Social media can be tricky for a brand to navigate, especially during a fast-evolving situation where your company is expected (or being asked) to respond. Have you built up your social media to this moment to be transparent, responsive, and consistent? These ideals and their value in building brand trust on social media are the focus of today’s article, a tangent to enVisioning Success podcast episode, Integrity at the Forefront: The Foundation of Trustworthy Sales. While that episode focuses on building trust in sales, here we’re applying many of the same ideas to social media marketing, but don’t worry: we’ll loop back around to sales before the end.

Be Transparent in Communication

Authenticity, trustworthiness, and transparency are all words you’ll see crop up in brand marketing discourse, especially on social media. Clear communication—especially during a crisis—is a key part of not just social media but also all branding (including in sales). Everything from your mission statement to how you respond to negative reviews is critical because it’s all public, and social media is the most public of all because anyone can respond. When you’re writing a post, focus on clear language, be as concise as possible, and provide as much information as you need to make the point.

Post About Issues in a Timely Manner

The best social media is timely and topical. Sometimes, this can be holiday marketing planned months in advance; other times, these are sudden situations where you need to respond practically immediately. This could be anything from a sudden store closure due to the weather to an incendiary review. Focus on:

• Planning Contingencies: It’s important to build out responses and procedures for likely situations ahead of time regarding who makes the decisions and who lets marketing know what to communicate.
• Getting Ahead of Situations: When you know something is going to happen, whether it’s a store closure or other issue, do your best to get ahead of it by posting as soon as possible.
• Facing Problems Head On: Transparency and being candid are your best options when dealing with sudden problems. This, combined with quick responses, helps avoid rampant speculation or anger in your community.

For more useful tips, check out our blog, The Do’s and Don’ts of Marketing During a Crisis.

Have a Single Voice for Social Media

This last one can be a challenge, especially when it comes to timely events, but it’s also key. Having a single point person (ideally your marketer) for posting to social media provides a valuable tool: consistency. Brand consistency is one of the most important aspects of marketing, and that’s doubly true with social media marketing. Having multiple “voices” on social media not only leads to confusion but may break with your policies and the brand image you’ve worked on creating.

About the enVisioning Success Podcast

This article is based on topics discussed in enVisioning Success, our weekly podcast hosted by Vision CEO Laura DiBenedetto and COO Julia Becker Collins. In it, they discuss all things business and marketing, from lead generation to leadership. Find us on PodBean to download from your platform of choice, or subscribe to our mailing list to get new episodes and other news delivered directly to your inbox.

While this blog post has focused mostly on social media marketing, these rules can also be applied to the sales process, as outlined in the related enVisioning Success podcast episode. Julia and Laura talk about it more in their discussion on selling and authenticity in sales, respectively. A lot of these concepts also apply to personal branding, but that’s another story. If you’re interested in working with a marketing agency that can help transform your social media presence and manage crises that come your way, it’s time to contact Vision Advertising. We’ll help you audit your online reputation and build your brand the way it’s meant to be.