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Original poster

Boss not getting it about social media

112 replies

Sockypuppet · 20/01/2020 08:02

So we are all getting specific instructions to post our business cards and flyers on Facebook and WhatsApp one a week.

I know all the reasons that's ridiculous, no need to repeat them to me here. What I need is a way to explain that to my boss.

We're all sort of quietly... not doing it. He's taken to sending reminders.

His own social media is business based. Like his name and the company, nothing personal. I didn't even know till recently he was married.

I try to placate by posting stuff on WhatsApp.

He's a nice guy and it's a good comp3, he's just not getting this. One of us needs a way to tell him that forcing us all to spam personal Facebook accounts won't really help marketing (I assume people will hide my posts) and will built resentment among staff (he tagged me in a post and then I had strangers liking old holiday pics).

OP posts:
Sexnotgender · 20/01/2020 09:03

That’s really unprofessional to request you post on your personal pages.

I think he might be the one that doesn’t understand how marketing works.

GiveHerHellFromUs · 20/01/2020 09:04

@BreakfastAtSquiffanys why do you have to have bosses on Facebook?
If my boss added me on Facebook I'd decline his request because he's not my friend.

MumW · 20/01/2020 09:04

How about asking him of he thinks it would ok to request his employees to

  • post (snail mail) a business card/marketing leaflets to
  • send marketing texts to
  • cold call all of your personal friends every week or even
  • put a company poster on your front door as this is effectively what he is asking you to do with your social media accounts.

Put it into a context that he does understand and see if that helps.

cheeseandpineapple · 20/01/2020 09:04

OP, lots of posters are rightly mentioning LinkedIn, does your company use LI? You can be far more creative and commercial on LI for promoting your business. I agree with the previous poster who said that you devalue your message on FB unless it’s something you really think your friends would benefit from and even then you need to tread cautiously.

Why isn’t your boss mentioning LI or are you in the consumer/leisure/entertainment type of industry trying to rustle up customers/attendance?

AChickenCalledDaal · 20/01/2020 09:05

"Dear boss. Thank you for the reminder, however I am not prepared to use my personal social media accounts for business purposes. Happy to have a chat about this if you wish."

And then have a proper discussion about it. Just not doing it will making you all look flaky and confuse him. If he's a nice guy, presumably you can have a sensible conversation and explain why this is a bad idea.

SnoozyLou · 20/01/2020 09:06

Posting business cards as a marketing campaign is idiotic anyway. He sounds like he's in over his head.

BelfastNonBlonde · 20/01/2020 09:07

Suggest LinkedIn accounts for that purpose instead? He would probably find it more useful for his own purposes also..

Berrymuch · 20/01/2020 09:08

The reach will be a lot greater on an actual business account that can be shared to community pages etc. Presumably a lot of your friends list probably know what industry you work in, and will ask if they want to use the services etc, therefore as well as being annoying for you, it's pretty pointless from a business perspective. Suggest that a proper business page is set up, either by himself (if you're feeling daring...), or that someone who is willing to do the extra work gets time in work to do it, and isn't expected to do it out of hours.

MRex · 20/01/2020 09:09

"I've thought over our social media marketing strategy and come up with some ideas. Here's a presentation I'd like to take you through.

  1. Target market, who they are
  2. Social media commonly used by target market, research showing how they expect to contact companies / effective marketing (see what you can find)
  3. X Firm social media gaps: Company Facebook page, Company Twitter page, Company Instagram page, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimisation (and company website updates), "the story" with regular official news .
  4. Unnecessary activities: personal social media or text messaging (e.g. Whatsapp), MLM comparison and research showing messages will just be blocked, viral marketing videos not currently done but too hard for a small firm so don't bother.
  5. Next steps: set up missing online pages, working group to define early "news" articles, assign people to respond to questions etc."
BelfastNonBlonde · 20/01/2020 09:09

Although it depends on who you are trying to target I guess

Maybe a company specific social media account (rather than your own personal ones) and you take turns each week to promote online?

MRex · 20/01/2020 09:11

(Without knowing your business it's hard to know if chasing up customers to do Google / Checkatrade reviews, or advertising directly in local groups or other strategies might help.)

