For brands, this isn’t just background noise. It affects how you protect your reputation, how you engage with customers, and how you keep your communities safe and growing. The choices you make now about policies, partnerships, and the systems you rely on will determine whether you stay ahead of the curve or spend the year putting out fires.

Here’s what’s reshaping the landscape and how your brand can prepare.

1. AI-Generated Content Creates New Moderation Challenges

Sophisticated AI-generated content is flooding social platforms and review sites. Deepfakes, synthetic reviews, and AI-written comments are becoming harder to distinguish from authentic user content. Bad actors can now create convincing fake controversies, generate hundreds of seemingly legitimate negative reviews, or impersonate customers at scale.

Automated detection tools can flag obvious AI content, but sophisticated attacks require human judgment to identify. Context matters. Is this a coordinated campaign or organic criticism? Is the language pattern suspicious or just coincidental? Understanding brand history, product issues, and community dynamics becomes essential to separating real concerns from manufactured crises.

The prediction for 2026: AI-generated content will become a standard threat vector that brands must actively defend against. The volume and sophistication of synthetic content will increase, but the solution won’t be more AI detection alone. Success will require experienced moderators who understand both the technology and the subtle patterns that indicate coordinated inauthentic behavior.

2. Regulatory Compliance: The New Reality

Major regulations like the EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK Online Safety Act are transforming content moderation from a “nice to have” into a legal requirement. These aren’t suggestions, they’re mandates with serious financial penalties for non-compliance. Similar regulations are emerging in other jurisdictions, and child safety laws are becoming increasingly strict with severe consequences for violations.

Compliance isn’t just a platform problem anymore. Brands are responsible for content in their owned communities, comments on their posts, and how they moderate customer interactions. Financial services and healthcare companies already understand this reality, but it’s expanding to all consumer-facing brands. The cost of non-compliance includes both financial penalties and reputation damage.

The prediction for 2026: Regulatory compliance will drive moderation budgets as legal and risk management teams get involved in social media decisions. Companies will need documented processes, audit trails, and demonstrable monitoring coverage. The informal approach many brands have taken to social media moderation won’t meet the coming regulatory standards, and the companies that treat moderation as risk management rather than a marketing function will be better positioned. 

3. Reddit: The Opportunity Everyone’s Talking About

Reddit experienced a staggering 1,348% increase in Google visibility throughout 2025. Reddit’s prominence in Google search results has fundamentally changed how consumers research brands and products. What was once a niche community platform now appears in the top results for product reviews, service complaints, and brand discussions. This shift coincided with major search engines prioritizing authentic user conversations over traditional SEO-optimized content.

The platform’s influence extends beyond direct visibility. Reddit threads are currently the #2 source of training data for large language models, meaning conversations happening on the platform shape how AI tools respond to brand-related queries. Unlike managed social channels, Reddit’s culture demands authenticity as users quickly identify and reject obvious corporate messaging, making it a unique challenge for brand reputation management. Brands like Spotify, Xbox, and Nissan succeed by embedding themselves into communities first, contributing value before promoting products. 

The prediction for 2026: Brands will treat Reddit monitoring with the same priority as traditional review sites like Yelp or Trustpilot. The platform’s dual role as both a search result driver and LLM training data source makes it impossible to ignore and companies without dedicated Reddit moderation strategies will face reputation risks they can’t see coming. 

4. Social Search Changes Discovery and Risk

Younger consumers increasingly bypass Google entirely, using TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit as their primary search engines. They’re looking for product recommendations, service reviews, and brand information directly within social platforms. This behavioral shift means brands must optimize content for social discovery, not just traditional search engines.

This change multiplies the touchpoints where reputation can be damaged. A negative comment on TikTok, a critical Reddit thread, or complaint on Instagram can now serve as a prospect’s first introduction to a brand. The “always-on” nature of social search means there’s no downtime. Conversations happen 24/7 across time zones, and responses need to be timely and appropriate.

The prediction for 2026: Social search will drive increased demand for comprehensive, cross-platform monitoring services. Brands that treat social media as purely a marketing channel, rather than a search and reputation environment, will struggle to control their narrative. The companies that understand this shift will invest in continuous monitoring across all platforms where their audience searches.

5. Human-AI Collaboration Models Mature

The question isn’t whether to use AI in content moderation, but how to combine it effectively with human judgment. AI excels at processing volume, from scanning thousands of posts, flagging potential issues, to identifying patterns. Humans excel at context and are great at understanding brand voice, assessing nuanced situations, and making judgment calls during crises.

