Four things social media teams need from their leaders in 2021
Most large companies are well into the 2021 planning process, complete with the uber-fun activity of setting the budget for next year. Departmental leaders – and the leaders that report to them – are being asked for their priorities, key projects and budget figures. Thousands of pretty PowerPoint decks and ugly Excel spreadsheets are being created right now because nothing says happy holidays like budget planning. Amirite?
If there’s anything 2020 taught us, it’s that the best-laid plans can still wind up in the trash. And out of all the teams in your company, this is probably most true for your social media team.
To be clear – I am not saying you shouldn’t plan. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love planning, organization and huge Excel spreadsheets. Heck, my favorite store in the world is The Container Store! And for large corporations, planning is absolutely necessary. But let’s be real – 2020 took every single corporate social media plan, set it on fire and then peed on it.
Obviously, I hope 2021 is a little more stable. But there is no guarantee that something crazy isn’t going to happen. The fight against COVID could have some sort of setback. Or Martians could land and take over the Earth. Or the Lizard People may rise up and slaughter us all. OK, maybe I’m being a bit hyperbolic, but you get my point.
Global pandemic aside, planning exercises are always difficult for social media teams. It’s just impossible to really know what they’re going to need a year in advance because of the volatile nature of what they do. There are too many variables. For instance:
What if the next Tik Tok bursts onto the scene and I need more budget and more people for a new channel we didn’t know about when we set our budget?
What if the company lands in some sort of giant reputational crisis and we have to mitigate it on social?
What if the corporation goes through a merger that our team doesn’t yet know is coming?
Or, what if Facebook or Twitter makes a fundamental change that we can’t control but that impacts our required budget or resources?
And that’s in a normal year. *insert lady smacking her head with her hand emoji*
Heading into 2021, here’s my plea on behalf of corporate social media teams: If you’re a C-Suite leader or a Communications leader, cut your social team some slack. Here’s what they really need from you to succeed next year:
Your empathy. 2020 has been brutal on social media teams. It has been a nonstop firehose of crisis after crisis after crisis, pivot after pivot, new plan after new plan. And in terms of corporate communications, social media managers are your first responders. They are on the front lines, bombarded all day every day, 365 days a year with questions that must be answered NOW, people who are angry, people who are actually crazy and the ever-present internet trolls. It is exhausting. It is mentally draining. It’s largely unnoticed by many in the organization. And it is stressful. There are many social media managers out there who are not doing OK right now. If you can find a way to acknowledge that effort, it will be appreciated.
Content planning flexibility. Most companies have core content themes or pillars. And chances are high that your social team’s 2021 content planning is focused around those. But don’t ask for super granular content planning for the following year in December. Don’t ask for a 12-month editorial calendar. It’s a waste of time because it is 100 percent going to change. If you’re doing advanced content planning, maybe shift to quarterly planning – with the acknowledgement that even that may need to change if something unexpected pops up. Social media management is about making calls in the moment – not making a plan 12 months ahead of time and sticking to it no matter what.
Budget planning flexibility. As mentioned above, social media teams are beholden to a multitude of external factors that impact how much budget they need and where they need to spend it. Some costs like tools and subscriptions are pretty fixed. But it is impossible for them to tell you where every dollar is going to go at the start of the year. Don’t ask. Let them submit buckets of spending and (equally important) allow them the flexibility to shift dollars around within those buckets as needs arise.
Your trust. Obviously, providing this level of flexibility to your social media team requires you to trust them. Trust them to handle their money appropriately, trust them to make good decisions. Of course, oversight is necessary. Ask for regular updates or regular reporting on their spending. But allow them the flexibility they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability. No one likes to be micromanaged, and no one likes to feel like they are not trusted to do their job.
For sure, you need to plan for next year. But when it comes to social, please be wary of asking your teams to create deliverables just to check a box. They are exhausted. Understand the fluid nature of what they do and allow them to submit general plans with general figures without accounting for every single paper clip. And thank them for their efforts in 2020. They have put their physical and mental health on the line to support the company this year.