NewNameChange2020 · 20/01/2020 09:12

Unless you are the company's social media manager, or it's in your contract, do not set up a company fb page or anything as has been suggested, or you'll find yourself dealing with it alongside your existing workload. Suggest that he look for someone who is qualified and they can take over SM marketing, or if you do fancy doing it yourself then ask to be recompensed for it. Your SM is personal and he has no right asking you to advertise the company that way. Too many of my friends who have SM have ended up roped into unofficially being their company's fb or insta manager without any pay rise and it's ended up being loads of work. Sounds like he's watched a terrible freebie 'influencer' or MLM marketing video who has suggested this daft idea, and the business needs someone properly placed if he wants to achieve SM success.

Christmadtree · 20/01/2020 09:13

Wow this is odd. If a friend started doing this I'd assume they'd been hacked or something!

There have been lots of tribunal cases over the last 5 years where employers aren't happy with employees posts on SM from a personal perspective, which reflects badly on the business in their view. Or I'm sure there was one where a business was insisting that an ex employee hand over their SM account because they considered it full of their business info and contacts etc. but the ruling went against them. Maybe research a few of these (assuming you have no HR).

How would he feel if you were on a hen do and tagged in pictures etc relating to that, and customers /clients seen this? Or if you have a number of EU clients but posting Pro Brexit stuff or whatever?

WYP2018 · 20/01/2020 09:15

You could tell him you are uncomfortable with spamming your friends and family as you don’t want it to have a negative affect on the company. Then tell him how to set up an ad account so he can have targeted ads that will be much more effective?

DowntownAbby · 20/01/2020 09:15

What sort of business would benefit from staff posting their business cards on WhatsApp and Facebook?

Sounds utterly ridiculous to me.

It would be bad enough on LinkedIn - everyone would block you - but personal social media???

Is it MLM you're involved in?

TheSandman · 20/01/2020 09:16

I'm thinking of just going off Facebook altogether.

DO IT!

There is life outwith the life-ruining monster that is Facebook.

elenacampana · 20/01/2020 09:17

I’ve had managers requesting things like this before to promote the business - I completely ignored them!

MintyMabel · 20/01/2020 09:17

Just. Tell. Him.

You don’t “need a way” you just say you aren’t going to do it, If he fires you for refusing, see a lawyer.

fromdownwest · 20/01/2020 09:20

Ask him to Google GDPR....

happychange · 20/01/2020 09:25

Mrex suggestion is good and true! Your friends and family are not his target market (presumably? No idea what industry it is)

Abouttimemum · 20/01/2020 09:30

The company needs someone dedicated to creating a social media marketing footprint.

It’s entirely unprofessional and actually quite dangerous depending on your field of work to use personal social media profiles for work-related matters. Definitely don’t do it.

I think you need to have a conversation about how your social media accounts are for personal use and if he would like to use social media for marketing purposes then you need a strategy in place.

Maverick101 · 20/01/2020 09:32

If he really persists set up a friend's group with just him in it and post your business card so only that group sees it. Not ideal in the wider sense but it would solve your problem.

GiveHerHellFromUs · 20/01/2020 09:33

Or post it, add me as a friend, I'll post a really shitty comment for you then you can tell him you no longer feel comfortable posting

Fatasfooook · 20/01/2020 09:33

“Hi boss, I don’t have any business social media accounts, mine are all strictly personal”

MinkyWinky · 20/01/2020 09:35

He needs to write a marketing plan with clear objectives, target audiences etc then look at the channels that will help him reach these people.

If one of the social media channels is the right way to reach his target audience, he needs to develop a marketing plan with varying content that he can post on a company page. He can then choose to put paid behind this (it doesn't have to be a lot of money) which can be targeted at the target audiences he identified.

He will need to develop a variety of content to make people interested in finding out more about what the company offers. Constantly posting the same (and by the sound of it totally non-engaging content) will alienate potential customers. Asking his team to do so will do the same (but also piss them off)

I'd strong recommend he talks to someone who knows about marketing/social media marketing and get a proper plan in place.