Consistency builds Trust

So I come across several blogs and companies who last posted something in 09. I have even used some of the information that they wrote in their blogs to share with you. Here is the hard, cold fact. The audience you are trying to reach wants to see consistency. This would seem to be common sense but all of us has experienced “Life Getting in the Way” of what we know we need to do.

Consistency is something that is lacking in this day and age. I have been guilty of not being consistent in posting or blogging. But more importantly it is vital for a company to build trust to keep in constant contact with their audience. We spoke about setting up a monitoring station this week in “Becoming a Trust Agent by hanging out with your Audience” a monitoring station will let you know when your company is mentioned and where, then you can go there and comment or dialogue with that person.

It is important to keep in constant contact with your audience. This is not easy, it takes time and effort. So there are several options for you:

Appoint someone in your company to monitor and manage Social Media. This can turn into a full-time position, so be prepared to alleviate additional work if the person you appoint already has other responsibilities.
You can hire a company to provide this service for you. Be prepared to allow that company access to your people and executives as they will need to make sure they are getting out the message you decide on. This company is representing you online so they need to have the same access as an employee to your branding information. (we will discuss in another post why you should never lie or misrepresent yourself as someone else when posting or answering a question)
Hire an intern to do this job as they learn your organization.
Hire a Director or VP of Social Media and let them deal with this brave new world.

Making sure you understand the expectations to succeed in Social Media is a vital key to success. Social Media takes time and effort before you see the results but you will see results. Consistency or lack there of is why some companies see results and others don’t.

Last thought: When is the last time you got mad at a friend or family member because they were not consistent in their help, communication or other action that you felt was not consistent. Your audience will feel the same way.

Les Adkins, CEO Orange SMS – Social Media Solutions