Forward-thinking companies are deploying hybrid models where AI handles the scale and humans handle the decisions. This approach acknowledges that AI can’t replace the institutional knowledge of experienced moderators who understand a brand’s history, values, and customer base. The most effective moderation teams use AI as a tool to enhance human capabilities, not as a replacement for them.

The prediction for 2026: The market will split between low-cost, AI-only services that fail to catch sophisticated issues and premium human-AI hybrid services that deliver actual results. Brands with significant reputation risk like financial services, healthcare, and consumer products, will increasingly demand proof that humans are making final decisions, especially during crises when nuanced judgment matters most.

6. Video Content Demands New Approaches

Video content has surged over the past few years, and moderating it has become increasingly complex. Unlike static posts, video blends visuals, sound, and movement, all of which need to be interpreted together and often in real time.

TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and similar formats generate massive volumes of brand mentions, product reviews, and customer complaints in video form. This shift presents unique challenges. Video requires more time to review than text, context can be harder to assess, and the volume continues to accelerate.

Live streaming adds real-time complexity. Live commerce, product launches, and interactive events require immediate moderation decisions without the buffer of recorded content review. The technical and operational requirements for effective video moderation are significantly different from text-based social media management.

The prediction for 2026: Looking ahead, video moderation will keep evolving to handle rising challenges, from spotting deepfakes to navigating cultural nuances and newly emerging harmful trends. Brands will face difficult decisions about video moderation capabilities and priorities. While monitoring posted video content is manageable, real-time livestream moderation requires different infrastructure and staffing models. Companies will need to honestly assess which video platforms and formats are essential to their business and allocate resources accordingly, rather than trying to cover everything inadequately. 

7. The Migration to Private Communities

Users are abandoning public social feeds for more intimate digital spaces like WhatsApp Channels, Discord servers, and Instagram broadcast channels. Smart brands are building exclusive communities that generate higher engagement and stronger loyalty than traditional social media. But intimacy creates new challenges. Moderation failures have outsized impact in smaller spaces where a single toxic member can poison community culture.

Traditional moderation approaches designed for high-volume public feeds don’t translate well to private communities. These spaces require moderators who understand community dynamics and can balance safety with authentic discussion. The operational complexity increases as private communities often lack the built-in moderation tools that major platforms provide. And, these communities often benefit from active moderators who contribute to conversations.

The prediction for 2026: The migration to private communities will accelerate, and brands without proper moderation infrastructure will learn expensive lessons. The winners will treat community moderation as a strategic investment, understanding that in private spaces, moderation quality directly determines member experiences and brand loyalty. 

The Bottom Line

The social media landscape of 2026 presents brands with a paradox: more opportunities for genuine connection, but also more ways for things to go wrong. AI-generated content, regulatory compliance, social search, video moderation, and private communities all demand sophisticated approaches that most internal teams aren’t equipped to handle alone. Volume and complexity are increasing while tolerance for mistakes is decreasing. A moderation failure can trigger regulatory penalties, viral backlash, or permanent community damage.

The brands that will thrive recognize content moderation as a strategic function rather than a cost center. This isn’t something you figure out as you go. The learning curve is steep, the consequences of mistakes are significant, and the landscape changes faster than most teams can keep pace with.

If you’re navigating any of these challenges, from AI-generated content attacks, regulatory compliance, cross-platform monitoring, video moderation, to private community management, reach out to us at Online Moderation. We specialize in helping brands build moderation strategies that actually work, combining experienced human judgment with the right technology to protect your reputation and grow your communities safely. Let’s talk about what effective moderation looks like for your specific situation.

The post 2026 Social Media & Content Moderation Outlook: What’s Changing and What It Means for Your Brand appeared first on Online Moderation.

When businesses first come to us about managing their Reddit presence, we often hear the same request: “We just want to post about our product.” It’s understandable—you’ve built something great, and you want people to know about it. But unfortunately Reddit doesn’t work that way.

Unlike other social platforms where promotional content is expected, Reddit operates on a completely different set of rules. The community values authentic conversation, helpfulness, and transparency above all else. Jump in with a sales pitch, and you won’t just be ignored, you’ll face downvotes, harsh criticism, and in many cases, an outright ban from the subreddits you’re trying to reach.

Over time, we’ve learned that success on this platform isn’t about promotion, it’s about participation. It’s about earning trust before you ever mention what you’re selling. When you approach Reddit the right way however, it can become one of your most valuable marketing channels.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential do’s and don’ts of Reddit engagement, so you can build genuine connections with communities instead of burning bridges before you even get started.

Find Your Niche

Before you post anything, you need to find where your potential customers hang out. Reddit’s power lies in its highly specific subreddits. Think beyond broad categories. If you sell sustainable running shoes, you won’t just look at r/running. You’ll explore communities like r/BarefootRunning, r/trailrunning, and r/sustainability.

