player in the marketing schema, the social media person, is a content creator, video producer, strategist, coordinator, manager, copywriter, and SEO specializer actively examining online content for key performance indicators or KPIs. Yet, the critical component for the flywheel to crank everything mentioned above is stakeholder engagement.
The association for project management defines stakeholder engagement as: "is the practice of interacting with and influencing project stakeholders to the overall benefit of the project and its advocates. The successful completion of a project usually depends on how the stakeholders view it. Thus, the stakeholder's requirements, expectations, perceptions, personal agendas, and concerns will influence the project, shape what success looks like, and impact the outcomes that can be achieved. Successful stakeholder engagement is, therefore, a vital requirement for professional project management."[1]
Employees are a company's most apparent stakeholder. A social media marketeer must consider how the employees react to and advance the message their employers brand, especially on social media. I recall several decades ago when Dollywood put in a new high-speed roller coaster. During my years in East TN, I served as minister to a church located just a few miles from Dollywood, and several Dollywood employees were members of our church. The new coaster was the first steel coast for the park with several twists and loops. The marketing team put out several marketing tools, and one particular commercial along with billboards was Dolly Parton, referring to the new coaster as "It flips your wig."
Dolly Parton is famous for her colorful personality, which is heightened by the way she dresses and how she presents herself with a larger-than-life persona. It is not hard to imagine that looks are significant to Dolly, and she has multiple wigs. The employees know Dolly and are well aware she is afraid of all coaster rides and would never be in public without a wig and make-up. The stakeholder engagement for this marketing plan was in reverse with the employees. I recall being on park and an actual 15-year employee saying to me in response to the billboard, "Like she would ever get her wig flipped." Employee advocacy for the significant company investment flopped in Dolly's home town because the employees did not buy-in or advance the message of discovering the fun in the new steel coaster because of the lack of authenticity in the marketing scheme.
Anthony Taylor offers five steps for stakeholder engagement, which I think can easily translate into employee advocacy in the Social Media coordinator's online strategic plan. The first step is to identify the diverse employee advocates within the organization. In other words, who is going to be directly and indirectly impacted? The second step is to discover who are the social media influencers within the employee advocates. In other words, which of the employees are on social media and actively (or willing to become active) in advancing the brand in which they work. The third step is to create a plan which solicits employee feedback. In other words, create ownership for employees to embrace and be willing to promote to others online and offline. The fourth step is to incorporate the feedback and use it. Mr. Taylor's fifth and final step is to evaluate and adjust. A good evaluation will reveal employee engagement as a KPI.[2]
A social media specialist wears many hats, but employee advocacy will establish credibility within the hard work. The social media algorithms, especially Facebook, give more attention to people rather than organizational pages. A smart Social Media marketer will strategically engage employee advocacy. To not, would truly flip your marketing wig and flop all the hard work.
So … my Social Media friends plan to identify advocates, discover the influencers, create a feedback plan, incorporate the feedback, and adjust for greater KPI. Be safe, be diligent, always remember … I love ya. Don
[1] Association for Project Management, What is stakeholder engagement?, https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/stakeholder-engagement/, accessed July 5, 2020.
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