Social Media Quick Tip – Assign a Gatekeeper

It’s easy for a social media program to fall victim to its own success. Initially, you might have to fight with upper management to get the program off the ground…. but once you’ve had some success, you might have to fight to keep control.

We’ve all heard the stories of people that win a big lotto jackpot – no one pays any attention to them until they win. Then new “friends” and “family members” come out of the woodwork. The same story can apply to a successful social media program. Starting a program can be tough and you’ll probably have a lot of naysayers at first. Once people see you making some strides and they see some results, they’ll all want in on the action.

Assigning a gatekeeper is an important step in keeping control of your social media program. A gatekeeper needs to be the final say on all social media activity. This person decides what gets posted, when it gets posted and where it gets posted. The gatekeeper also controls all engagement activity on behalf of the company.  There may be more than one gatekeeper but too many can lead to problems.

A good gatekeeper should…

• Have a strong knowledge of the company’s social audience
• Play a part in developing any social media documents and guidelines
• Be a good communicator with strong written skills
• Understand company goals to better align the program with other marketing efforts
• Have the ability to say “no” to anyone in the company

Having a gatekeeper is important on so many levels. It makes it easier to control the message, tone and frequency of social media activity.

Don’t let too many cooks into your social media kitchen. Assign a gatekeeper and keep control of your program.