Corporate social media is the most soul-destroying place.
There, I’ve said it.
I was sent a tweet today — the culprit will remain unnamed — with a comment on how unbelievably boring it was.
It included a screenshot from a terribly dull PowerPoint presentation being sent through a Zoom conference, and the author had typed a few delightful words about how this dull legal conference was happening.
It got me thinking about how that message could be better sent and how the big corporates should approach this.
So here are 3 things that larger companies really need to do to make their social media much more interesting.
- Personal video
Assuming your in accountancy, legal, business services etc, you’re going to need to get your team on board. Where the unnamed offender above had sent a screenshot of a boring PowerPoint slide, why not get the expert to say something like this…
“Hi, this is ‘Steve’ from _____.
_____ is a really important topic in the ____ industry. It is going to change the way we work and if you don’t get ahead of it, your business will be left behind. Today at 1:00 I’m going to be giving you an introduction to the tools you’ll need keep your company ahead of this shift. Join me at the link below and I’ll answer any questions you might have. See you then!”
‘Steve’ could have made this video in 20 seconds, but a major corporate isn’t going to let that go without the week-long sign-off process.
If that’s the case, you need to re-evaluate your process for the modern age. Your people are your strength, so let them and encourage them be themselves.
2. Customer service video
So maybe you’ve got a team who looks after your social channels, or provides a customer service function via your social channels. Twitter is great for this especially.
If you want to REALLY relate your brand to your customers why not have your team shoot video replies to your customers? A personal message, on video will bring them face to face with your customers and let them serve much better than an anonymous text response.
3. Look down the lens – always
I watched a video this week of a young director announcing new jobs coming up in his company. He did the usual, looking off screen, answer the nameless interviewer and edit the whole thing together. It was the most boring video I think I’ve ever seen.
The fact that I watched it was simply morbid curiosity. Don’t get me wrong, it was well shot, well lit, and well produced BUT it would have been 100 times more relatable if it had been shot on his phone and he spoke directly to would-be applicants.
You need to be yourself. Even the corporates. In fact, it’s almost more important for the big companies because everyone knows the one man band has a real person behind the screen but the corporates are almost faceless by definition. So use video as your way of putting your many bright and diverse faces out there.
Video is without doubt the most exciting and fast-growing medium out there.
You literally can’t do enough of this. So get on it, and use it today as the single greatest way of connecting with your audience.