Use Reddit’s search function to find subreddits related to your industry, product, or customer interests. Once you find a few promising communities, take the time to observe.

• Read the rules: Every subreddit has a sidebar with specific posting guidelines. Some explicitly forbid self-promotion, while others have designated threads for it. Ignoring these rules is the fastest way to get banned.
• Understand the culture: What kind of content gets upvoted? What topics spark the most discussion? Is the tone humorous, serious, or highly technical? Lurking before you leap helps you understand the unwritten rules of engagement.

Become a Redditor First, a Marketer Second

The golden rule of Reddit marketing is simple: provide value before you ask for anything. Redditors appreciate users who contribute to the community, not those who just drop a link and leave. This is where the 9-to-1 rule comes in. Aim for at least 90% of your activity to be genuine, non-promotional engagement. The remaining 10% can be reserved for thoughtful self-promotion.

What does genuine engagement look like?

• Answer questions: Share the knowledge you’ve gained building your business. Answer questions thoroughly in your area of expertise. Create content that would be valuable even if it never mentioned your company. For example, if you’re a coffee expert, weigh in on debates about the best brewing methods in r/coffee.
• Share interesting content: Post articles, videos, or images that are relevant to the community, even (or especially) if they aren’t from your own brand.
• Participate in discussions: Upvote good content, leave thoughtful comments, and become a familiar, helpful presence. When you post something, stick around to answer questions and engage with comments. This shows you’re there to contribute to the conversation, not just drop a link and disappear.
• Do be transparent about your affiliation: Redditors respect honesty. If you’re sharing something related to your business, say so upfront. A simple disclosure like “I work for X company” or “Full disclosure: this is my startup” goes a long way toward building trust.

Building this foundation is not an overnight process. Being successful on Reddit is a long-term strategy. Think of it like making friends in a new city. You wouldn’t walk up to a group of strangers and immediately start selling them something. You’d get to know them, share common interests, and build trust over time. Only then would a recommendation for your product feel natural and welcome.

The Art of Subtle Self-Promotion

Once you’ve established yourself as a credible community member, you can start weaving in promotion. The key is to be subtle and ensure it always adds value.

Run an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA)

Hosting an AMA in a relevant subreddit can generate significant brand awareness. This works especially well if you have a unique story or specialized expertise. The founder of a lab-grown diamond company could host an AMA in r/jewelry, answering questions about the science, ethics, and cost of their products. This positions the brand as a transparent industry leader.

Share Case Studies and Success Stories

Instead of directly promoting a product, share a story about how it helped a customer. A software company could post in r/smallbusiness with a title like, “How we helped a local bakery increase online orders by 200% with a simple inventory tool.” The post would focus on the bakery’s journey and offer actionable advice, with a mention of the tool as part of the solution.

Navigating the Minefield of Feedback

Reddit is a place for honest, unfiltered opinions. This means you will eventually encounter negative feedback or reviews about your business. It’s a daunting scenario: a critical post about your brand is gaining traction, and you feel the urge to delete it or argue.

Here’s what you need to know: you cannot simply have a negative review removed. Attempting to do so  can backfire spectacularly. Instead, you must manage it carefully and transparently.

• Acknowledge and Empathize: Respond publicly to the comment. Start by acknowledging the user’s frustration and thanking them for their feedback. A simple, “I’m really sorry you had this experience, and thank you for bringing it to our attention,” can de-escalate the situation.
• Take it Private: Offer to resolve the issue through a private message (DM). This shows you’re taking the complaint seriously while moving the specific details of the resolution out of the public eye.
• Learn from It: Negative feedback is a gift. It highlights blind spots in your product or service. Use it to make genuine improvements, and if appropriate, follow up on the original thread to share how you’ve addressed the problem. Turning a negative experience into a positive change can win you more fans than a flawless review ever could.
• Move On: Resist the urge to go back to the thread and try to address it. Many times, your best bet is to let a thread die out and move into the archives.

Making Reddit Work for Your Business

Reddit rewards authenticity, patience, and genuine contribution. You can’t hack your way to success here, and that’s actually what makes it valuable. The businesses that succeed on Reddit are those that take the time to become real members of the community.

Start small. Pick one or two relevant subreddits and commit to participating regularly for a month before you ever mention your business. Answer questions. Share insights. Be helpful. When you’ve established yourself as a valuable contributor, you’ll find the community surprisingly receptive to hearing about what you’re building.

The key is remembering that Reddit isn’t a broadcast channel. It’s a place for conversation, connection, and community. Approach it with that mindset, and you’ll discover one of the most engaged and passionate audiences on the internet.

