Tips to make your SA social media practice shine bright

Last week, I read about 'ways to make your customer look awesome on social media' in an article by LeadTail.

While the tips all made sense, I got to wondering whether they are all as effective in the local market as in the West, where the role of social media is better understood than it is here and often manned 24/7, which isn't yet the case in SA.

Chris Hadjiyannis, Technical Writer at Adept Internet

When I asked on Twitter whether any social media managers were still working last week, I got one response - from Chris Hadjiyannis, Technical Writer at Adept Internet. Therein lies the first major difference between local and global social media best practice - in the West, it's widely accepted that social media doesn't sleep, even during the festive season. Here, we often wait days for a response on social media.

But I digress. The point of this ramble was to determine how the SA social media scene differs from the US, where the bulk of social media best practice articles are aimed.

Service and quality are tops in SA shops - translate this online

Hadjiyannis found it was immensely interesting drawing parallels between US-based SM approaches and what we often experience in SA. He explains that we live in a service-orientated country, and says service is rated just as important as quality in many industries. So, bringing one's customers around to a way of thinking of "We'll help you and you'll help us in return," is not outside the realm of possibility.

That said, he thinks it's been a little slow on the uptake due to the fact that many entities just aren't as active on social media here as they are abroad, and the fact that 'customer is king' hasn't really hit home for many local businesses... yet. Social media is slowly changing this though, as our company and professional profiles are open for the world to see, and with them, our customers' perceptions of our businesses. So it stands to reason that we should take all possible care to make certain those perceptions remain favourable.

Fact: Social media work isn't just about sitting on Facebook all day

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Hadjiyannis says the reason social media management warrants a full-time occupation is that the social media landscape is just so vast that it takes a lot of time to explore. Being knowledgeable doesn't automatically make one proficient. It takes a lot of time and hard effort to achieve success, just like any other vocation. If one looks globally at the most successful social media profiles - excluding celebrities - they're the ones where the owner incorporates social media as a permanent lifestyle, or where the accounts themselves are managed by entire dedicated teams. Effort in most often equals results.

But it's about more than just being knowledgeable about the realm of social media. You also need to know the protocols and tools that are available, as "Protocols are akin to table manners in the online setting," says Hadjiyannis. Tools assist in timing, management, digestion and dissemination of the information that flows to and from social media. The more familiar one becomes with these, the more of a presence one is able to become. In that, one can and should treat it as a profession.

Wise words to digest if you're aiming to enhance your company's social media presence... Click here to find out which social channels are right for your brand.