Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
3+1 with... Cristian Manafu
1. What is the current state of Social Media in Romania?
The Social Media situation in Romania is very good. The problem lies with companies.
They have tried or started using Social Media.
There are many companies using Social Media.
They have hired people or work with specialized agencies.
Most of them are at the beginning and they are discovering or even worse, ignoring Social Media.
As a conclusion I can say that there are leaders and there are companies which support Social Media.
Facebook has helped raise awareness towards Social Media for companies.
However you need more than a simple presence on Facebook.
I think this is a silghtly misguided approach.
You can't just have a Facebook page because it means skipping steps in what can be called a company's Social Media strategy.
2. Some advice for companies?
There are two approaches I have observed in Romania and which I would recommend.
I am against the idea of starting with a Facebook page before exploring Social Media.
However it still is an alright approach.
You can use the most important Social Media platform in order to receive information about your company.
You can see the answer to your actions, your presence, if people want to talk to you, interact with you.
What do they ask you? What do they want from you? What question do they answer and which do they not answer?
This Facebook page is a test or it can be a test.
However, I would recommend doing it "by the book".
You should first observe where you are being talked about in Social Media.
Who is talking about you? What platforms are they using? What are they saying about you?
Maybe you are loved and you don't know it. Maybe you are not loved and people talk about you in a negative way.
Think about it differently: you create a Facebook page and do not know how you are viewed online.
You do not know what is being said about and you discover a wave of negative reactions.
If you would have done some research you would have known how you are perceived from the start.
You would have known if it is worth it or you could have established a strategy.
I would listen first, I would listen to what is being said about me.
Then I would see where my audience is. You can see where things are being said about you.
I can see where people are talking about me and what they are saying about me.
From there knowing where the audience is I can create my Social Media properties.
Maybe its on Facebook, maybe its on forums and if so I have to be present there.
What do I talk about? Maybe I don't talk about my own products, maybe I talk about customer care.
Maybe people are looking to get hired and they are looking for job information.
An audit would tell me that and I would know that I should communicate recruitment information using Social Media.
I think those could be the things a company should consider doing at the beginning.
3. How do you see the future of Corporate Social Media in Romania?
In the fields where there are active players in Social Media I can see new ones emerging.
If you see the leaders in any field being there, I think that the others will follow.
I can see a more professional approach from companies.
I can see strategies and dedicated people.
Companies will continue to work with consultants and specialised agencies.
They will also slowly start hiring people.
What is surprising is the small number of Social Media Specialists in the corporate environments.
This is different for medium enterprises.
Here you will find dedicated people who are Social Media Managers, Community Managers or who hold similar positions.
Companies will start using Social Media and they will hire a person to be in charge.
That person needs to be active inside the company.
Social Media does not only belong to Marketing or PR, it should also be HR, Sales, Product Development.
You have to have a person in your company who will serve as a binding agent between departments.
This person should gather all the information and basically make clear who is in charge of social media within the company.
This has to be clear form the beginning or there will be problems in the future.
4. Manager involvement in Social Media efforts.
There is something I think is important for Social Media for companies right now.
I have seen this in several companies, especially in companies which are present and are recognised in Social Media.
There are people campaigning for these new platforms and these new channels.
They are usually in the field of Marketing and Communication.
Their role is to sell the company and people from the company so to speak.
By people from the company I mean people with experience, managers, senior managers and even the CEO.
There are several great international examples where the CEO has become more visible through Social Media.
Those companies have gained a lot.
There are Vice Presidents, there are CEOs and there is even a Bank President in Romania who has his own blog.
The CEO will always be the best PR representative of a company.
If consumers or clients are using Social Media it can even be viewed as a human connection.
A connection between a CEO and the final client regardless of who they are.
It is a human connection which is easier to create through Social Media than any other channels.
There is a lot to gain by putting your CEO at the forefront.