When Professional Help Makes Sense

Managing Reddit marketing effectively requires significant time investment, deep platform knowledge, and the ability to engage authentically across multiple communities. Many businesses find that the expertise required to navigate Reddit’s complex culture while maintaining genuine engagement exceeds their available resources.

If your company lacks the time, expertise, or personnel to develop a comprehensive Reddit marketing strategy, consider reaching out to us at Online Moderation. Our team understands the nuances of Reddit’s community-driven culture and can help you build genuine relationships while respecting the platform’s unique dynamics.

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1.   Identify Your Target Audience:

The first and most important step in building your brand on social media is identifying your target audience. Your target audience are the people who are most likely to be interested in your products and services and become loyal customers. Through market research, you can identify key characteristics that describe these individuals, such as age range, gender identity, income level or occupation type – all of which shape their interests and preferences in order to best meet their needs. Understanding this highly specific group will help you tailor your messaging and content to appeal to them. Additionally, it will help you identify which social media platforms to focus on.

2.  Create Consistent Content

Creating consistent content is key to building your brand on social media. Your content should be aligned with your brand’s message and mission. It should be relevant, informative, and engaging. Consistency in content creation helps build brand loyalty as it gives your followers a reason to come back to you regularly.                                           

PRO TIP: consider your brand’s tone of voice – it’s what makes you unique among thousands of other brands on social media. Your tone should communicate your brand’s values, goals, and personality. Establish a tone that reflects your brand’s voice – be it professional, witty, funny, or friendly. Use language that is simple, clear, and concise – people have a short attention span on social media, so make sure your message is direct and to the point.

3. Engage with Your Followers

Engaging with your followers is crucial to building your brand on social media. This means responding to comments, DMs, and engaging with your followers on your content. Engagement strengthens the relationship between your brand and your target audience; it creates a sense of community and fosters brand loyalty. Engaging with your followers also gives you valuable feedback that you can use to improve your brand’s messaging and content.

PRO TIP: Consider outsourcing this task as it can be very time-consuming.  Social customer service professionals are highly skilled at engaging with customers and potential customers. They can manage reviews, respond to questions and concerns and even generate leads for you – all while adhering to your social media guidelines. 

4. Set social media goals

This will help you to measure your success and track your progress. Your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Define what you want to achieve on social media and set milestones to help you get there. Goals can range from increasing your followers, driving traffic to your website, or generating leads.

Conclusion

Building your brand on social media requires time, effort, and strategy. Identifying your target audience, creating consistent content, and engaging with your followers are effective ways to build your brand on social media. However, it is also essential to measure your results, track your metrics, and adjust your strategy accordingly. Building your brand on social media is a marathon, not a sprint, and with the right strategy, effort, and consistency, you can make a lasting impact on your target audience.

At Online Moderation, we are here to help you grow your business. Our team of social customer service professionals will protect your brand, build trust, engage customers and provide real time support so you can focus on other tasks. Feel free to reach out, we would love to hear from you! 

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Online Moderation is the leader in professional moderation and social customer service, and what we see for the year ahead comes down to this – it’s time to re-evaluate how well you are handling your overall online presence with your customers and potential customers.

Increased Lead Generation or Increased Loss of Sales?

Relying on a ‘shop now’ button on a Facebook ad is simply not enough anymore. What happens under those ads is where the magic happens. Trends are showing that consumers are relying on the comments and interactions, as a community, to help them make their decisions to make purchases. They might ask others what their experiences were and read positive and negative experiences before and after purchases were made. They also read about what people think of the brand’s sales teams, customer service, repairs, deliveries, and other important personal experiences – and THEN they decide whether to follow through with a purchase or getting a quote.

At Online Moderation, we view these small discussions as micro-communities that can influence any brand’s reputation and sales in powerful ways. It is more important than ever for brands to consider having trained social customer service teams taking a strategic approach to managing their social platform engagement.

Quality! Quality! Quality!

Consumers engaging with brands online are savvy, and they can pick out a bot or canned response in a heartbeat. “We are seeing our clients’ customers letting us know how much they appreciate speaking to a friendly, real person, “ says Kate Leighton of Online Moderation. “One of the great things that makes our team stand apart as the go-to choice of so many brands is the way we engage with our clients’ customers. They know we’re real, we care, we’re efficient, we keep the brand voice, and we are part of
their customer care team making sure the customer experience is always excellent.”

