Your Business Magazine 2022 - 375

YOUR BUSINESS _ 2022
S
trawberrySocial is a social media
agency unlike most others.
It's composed of experienced
online reputation management
experts, specialising in customer support,
moderation and safety, strategy and
engagement, as well as online brand
risk management. That's to say the
team is largely responsible for making
sure your comments are shared with
the organisations you follow and,
more importantly, that abusive and
nefarious comments are wiped from
view, ideally before you see them.
Rebecca Fitzgerald set up
StrawberrySocial after working at a
large social media agency for nine years,
where she ended up as director of client
operations. She recognised there was a
gap in truly expert online support for
non-profits, charities and other highrisk
organisations. She also realised that
many traditional social media agencies
struggled to fit their models to these
organisations' highly specialised needs
and within strict budgetary constraints.
StrawberrySocial is now one of the
premier social media/community
management agencies in the UK, offering
online moderation, risk management
and community support to multiple
charity organisations, as well as B2B
and B2C companies. Clients include
SuperAwesome (part of Epic Games),
Grenfell Gold Response, with the
Department for Education, NHS Digital,
Samaritans, Help for Heroes, NSPCC,
Versus Arthritis and Blue Cross. This
March marks the company's sevenyear
anniversary, and last year saw a
50% increase in company growth.
Essential part of the team
The moderation of online content is
one of the most important parts of
every online experience today. This
is a lot more complex than it sounds.
Having a team of experts in place
that can understand, translate and
quickly act on popular culture, current
events, societal changes, internet
and real-world slang and their visual
cues, nuanced conversations and your
brand's needs can be a minefield of
research. This is what the team does
each and every day for all our clients.
" My business is about reducing
brand risk, but also about strategising
the potential for a brand crisis
should something happen, " says
Rebecca. " Every business executive
understands the importance of
having the best marketing team for
your brand to present its product.
However, we understand that it's
equally important to build out your
public-facing culture, tone of voice
and how you communicate with your
audience in good times, and bad.
" How much time and attention do
you give to what happens after your
marketing plan goes live and you get
actual feedback from your audience
at large? And, what if something goes
wrong and your brand is targeted? "
Compassion fatigue
Something else to consider about
your social media support team is
resilience and job stress. Many of
our clients reach out because their
internal teams are, quite frankly,
stressed out, overworked, and unable
to turn off the switch at the end of
the week. This " compassion fatigue "
can be a real cost issue with human
resources, job satisfaction and
turnover. The internet doesn't stop
just because you go home, and this is
where StrawberrySocial comes in.
Our team isn't only extremely
resilient to the vitriol but we recognise
the mental strain it can take. " We
have identified the tell-tale signs
of compassion fatigue, which we
take very seriously, and ensure our
team is well supported and in the
right frame of mind to continue the
very hard work, " says Rebecca.
Our clients appreciate our efforts.
" Having more people in place genuinely
helps to lighten the load across the
team, " is a typical response. " It
lessens the need for us to constantly
monitor outside the normal business
hours. I really feel as if it has
helped the welfare of my team. "
How to conduct an
online health check
Rebecca's advice for those
running an online business
n Double-check your online
marketing strategies with your
online support vendor. This will
help everyone prepare better
for the inevitable customer
questions and criticisms.
n Listen to your community
team. They are the advocates
for the people who are buying
your products and know what
they want - and don't want!
n Know your rights and your
audience. Moderation and
guidelines for engagement
are there to protect you
and your customers.
n Have a crisis plan in place.
Listen to your social media
support agency and work
together to create " what if the
worst happens " best practices.
n Leave the work to the experts. It
has taken us years to understand
the nuances of online community
and social media management.
We work hard to ensure that
your teams can leave at the
end of the day, trusting their
work is in the right hands.
For more information,
call 020 3873 1092, email
info@strawberrysocial.com
or visit strawberrysocial.com
http://www.strawberrysocial.com
Your Business Magazine 2022

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