Are you guilty of these social media 'just' habits in your organisation?

You're probably wondering what social media 'just' habits are - and how many of them you need to quit. Well, they stem from your use of the word 'just'.

Let's look at why 'just' is probably the most hated word by social media professionals in your organisation.

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Just, a definition

2. ADVERB [ADVERB before verb, ADVabout/going to-inf]

If you say that you are just doing something, you mean that you are doing it now and will finish it very soon. If you say that you are just about to do something, or just going to do it, you mean that you will do it very soon.

• I'm just making the sauce for the cauliflower.

• I'm just going to walk down the lane now and post some letters.

• The Vietnam War was just about to end.

Source: Collins Dictionary

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In the context of making an ask to your social media manager, you've no doubt made a request such as

• Can you just post this on Facebook

• Will you just add it to all our channels

• It just needs to go online today

What you may not realise is that your use of language could be insulting your social media manager. That won't have been your intention (well we hope not), but take a moment to think about the immediacy 'just' places on that request.

Have you thought about what's really involved in creating social media content?

Social media management is a craft and takes skill. It is important to recognise that managing social is not a task, and that your colleagues play a vital role for your organisation.

“The immediacy of social channels can count against social media managers. Most of us work a regular day and like other colleagues, have meetings to attend, projects and reports to complete alongside managing our home/family life. Because posts to social media sites can be processed quickly, it doesn’t mean they always can, or should be. Knee-jerk posts or responses without proper thought and an objective view could even have negative impacts to an organisation’s reputation.”

Alistair Beech, Senior Social Media Coordinator, The University of Manchester

Are these some of your guilty 'just' habits

We're often talking to social media managers about their frustrations, here's a few that you may be guilty of committing

1. As a manager you've updated a team member's job description, telling them "I'm just going to add social media to your list of duties".
   

2. Can you just post my PDF poster on social? Alarm bells sound in the office, this is a pet hate. In the same way humans are different, so are social media channels when it comes to content types.
   

3. We just need a report with the top social media posts in it. Social media managers let out a collective sigh and exclaim "but they're vanity metrics, and mean nothing". Social media offers far more insight and intelligence, do not dismiss this opportunity.

5 ways to break habits?

1. Take time out to learn about social media best practice
   

   1. Chat to your social media manager over a coffee

   2. Subscribe to a blog

   3. Read some top tips, for example Optimal Social Media Image Sizes for 2020: The Complete Guide
      

2. Involve your social media manager/team in the planning stages of your campaign, project, or research. The earlier they are involved, the more time you're giving them to create the best content
   

3. Avoid tagging social media duties onto an already busy job description. It's time to identify the need for a new role in your team (if they don't already exist).
   

4. Up-skill your managers - through no fault of their own, senior managers will not have had the time to learn social media best practice. Make their next development day fun, introduce them to ways they can enhance your brand on social
   

5. Match your business goals to your social media goals - it's time to ditch your vanity metrics reports, and make your social media manager happy. You'll benefit from new data sources in your business decision making.

“Social media has been one of the more recent additions to the marketing communications dictionary but it really isn’t ‘new’ anymore. It’s not ‘just’ an add on to what marketing and communications offers. It’s not that you need to know everything, but if you can invest time in understanding how to strategically include it within your campaigns, you’ll get a much better output”

Rebecca Roberts, Thread and Fable

New year, new you

So then, which habit will you be kicking in 2021? And, if you need some help with your resolutions you can always contact us.