We’ll say it again – it’s all about quality. Brands with an online presence are recognizing the importance of high-quality social customer service. Automation may be great for scheduling ads and promotions, but when it comes to creating loyal customers and engagements that create paths to lead generation, the quality of your social customer support is simply more important than ever. This will set your brand apart from your competitors who are, by ignoring interactions on their social platforms, shutting the door in their customers’ faces.

Prevent Damaging Customer Support due to Staffing Shortages

Customer service is about people. We all know that. It’s about engaging with customers and potential customers in a way that creates the best possible authentic experience. As a result, this may lead to leads, increased sales and customer loyalty and referrals.

Today large companies are facing staff shortages either by choice or circumstances, but there are still customers to take care of and a reputation to uphold.   The belief that consumers will rely on self-service when it comes to online customer support may be a mistake. We know people want to speak to people. It’s what customer service is all about. An FAQ on a website may be helpful, but who do customers turn to when they have questions that need answering, or when they are angry? They turn to social media and post comments on the brands’ websites, Facebook pages, Twitter, and other social platforms, as well as review sites.

“That’s why Online Moderation is the best,” says Kate. “We are there to protect the reputation of our clients, make sure their customers are taken care of, and give their customers the type of experience the brand wants them to experience.  Ignoring social interactions and comments by customers is literally damaging to their business. We are here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

According to Hootsuite, only 21% of marketers feel they do a good job of servicing customers on social channels

The Phygital customer world expands

What is Phygital?  Phygital refers to consumers existing in both the physical and digital world, engaging with brands in both places.

An example of this is a brand that sells a product or service in real life or a brick-and-mortar setting, but they also promote, gain leads, and service customer needs online.  Marketers are starting to realize that the physical and digital presence is a combined experience for their customers.  Imagine someone shopping for a car online, choosing the car, dealing with customer service online, and then going to pick up the vehicle in person at a dealership and dealing with customer service in person. This is Phygital.

So how does it affect the brand online and the customer journey?  Consumers will visit read reviews, read comments from other customers and individuals who have had experiences with the brand on social media platforms such as Facebook or even TikTok, and who have actually seen, touched, and purchased the actual products offered by brands.   They read about the digital-to-physical experience others have had – and in 2023 this trend is going to be bigger than ever.

At Online Moderation, we have clients who put a great deal of time and focus on the way their brand is perceived online and offline, and the way their social customer service is handled.  They recognize that every post, every comment, every interaction is a potential lead.  Together with our professional team of social customer support specialists, we have elevated their customer experience to outstanding levels.

The online moderation and social customer service world continues to evolve, and Online Moderation will always be the industry leader in supporting companies and organizations.

If you would like to schedule a consultation with our team, we would be happy to meet with you at your convenience.

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TikTok is growing – and if your company is using TikTok to reach potential customers or deliver a message to your community, you know about the growing need to manage the flow of comments coming into your TikTok account. 

More than 85% of businesses are using video as a marketing tool.  Today more businesses are realizing that they also need to be on TikTok,  the hottest platform for instant visual gratification by viewers. Videos run from five to sixty seconds long, have brilliant filters, special effects, a music library, and a culture of almost anything goes – as long as it’s done well.  TikTok users do not like to feel like they are being advertised to.  A smart marketing strategy on TikTok will get you the leads you’re looking for while making you part of one of the most interesting and thriving communities online.

TikTok is Growing.

As of February 2022, the app has been downloaded more than 1.65 billion times with viewers opening the app more than eight times each day.  The largest demographic is 18-24 years old, followed closely by 13-17 years.   Clearly any place online that has that large of an audience in that age range needs to be closely moderated for the well-being of the users.

TikTok Moderation Generates Leads.

While videos and ads create interest, just like on Facebook and other platforms, there are consumer questions and customer service issues that need to be monitored.  Online Moderation moderators are there to capture lead information and get it to the business, respond to inquiries, and handle the social customer service issues that inevitably arise.   “Our clients have seen general questions posted on their social media posts turn into hot leads because our moderators have nurtured them and delivered them right to our clients’ inboxes.” says Mark Somol. “This doesn’t just happen. Our moderators are trained to recognize every situation, from lead generation to interventions during potential PR crises – and handle them accurately, efficiently and quickly. It’s why we’re considered the best in the business.”

How Online Moderation Can Help You.

TikTok Online Moderation Moderators:

• Answer customer and potential customer inquiries
• Handle customer support situations such as complaints
• Nurture potential leads
• Prevent bullying and social unwellness among viewers
• Prevent potential PR crisis situations
• Create the best customer experience possible by engaging with your TikTok audience

Savvy businesses now realize that advertising on TikTok and having a TikTok account to post regular content means the potential of thousands of viewers.   Brand takeover ads, for example, are the first thing users see before they see any other content.  Advertisers can link the ad to a landing page on their website where exclusive offers can be made.  

