Five-Steps to Authentic Social Media Employee Engagement

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

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[1] Association for Project Management, What is stakeholder engagement?, https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/stakeholder-engagement/, accessed July 5, 2020.

[2] Taylor, Anthony. 5 Steps to Stakeholder Engagement in Your Strategic Plan. Strategy Management Consulting. 8/20/2019. https://www.smestrategy.net/blog/stakeholder-engagement-in-your-strategic-plan-pt-1 accessed July 5, 2020.

Relationship Skills change with Social Media

Has social media changed the interaction with people in our communication and relationship skills?

I define communication as a transactional process unique in human beings by the exchange of symbols through verbal and non-verbal languages. For example, when I communicate with someone else, I am transacting symbols of communication with the other person and expect some response. The transaction continues as the person responds and the process continually builds on what was previously transacted.

If we agree on the definition of communication, then is there a change within our scope of the communication transaction as a result of social media? I believe there is and the first step in improving our communication skills is in acknowledging the changes.

A good case study is how our society has changed in the usage of magazine publication which was once a huge print business in the world. A good review of the impact on the magazine publishing world is written by Parul Jain, Zulfia Zaher, and Enakshi Roy in Magazines and Social Media Journal of Magazine & New Media Research. The title of their research and finding is Magazines and Social Media Platforms: Strategies for Enhancing User Engagement and Implications for Publishers. (3Vol. 17, No. 2 Winter 2017).

A few highlights of their work that I found worth noting for our question are:

• “Most stakeholders expect organizations to have some presence on social media platforms, and a lack of it is considered unacceptable and non-normative in this day and age” (page 2). 

• “Given the nature of social media platforms, an audience that engages with magazines can critique the content put forth by the magazine, create new content on that magazine’s social pages, interact with fellow readers, and express both positive and negative emotions online” (page 3).

Jain, Zaher, and Roy make a noteworthy quote for our question from Malthouse, Calder, and Eadie:

• "Less engaged customer would be one who merely provides simple feedback, such as 'liking' an image on a social media platform, while a more engaged customer would be one who “actively engages in co-creation,” such as producing content for the brand"2 (page 4).

As we examine the changes in communication and in our relationships, we must also accept the use of social media platforms is a diverse field. In 2015 Magazine Publication Associate reported of the top five followed/liked magazine brands on media National Geographic and Vogue were listed. Interestingly, the vast diversity in the magazine’s primary theme was also reflected in the diversity of the platform in which the user was engaging the magazine in a social media setting. Which I see as a direct tie-in with Jain, Zaher, and Roy’s earlier statements that: “one of the main motivations for engaging with a magazine on social media was the accessibility of magazines across multiple social media platforms and various devices” (page 11).

In response, Jain, Zaher and Roy concluded: “Our findings suggest that the participants gratify different needs (such as home décor and fashion) utilizing specific platforms that are more likely to cater to those needs” (page 16). Another response is: “Magazine readers expect publishers to maintain an engaging and relevant social media presence” (page 18).

The changes are not limited to magazine publishing. The above is simply one case study which illustrates the larger truth: Social Media has change the scope of our communication skills. We are no longer a society focusing on one medium such as a magazine, newspaper, journal, or media outlet to access information. Social media allows for the reader to share the information across large audiences through their social media platforms. Communication as a transaction is evolving with the digital age, thus our relational communication must evolve. Social media expands relational access as well as allowing a reader to look beyond the vast material to a specific search criteria. It would appear as a result of social media, our communication skills and our relational skills are growing and increasing for the better while making “it is a small world after all.”

There is one thing that has not changed ... You know I love ya, Don

1. Parul Jain, Zulfia Zaher, Enakshi Roy, Magazines and Social Media Platforms: Strategies for Enhancing User Engagement and Implications for Publishers. Magazines and Social Media Journal of Magazine & New Media Research. 3Vol. 17, No. 2 • Winter 2017

2. Edward C. Malthouse, Bobby J. Calder, and Wayne P. Eadie, “Conceptualizing and measuring magazine reader experiences” (presentation, Worldwide Readership Symposium, Cambridge, MA,2003),285–306.

