Within the trend of a family member or acquaintance making the website free for us , which we already talked about in a previous article entitled ” Your brother-in-law, the moonlighting “, we find the also common practice that a trainee, a relative or a friend with free time, take the social networks   of business.

Is it wrong to have an intern to manage Social Networks? No, with “buts”.

Is it wrong for a relative or acquaintance to do it who has no idea about online marketing, brand image management, etc.? Yes, absolutely .

Understanding that the trainee is trained in the management of Social Networks , has knowledge of SMM positioning , online marketing and online reputation management , but they have little or no experience, the correct thing is that they manage Social Networks, but that do so under an elaborate online marketing plan adapted to the needs of each company, or at least with the supervision and support of a professional in management of Social Networks .

An example of bad practices in Social Networks, we have it in the image that illustrates this post. 

However, there are also examples of great reactions from good CMs, as is the case that we discuss in this article: http://www.rananegra.es/blog/twitter-un-tren-y-el-papel-higienico

We can also give an example of the following response from the CM of Alsa: 

The use of interaction analysis tools in Social Networks , or tools such as Hootsuite, must be used by an experienced Community Manager , and the intern must know the ins and outs of these tools, must do more than put generic posts , must know how to create quality links ,Interesting content for the user, with keywords or keywords, must know where to publish and how, which Social Networks are the most appropriate in order to create a post according to the type of business and target audience, monitor the competition, monitor comments on the brand that manages, know the best times to publish, create online advertising campaigns on Facebook, know the interest groups on Google + and LinkedIn, etc.

And most importantly, in addition to writing with quality and oriented to specific objectives, you must know how to respond appropriately to users who interact with the brand through Social Networks. Poor management in this area can have very serious consequences for the brand. Unfortunately, users are faster and more insistent when we are dissatisfied than when we are satisfied with the service and the response of the company, and an annoyed or dissatisfied user can cause problems in your brand image and online reputation, and even, although give the best of the answers you can, there will be users who will be dissatisfied, and they will create a bad online reputation for you, and every day with more frequency, we look for references on the Internet about what services and products to buy, and we talk about both online and offline purchases, and if they find bad references to your brand, you will lose many sales and it is possible that your bad reputation will go viral, however, one will go viralA good online reputation is much more complex and time consuming. You have to know how to manage an online brand crisis and a trainee or family member, no matter how well intentioned, is not prepared for it.

A very simple example, you cannot delete a bad review on Google + , it has already happened to us with clients who, in addition to trying to delete it and be impossible, have given a rather rude and / or aggressive response, that is, the worst thing that it could be done. Nobody likes to be criticized, but you have to have a high dose of patience and a left hand and not fall into a hasty response or that they catch up with the comment, no matter how negative or even incoherent or false the user is making. Because no matter how much later, you ask a professional for help, the damage is already done.

There are numerous examples in the case of celebrities and politicians who have screwed up on Twitter and no matter how much they have deleted their tweets or rectified, the bad online reputation, and the general joke, they have not been able to avoid it, there are always those who keep a screenshot of the blunder and above if it is deleted, even worse and with more viciousness they will respond.

It is estimated that 42% of businesses have already received bad comments on Social Networks.

You must minimize as much as possible that this happens, and you must give an impeccable online image , adapted to your values, mission and business vision, therefore, we insist, do not leave the management of your Social Networks and your online reputation in non-professional hands , or sooner or later, you will regret it, and it will be late.