Sponsored hashtag challenges allow businesses to sponsor a hashtag and advertise on the Discover page, again giving them the opportunity of increased engagement for their brand.

Native ads and branded lenses are also available for businesses to increase engagement and exposure for their brand.

Under every advertisement or TikTok video your business creates, there will be comments, questions and potential leads.   Considering the culture of TikTok, it is important to make sure your comment section is moderated on a daily basis. 

“We have seen comments on a relatively harmless business TikTok video start out fairly general, and turn into a storm of arguing and bullying.” says one of the Online Moderation TikTok moderators. “We’re there to shut down that negativity and protect the integrity and reputation of our clients, and to make sure that the purpose of their video stands out.”

The Importance of TikTok LIVE Moderation.

TikTok LIVE streams are taking off like wildfire! These sessions are amazing opportunities to connect with target audiences. 

TikTok has added live-stream moderation tools to help those businesses who are recognizing the value of live streaming.   So what does this moderation look like?  Simply put, Online Moderation  live moderators are available to be on duty during live broadcasts to manage the comments, remove trolls, and assist with customer service inquiries.   TikTok LIVE allows creators to allow up to 20 moderators moderate live events.  A live event may be anything from a debate, a lecture, or discussion, all the way up to celebrity interviews and concerts.

Take for example a company that may be doing a live demo on a home renovation using tools and techniques that would be of interest to consumers.  During the live event trained moderators ensure unwanted comments and interactions are shut down quickly, while relevant questions are responded and potential valuable leads are nurtured and captured for the business.

A new setting in the LIVE launch screen allows hosts to turn off comments completely, avoiding all engagement, or add up to 200 words and terms into a keyword filter.  One addition hosts and moderators alike will find valuable is the ability to add words to the filter while the live event is happening.

We could go on and on about this incredible platform but one thing is for certain – if your business is on TikTok you need to speak to the best team online.  It’s time to talk to the team at Online Moderation about the moderation of your account.

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With the rapidly evolving landscape of tools, suites and products being announced, not to mention the social media scandal of the month, it’s easy to lose sight of a key success factor to effectively moderate and monitor your owned and earned channels. Process.  

This column will delve into what makes a good process and also discuss process’s first cousin, priorities.

Why is process so important when it comes to social media moderation?

Process is important because it forces you maintain a consistent approach to your social media moderation, helps you maintain a unified brand voice, and enables you to respond to social crises effectively.

For example, you may have multiple people on your social media team who respond to comments or posts on your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites. Each team member has their own style and voice. Without process, your team members could respond to people in completely different ways. Or, they prioritize one channel over another, leaving some comments to go cold. 

The result? One of your fans has one experience and another fan has a completely different experience. Or, worse, you could have a crisis on your hand, like these companies. 

Building a process also ensures you avoid providing a bad customer service experience. In the following example, Old Spice made a serious gaffe by asking one of the customers to call them for help, rather than just helping them over direct message, right then and there.

To combat these inconsistencies, you need a defined social media moderation process.

Follow best practices for social media moderation by creating consistent and regularly updated processes 

By process we mean an agreed upon and published set of steps that your staff or your outside moderation partner follow daily when protecting the brand, performing social customer service or promoting content. Employees and all other contributors chartered with helping your brand follow these steps.

The process should be periodically reviewed as your strategies and plans change to make sure the hour by hour, day to day operations of your social media efforts support your business.  Hopefully you’ve initially put these processes in place to support the overall objectives. As mentioned above, the landscape quickly changes for your brand-new products, new promotions, new competition, new markets.  When you organize or meet to re-visit process and priorities, try to assess if they need tweaking or major changes based upon new. 

The importance of regular or shift-based reporting

Even during a period of relative stability, it’s good to review the tactical aspects of your work. Several of our clients, in the high-volume world of consumer, review the priorities of each shift quarterly; making sure that the most important aspects of their business are checked first; in case super high volumes result in overage of content.

Let’s illustrate the mechanics of process with a recent real-life case study.  A client of ours left her position and took over social media director’s job for a consumer brand.  She inherited a competent staff, but with a hodge-podge approach for priorities across FB, IG Twitter and Reviews. They are currently chartered with moderation Monday-Friday from 7am to 9pm. 

The new company makes a fantastic product, is growing and understands the value of social customer service, but there was no published list of moderator tasks or priorities.  Or even the concept of a shift. Sometimes posts and feedback were responded to immediately; other times when her staff was engrossed in digital/brick and mortar promotional events, some customer feedback/inquiries sat for several days. 

