We previously shared the basic rules of social media but, where large global enterprises are concerned, there are plenty of other important things to consider.
Large organisations that operate worldwide are complex – and this is an understatement. They have lots of moving parts – from people and processes through to systems and structure.
It’s something we only know too well at Origin. Our client NTT Ltd is an enormous business with more than 40,000 people – 2,500 of which are security experts – working in 70 countries. We have been managing social media on behalf of the Security division of NTT for a number of years which included launching its first ever blog among other things (check out some of our highlights here).
What’s clear is that bringing social media together for a global player isn’t straightforward and takes organisation, which is why, in this blog post, we are sharing some insider tips on getting it right:
1. Communication
A global company is likely to have a social media or digital marketing function, and in some cases an external agency, in each of its regions. While each region may have different campaigns, there is still a global message that needs to be conveyed. This is where a global social media function acts as the go-to contact. Its role is to communicate plans, processes and messages from a global perspective plus position itself as the broker for all of the regions to share best practice.
This can be achieved in many ways. One is a regular conference call, hosted by the global function, with all of the regional leads (which is often reminiscent of juries voting during the Eurovision Song Contest) to communicate what they are working on from a social media perspective, what has (and hasn’t) worked well and what support, if anything, they need from the rest of the group. Email collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams are brilliant for documenting communications too.
Finally, there are tools that give companies real-time visibility into what is going on – so which social media platforms are being used globally and regionally (and by who) and how they are performing. Some tools also provide digestible reports which can be shared with senior leadership teams.
2. Collaboration
A good working relationship between the global and regional teams is built on collaboration. It isn’t just about communication, as mentioned above, but about teamwork too. What this essentially means is that content should be shared both ways. At NTT, for example, we encourage regions to use global blog posts for their own media outreach and we provide social media assets like written posts, images, infographics and videos to support their regional plans. Meanwhile the regions share approved byline articles, for example, which can be used as the basis for global blog posts.
This is where a central repository is invaluable. Everything is stored in one place, making it easy for the global and regional teams to store and repurpose content – and therefore not have to reinvent the wheel. This way of working is especially important when working on large social media campaigns to support global initiatives and research (NTT’s Risk:Value Report being one example). There is so much content to be shared – many of which is bespoke to each region – such as social media posts, artwork and banners. The global team therefore needs to work closely with other functions or agencies including designers, marketers, translators, research companies and so on.
3. Calendar
Strong communication and collaboration are far more achievable when a clear process is in place, which is why a central, global calendar is imperative. Granted, the regions should be given the freedom to do their own thing, but plans should be consistent – as should the social media content in terms of branding, messaging and tone. For NTT, we create and share a weekly social media calendar which includes a list of what blog posts are in the pipeline along with a number of social media posts for LinkedIn and Twitter which can be tailored for regional channels. Not only does this give the functions and agencies sight of what’s happening at a global level but also provides them with a template and offers up some new content and ideas to be used a local level.
It’s also important to note that any global social media calendar should integrate with an organisation’s wider marketing and PR plans. Global teams therefore need to be kept up to date with key announcements, events (online and offline), whitepapers, press releases, adverts and so on. This joined-up way of working is so important in a large, global organisation.
And finally…
There are other considerations when bringing social media together for a global player. Social media audits, for example, are helpful in establishing how regional profiles are working – and if any are no longer needed. Global organisations, for example, can be guilty of leaving inactive or legacy accounts open. What’s more, the global social media function needs to regularly monitor online activity should any accounts (both organisational and individual) be off-message or off-brand.
Follow all of these rules (or why not contact us to see how we can help) and your large organisation will be on its way to having a strong global social media management function.
