Are Social Media Admins the new Brand Ambassadors?

Social media admins are the intermediaries that connect the brand to its online audience, but here we explore if they have a bigger role than uploading posts.

Sanket Audhi, Creative Director, Dentsu Webchutney outlines the unexplored potential of social media admins and their significance that can shape a brand's online presence, and how brands can form an efficient social media strategy.

Excerpts from the session:

Social Media Admins = Brand Ambassadors?

• Social media admins are brand ambassadors that remain behind the scenes, throw lesser tantrums, and come at 100/th the cost of a celebrity

• They have replaced the customer complaint number at the back of a product, social media is the first response platform, and admins have become an interface to respond to complaints

• Admins are instrumental in knowing what works on a daily basis

• They can identify newer avenues, trends, and activate communities

• Admins have a finger on the pulse of the audience

Also Read: Language, Video & AI: Ajit Varghese on creating value in a social world

Shaping An Efficient Social Media Strategy

• A brand cannot stick to close to the category code on social media

• Tap the culture around your brand

• Take inspiration, but build onto it and recreate in a new manner with forward-thinking creativity

• Brands can end up succeeding when they listen to their social media admins

• Advertisers need to stop chasing trends, it cannot be the entire social media strategy, but it works for newer brands to gain engagement

• Controversy is not the way to drive conversations, good advertising captures imagination

• Instead of latching onto a culture, try to attract the audience that matches your culture

• Brand managers are humans too, they need convincing for conducting, give them an explanation on why it's necessary, find examples to support logic

• While entrusting admins to manage a brand's social handle and giving authority to make few decisions without approvals, set a few guardrails such as avoiding political, sensitives, sexual statements, along with do's and don'ts as per the brand's tonality

• Weigh he pros and cons, if the cons weigh heavier, avoid the conversation and resort not adding to the noise

• Every day on social media is a learning, learn from other brand's mistakes and achievements

Sanket Audhi shared the virtual stage on Day 2 of Social Samosa’s marquee property SM Live season 5.

You can watch the complete event " target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here.