Key takeaways:
- Social media leaders at the world’s largest brands share how they’re addressing uncertainty on Twitter and TikTok with ongoing policy changes.
- Using tools like Proofpoint can help monitor your brand’s reputation and track any fraudulent activity on unstable platforms.
- While some are still looking to invest into TikTok and Twitter, others are looking to legacy platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest to engage with audiences and provide content.
Are you among the many social media leaders evaluating your 2023 strategy and brand presence on unstable platforms like Twitter and TikTok? With Twitter’s recent executive leadership changes and the proposed national ban on TikTok, many brands are evaluating how they’ll move forward on these unpredictable social channels.
How should you approach these platforms? Which channels are worth investing in? How can you engage with audiences while protecting your brand reputation?
During a recent SocialMedia.org panel discussion on addressing uncertainty in 2023, senior social media leaders at the world’s largest companies shared insights on strategizing for uncertainty this year.
Here’s a look at the insights you need to set up a successful strategy this year.
Is Twitter Worth Investing In?
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year has created uncertainty, and many social media leaders are still determining if new policy changes and features are worth investing in.
On top of Musk’s unpredictable executive decisions and the new multicolored checkmark profile verification system, many companies are wondering how they should approach their Twitter strategy.
However, SocialMedia.org Member Erika Heyer-Watts, Social Media Manager at Otis, shared how Twitter is still important for their brand engagement in providing customer support.
“I know there’s a lot of changes happening there, but that will always be a resource for our customers because we want to make sure we’re where our customers are so they can reach us,” Erika said. “It’s not our top priority channel for us in terms of content sharing and paid social, but we will have a presence on Twitter to offer that customer support.”
SocialMedia.org Board Chair Jennifer Manger, Vice President of Social Media Marketing at Wells Fargo, provided insights into how her team is analyzing the future of their Twitter strategy.
She shared how they’re currently in a pause scenario with the platform as they evaluate the policies and procedures that could impact their brand safety.
It’s not our top priority channel for us in terms of content sharing and paid social, but we will have a presence on Twitter to offer that customer support.
Erika Heyer-Watts, Social Media Manager at Otis
“I hope we will be back on the platform in the next couple of months,” Jennifer said. “But at this point, we’re only supporting customers in that space and organic content, so no paid ads.”
SocialMedia.org Board Chair David Lingholm, Social Media Team Lead at Consumers Energy, described how Twitter’s value decreased over time. He noted posts that used to get thousands of impressions now only get a fraction of the engagement.
Ultimately, his team decided to pause their Twitter efforts as they evaluate their future social strategy.
“It’s disappointing because that’s one of the channels we use to interact with reporters and get information out, especially during critical times like power outages,” David said. “It was a tough decision to pause, but we did for both paid and organic for a while. We decided to dip our toe back into organic, only to share that news content and the good-earned media stories we’re picking up.”
What About TikTok’s Uncertain Future in the U.S.?
Although there are security concerns with TikTok, and many states are banning the platform on state-owned devices, there is still an excellent opportunity to engage with audiences. It remains one of the fastest-growing platforms in history, with over 1 billion active users.
SocialMedia.org Member Lisa Hill, Social Media Lead at Whirlpool Corporation, shared how they approached TikTok in 2022 and how her team is evaluating what the future holds for their brand on the short-video platform.
“TikTok is a space where we celebrate the making of what we do with KitchenAid and where we bring to life some of our products that we know consumers are already using in that space,” Lisa said during the panel discussion. “How we are going about it is a slower process, as we’re starting to understand the platform to ensure the safety regulations as well.”
She said her team is making sure they’re following brand safety guidelines along with new state and federal laws enacted. Currently, they’re continuing to work with content creators to showcase their products on TikTok and celebrate their campaigns.
We want to ensure there’s some infrastructure in place before we dive into that platform from an organic perspective. There’s a lot of pieces of the puzzle that would have to come together for us to do more on the platform than what we’re doing today.
Lisa Hill, Social Media Lead at Whirlpool Corporation
Jennifer noted how her team at Wells Fargo has mostly run ad campaigns on TikTok as they’re waiting to see the outcome of government policies to inform their organic strategy.
“We want to ensure there’s some infrastructure in place before we dive into that platform from an organic perspective,” Lisa said. “There’s a lot of pieces of the puzzle that would have to come together for us to do more on the platform than what we’re doing today.”
