Social media content

An important practical consideration in social media management is that PR professionals don't need to produce all the content. Many organizations are discovering and taking advantage of the culture of collaboration and crowdsourcing. Companies are starting to outsource content creation, which was traditionally an in-house activity, carried out by employees and dedicated teams.

The importance of selection

Instead of producing all the content, marketing, communications and PR can adopt the role of curator. This means evaluate the content of social networks, bringing together user-generated concepts, ideas and knowledge. This integrates many contributions from different sources, creating a coherent flow of communication.

Professionals often ignore the fact that social networks can provide research in real time. They provide information about people's interests, concerns and desires. Although this is not obtained from a probability sample, listening through these media can provide valuable insights to identify issues and trends in a timely manner. This helps us to create a well-informed strategy.

Paying attention bears fruit

By taking a close look at public communication practices - including public consultation and customer relations, as well as the use of social media platforms - one study found something shocking. On average, organizations devote 80% of their communication resources and time to spreading their own messages. In some cases, up to 95% of so-called public communication is one-way organizational communication. On average, only 5% to 15% of public communication resources and time are spent listening through various methods, such as research and media monitoring.

The use of social media should be measured and evaluated in the same way and with the same standards as other PR activities. Typical social media evaluation metrics are the number of page views or content such as videos, the number of subscribers - for example newsletters - and the number of friends, followers, likes, retweetsshares and pins.

Data isn't everything

However, it should be borne in mind that these measure purely quantitative results. Tastes retweets and the actions give some indication of support, but they are mostly quantitative metrics, which don't necessarily tell the full story...

On the other hand, qualitative analysis can present us with a picture that is much closer to reality. It uses content and analysis to the tune of postssuch as comments and feedback. To do this, a company can use a range of content analysis software. Comments provide indications of awareness, understanding and attitudes, as well as intent. Other measurable qualitative factors include the main themes, issues and topics of discussions. These can indicate users' interests and concerns. Best practice is to combine the two methods into a single, comprehensive strategy.