How to set up a shift-based process that provides consistent information flow for you to act on

Setting both a process and prioritization are essential to your success.  Our client set about defining a ‘standard’ shift for moderation. Whether you define it as 15,30 or 60 minutes, this author is a huge proponent of defining and publishing guidelines.

She opted to first prioritize the ‘order’ in which the social channels were reviewed during each ‘shift’.  Given the possibly complex nature of social customer service interactions, the team decided to publish guidelines where the ‘easier’ channels were checked first. The rationale was that simple posts wouldn’t sit for days if they got swamped with customer service issues. 

Moderation Shift: Priority Flow

Now that the priorities were set; they moved onto process. Oh, by the way, the team also decided that each ‘shift’ would follow the same priority.  Another option would be to set up two or even three different cadences. We’ve seen this multiple priority approach work effectively for large global brands.

How do I set up an effective social media moderation process?

If you are just getting familiar with these processes, start with a simple three box flow of a moderation process.  Box one is labeled ‘START’. Box Two is labeled ‘PROCESS’ and Box Three is labeled ‘END’. Sometimes starting with a blank whiteboard and a room full of your colleagues waiting for you to lay it all out for them can be daunting.  But you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the power of visualization and iteration. With the right people in the room a preliminary, but detailed workflow can be created from that three box flow in less than fifteen minutes. Guaranteed.  A great way to drive deeper into the process is by asking a simple question: ‘and then what happens?’

The below process flow is a simple, four-step process that is easy to remember and follow. 

Don’t create so much process that you ruin your customers’ experience with your brand

However, there’s a trade-off between keeping everything inside staff’s head or collective memory vs erring on the side of 16 steps with 8 pages of footnotes. Make sure you focus on solving the customer’s problem! Don’t create a process that only adheres to internal processes or silos. Remember your customer and put yourself in their shoes.

Yes, that sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised by the caliber of the companies that miss this point. This next example comes from American Express and shows how they created an inefficient process where they redirect every customer inquiry to a different AmEx twitter account. Why can’t they just ask questions of American Express’ main twitter account? That’s a horrible experience for customers.

Creating a process also means that everyone has to follow it

There’s going to be a learning curve for staff and outside partners alike. I know it sounds obvious, but you need to follow the process. It takes the right kind of mindset to consistently adhere to a process. You need to make sure you have the right people on your internal team or outsource to a partner who has a history of consistent results.

Conclusion

That’s it for now. In closing I’d recommend the following, ahem, 3-step process, as you move forward:

1. Inventory all existing processes that involve social media moderation/monitoring
2. If none or some don’t exist, create them and put into effect
3. Review periodically and ALWAYS keep your customer in mind

The post The Importance of Process in Successful Social Media Moderation appeared first on Online Moderation.

Social Media Fails

Top social media public relation fails of 2017 (and how you can do better in 2018)

Social media can be a company’s best friend, then suddenly turn into its worst nightmare, especially during a PR disaster. The following two corporations understand what I’m talking about as their major PR disasters were exacerbated by social media. That being said, the company’s lack of ability to deal with a social media crisis is more at fault than social media itself.

I’m sure you’ve heard these stories and these corporations very likely had a social media crisis management strategy in place. That being said, they still seemed to have dealt with their crises in a less than ideal way when they clumsily “made up” for their honest mistakes with below-par apologizes via social media.

What’s the issue then?

When brands don’t know how to properly communicate with their social media audience, an easily manageable incident can turn into a PR disaster. Not only can messages be misinterpreted, but the fast-paced nature of social media platforms such as Twitter also allows brands to send out messages quickly and without giving them much thought.

After describing each PR disaster, I will break down what each corporation can specifically improve the next time a big fail happens. I will then discuss how you can apply this to your own social media crisis management strategy and learn from their mistakes.

1.Pepsi

What Happened: Pepsi released a campaign starring Kendall Jenner that sparked the public’s attention when she handed a police officer a can of Pepsi to draw a bridge between the protesters and the police.

The public reacted by dubbing the campaign an example of “white, economic privilege” and called out Pepsi for trivializing serious social issues.

As a response, Pepsi removed the video and apologized with this message:

The apology sparked even more anger as the public felt that it didn’t reflect the seriousness of the issue, which was ironically the issue in the first place as Pepsi undermined the seriousness of demonstrations and social justice issues.

Related: Pepsi Ignites Outrage with Kendall Jenner Ad

The Lesson: Although Pepsi promptly removed the video and made an apology, the message lacked sympathy and understanding. Specifically, because the campaign was built around “joining the conversation,” Pepsi should have thought less about how social justice issues could be made “trendy” (like using Kendall Jenner in the ad) and more about the issues themselves.