Erika said her team is also monitoring the proposed bans of TikTok before moving forward with a strategy.
“We were definitely on the fence about that, even before all these security things came out and they started banning it in certain states,” Erika said. “Now that that’s happened, it’s hard to move forward unless the security measures change and we feel like our brand would be safe on that platform.”
David explained his team at Consumers Energy is not focused on TikTok and how they’re creating content on other channels to engage with their audiences.
“We would rather focus our energies elsewhere, frankly, than go to TikTok,” David said. “We’re almost a little antediluvian right now. We’re doubling down on our blogs and making sure we’ve got good content. We’re doubling down on our YouTube channel for 2023 to ensure we’ve got a good foundation before we branch into anything new.”
How to Monitor Brand Safety with Never-Ending Policy Changes
With changing policies on TikTok and Twitter, monitoring your brand safety is more critical than ever. Erika shared how Otis’ social media team keeps track of their online engagement in collaboration with their digital security team.
“We use a tool called Proofpoint that monitors our current channels and brand name,” Erika said. “If they see an account that pops up, whether it’s on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, wherever it is, they alert us.”
If her team notices fraudulent accounts using their brand name, they work with the digital security team to take it down.
“We also use that tool to monitor our executive channels to make sure that their accounts are secure and no one’s trying to impersonate them,” Erika added.
We don’t have control over what people say, but we’re monitoring what they say. If there’s a problem, we can bubble that up to senior leaders and say, ‘We need to address this.’ So, we’re integral in the communication workflow across the company.
Jennifer Manger, Vice President of Social Media Marketing at Wells Fargo
Jennifer said her team at Wells Fargo also uses Proofpoint to monitor their social engagement. They also collaborate with their social listening team to track any negative comments or fraudulent activity associated with their brand name.
“That team is dedicated 24/7 to paying attention to brand voice, the volume of mentions, level of sentiment, and things along those lines,” Jennifer said.
She also noted how their customer service team provides support. In collaboration with these business lines, Jennifer’s social team can address customer concerns and fake accounts. They also alert their senior leadership teams if necessary.
“We don’t have control over what people say, but we’re monitoring what they say,” Jennifer said. “If there’s a problem, we can bubble that up to senior leaders and say, ‘We need to address this.’ So, we’re integral in the communication workflow across the company.”
Which Channels are Social Media Leaders Focusing Their Efforts in 2023?
While the future of platforms like Twitter and TikTok is not clear, other social channels can help you advance your strategy and provide valuable content to your customers.
Lisa said her team will still look to explore their opportunities on TikTok in 2023 as they’ve had recent success in engaging with customers. But the Whirlpool Corporation social media team has other channels they’ll use to expand their objectives.
“We do have some of our legacy channels as well with Instagram and Pinterest that helped allow us to dial up our objectives as it pertains to bringing innovations to our consumers,” Lisa said. “So, we’re focusing there. But I do think creators are a big piece of an area that we want to explore, and we want to bring our creators to life on different channels to expand our presence in these different spaces.”
David shared how his team at Consumers Energy will look to expand on their LinkedIn and Facebook content, as they’ve experienced success on both platforms.
“That’s a great way outside our normal internal communications channels to amplify a message,” David said. “LinkedIn will be big for us, and Facebook because that’s the one we’ve spent the most money on trying to build out our strategy in the first place.”
He added that if they test any new strategies, it will most likely be on their older Pinterest accounts. David also noted how they’d use NextDoor to engage with specific audiences.
“We’ve had some good early success with [NextDoor],” David said. “Not so much on the organic side because that’s hard to access, but more as an alternative to Facebook for ads, especially for our residential customers.”
We’ve had some good early success with [NextDoor]. Not so much on the organic side because that’s hard to access, but more as an alternative to Facebook for ads, especially for our residential customers.
David Lingholm, Social Media Team Lead at Consumers Energy
Learn Which Platforms Social Media Leaders are Investing in 2023
Lisa, Erika, David, and Jennifer shared more insights on the platforms they’re investing in this year during SocialMedia.org’s panel discussion on addressing uncertainty in 2023.
They shared more insights on the content they’re looking to develop on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube and which type of content their teams are seeing the most success with.
If you lead social media at a large organization, you can apply to learn more about how SocialMedia.org members are benchmarking their Twitter and TikTok strategies and managing their brand presences on these unpredictable platforms.