Paid Social Media Empowers the User for Remarkable Results

The social media world is a vast array of users, buyers, and lookers. As I look out my window and the Pennsylvania Mountains, I see an array of trees filled with leaves. Social Media ads and promotions can be as vast as the number of leaves on the trees. Each leaf has it’s own shape and character and it serves it’s unique purpose in absorbing energy from the sun to supply the trees’ need. Paid Social Media is just as vast and just as daunting to navigate.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported that in 2018 over 100 billion dollars was spent in digital advertising, exceeding Television Advertising by 36.5 billion dollars. It is a big space filled with many ads and many more users looking for ads. It can be overwhelming and very intimidating.

I like how Talia DeDomenica addresses the need to bring awareness to your brand and striving to navigate the overwhelming waters of Paid Social Media. Talia offers advice while staying true to the basics. (1) Know your client, (2) Know who you want to hear your message, and (3) Strive for creative ways to spreading your message. As I tell my students, your audience is just as immersed in their demographic and psychographic as you are in yours. As the communicator, we need to move out of ours and reach in to touch theirs. People to don’t remember what you said, they remember how you make them feel. So, we make it our goal to (1) Know our client, (2) Know who we want to hear our message, and (3) Strive to be as creative in spreading our message as possible.

Former president Ronald Reagan told a story of his aunt who took him to purchase a pair of new shoes. The shoemaker asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the shoemaker gave him a few days. Several days later the he saw the young Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," said the shoemaker.  The president said "I learned right then and there, if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will." Now, I do not know how true this story is or if the president just made it up.

Regardless is this is true story or one that is totally fictitious, there is truth in it. Paid social media empowers the buyer to make the correct decision concerning the best fits for their need. Paid Social Media ENABLES the brand to reach the right client while promoting the product, the cause, or the need among the vast world of users.

Keep pressing forward. Remember as mom used to say,  be good, be safe, because you know I love ya.

Being Alive is living Honor and Integrity

“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

                                                                                                 – Dwight D Eisenhower

“Honesty and integrity are by far the most important assets of an entrepreneur.”

                                                                                                 – Zig Ziglar

When I think of honor and integrity as valued personality and character traits of a leader, I do not simply refer to sincerity or honesty. Integrity’s essence is derived from the root definitions: entireness, wholeness, soundness. Honor as it is added to integrity extends through the inner core and wholeness of the character of the individual and the organization. It is found in small matters as well as great; for the allegiance of the soul to truth is tested by small things rather than by those which are more important. These are the building stones to which a person rises out of mediocre living to mighty influence throughout the world.

We think that we hate the lack of honor and integrity when we are only hating the consequences resulting in the absence of honor and integrity. We resent hypocrisy, negligent ethics, treachery and deception, not because they are untrue, but because they harm us and harm the culture around us. We hate the falseness of fake integrity, but we are half pleased with the false praise. It is evidently not the element of untruth here that is displeasing, but the element of harmfulness. Thus, the only genuine response is a deep commitment to honor, integrity and higher standards which are often the harder road and more often underappreciated, but the consequential outcome rises to greatness.

Diligence and hard work in maintaining honor and integrity as it relates to our personal lives, as well as to the organizations we serve, produces great success to which every participant gains a proud legacy. These personality traits find root with the leader. It is essential for leaders of our homes, organizations, and corporations to frame honor and integrity around every endeavor of life. These individuals produce a dynamic culture which anticipates honor and integrity in everyone. I agree with Amy Lyman when she writes: “When a trustworthy leader acts with humility, is respectful of others and uses the power of his position and his personal power to benefit others, then he is honorable. And his integrity to those qualities is admirable.”[1] The perception is paradoxical, but the reality is everyone benefits and the person leading the charge establishes a “wholeness” and “completeness” legacy.

Within a world where compromise is the norm, fake news is in many conversations, social media produces one-line rants, and families are seeking genuine authenticity; the world is also passionately pleading for honor and integrity. We must recoil from the deceptions of sensational and easy paths. It is our task to strive for greatness as leaders who fight vigorously for honor and integrity while rejecting untruth as untruth: who resents the smooth and polished falsehood of society which does no immediate harm, but deceives the excellence of life. We must respond to the plea with credibility, respect, and fairness. It is then we will be known as leaders who possessed the valued personality traits of honor and integrity. 

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[1]. Amy Lyman, PhD. “Leading with Honor and Integrity.” The Trustworthy Leader, 12 Nov. 2012, http://www.trustworthyleader.org/eng/Blog/8_Leading-with-Honor-and-Integrity.html.