Social media management is one of those things that people in marketing accept, but people not in the industry don’t understand.
I was surprised by a colleague who works in publishing, who was in raptures because a radio presenter had favourited her Tweet. This is a presenter who gets up at 4 am, and so is unlikely to be on Twitter at 8 pm, when they publicly claim to be in bed by 7 pm.
The management of their, and many social media accounts of popular personalities, will have been turned over to their PR team. They will work with the celebrity, to come up with great ideas that can be shared on social media, with an audience keen to hear and believe in the authenticity of the message.
I’ve sat in content agencies, next to social media managers as they work for brands with an obligation to communicate all the time. This ‘ghosting’ works best in a long term relationship when the people running the account can learn and behave similarly to the talent.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Twitter account is openly managed by his team.
They don’t pretend to be him.
While my friend has convinced herself, that the well-known celebrity – with a famously private life – has become accessible, it is surprising the role that social media plays in who we trust. Until there’s a slip up which goes viral, then the social media blunder is blamed on ‘a hacked account’. Rather than an intern in an agency getting it wrong, for a celebrity who isn’t involved and doesn’t have time to Tweet.