What You Can Do Better – Protect your Online Reputation

Prevention: Make it a a part of your social media strategy to run your campaigns through a few small test groups composed of your target audience or have an outside agency take a look your idea before publicly airing a campaign, Companies can create “echo chambers” that produce content that is out of touch with the real world.

Furthermore, before sending out an apology message, really understand what you’re apologizing for. This may seem obvious, but sometimes brands are quick to pull the trigger on their messages to settle the public down when in reality, the bigger issue that needs to be addressed requires time and thought.

Change Direction:  In Pepsi’s case, an apology wasn’t enough for the public to feel like justice was served, and it would’ve been wise of them to put forth other campaigns or messages that truly showed their commitment to social justice.

But when an apology is not enough, what do you do? Let’s use the grocery store Loblaws as an example. The public was upset to find out that the company had been fixing bread prices across all Canadian stores for the past 14 years. As a response, CEO Galen G. Weston officially stated that “this conduct should never have happened.” However, a remorseful response wasn’t enough to the public, so the company decided to change direction and issue $25 rebate cards to everyone who submits their email to the company. This not only made the public happy but gave customers back their good faith and trust towards the company.

Your social media crisis management strategy should include more than one “plan of action,” and you should be prepared to change directions if the first plan fails to solve your issues.

2. United Airlines

Everyone has heard about the multiple disastrous PR hits United Airlines took last year. It was a major learning lesson for the company and the public regarding how you should (or, more accurately, should not) deal with PR disasters.

The first incident was when two teenage girls were denied permission to board a United Airlines flight because of their leggings, which were said to be inappropriate travel attire.

Shannon Watts, a passenger at the airport, brought the incident to the public’s attention via her Twitter account. Shannon and other Twitter commenters were calling the airline’s behavior sexist and intrusive.

Here is the conversation as it happened on March 26th, 2017.

United Airlines responded, not with an apology, but with a link to their policy rules stating that United Airlines has the “right to refuse transport for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed.” This specifically applies to passengers using “riders passes” (which the two girls were, in fact, using) given by United Airline employees to their friends and family.

This explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy the public, however, as the incident grew increasingly viral. Even celebrities Chrissy Teigen and William Shatner reached out to address the issue.

Issues of sexual abuse, body shaming, and sexist behavior have been a major occurrence online, and United Airways’ response was considered highly insensitive.

What was considered even more insensitive, however, was when video footage was released of airport police forcibly removing 69-year-old passenger David Dao from a flight that was said to be overbooked.

CEO Oscar Munoz responded by saying Dao was “disruptive and belligerent.” The incident left Dao in the hospital and fellow passengers in shock.

A few days later, however, Munoz publicly stated that “no one should ever be mistreated this way.” and that he promised to “fix what’s broken so this never happens again.”

Related: United Airlines shows how to make a PR crisis a total disaster

Lesson Learned: It was too little, too late for Munoz as his “seemingly heartfelt apology” lost its value due to his previous statements. Furthermore, United Airlines failed to address the issue with the two teenage girls any further than shown above. United Airlines should have been more sensitive to the people experiencing the incident by crafting messages that were truly apologetic.

What You Can Do Better – Protect your online reputation

Prevention: Make it a part of your social media strategy to ensure that your messages are carefully crafted and approved by multiple people before being made public. We understand that responses need to be made quickly, but this is nonetheless a crucial part of diffusing a PR disaster. Ask yourself, “how could this message be interpreted as offensive?” and don’t treat your apology like a press release. The United Airways’ incidents involved real emotion and trauma for the people involved, and brands should subsequently treat it as such.

Get Ahead of the Situation: There was no way that United was getting out of an apology during these PR disasters. So, why did it take Munoz so long to make a statement? Well, the public was wondering the same thing, and the longer the hours went by without any response, the more customers lost their trust in the company. Make it a part of your social media crisis management strategy to get ahead of the situation by making moves as soon as you catch wind of a PR disaster. This first move can be anything from an outright apology to  a refund, to simply acknowledging that the situation is happening. The rest of your social media crisis management strategy can be implemented after this initial message.

Conclusion

Mistakes happen, and we (and your customers) understand that. But how a brand deals with their mistakes is a real measure of their commitment to protecting their customers as well as their brand.

The Pepsi incident taught us that it is important to think thoroughly about the possible impact your message may have on the general public before pulling the trigger. Furthermore, we learned from United Airways that messages must be crafted with care translate as truly apologetic across social media.

Make it a part of your social media crisis management strategy to have a team dedicated to message creation.

Learn more about Social Media Crisis Management at Onlinemoderation.com

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