Creating amazing social media isn’t just down to what you see on a feed. What you see in the feed is the sum of everyone’s efforts. I want to share about some of the more hidden qualities that create exceptional social media.
One of the lesser known quantities to creating great social media is actually your team. Yep. People win every time! Over the years I’ve hired people on the strength of the 4 C’s. It’s nearly always worked for me. The team member has usually worked out and flourished. Some start off stronger in some areas than others. But I try to assess through a score across the range of the qualities.
Even if you aren’t in marketing or communications, you can still apply this as I’m concerned and you will still build a great team. Again, you can use it at the hiring point, but you can also assess your existing team on these and see how they measure up.
Competency
This is probably pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised at the people who actually aren’t the right person for a role. Your team member has to be able to do what you need them to do. If they are a content creator, can they use design programs? Do they know how to edit video? Or are they more community minded? Do they love engaging with the audience on the channel.
While both sets of skills are necessary in a social media team, they are very different and can be a bad fit. You don’t necessarily want someone who is a great content creator, but a bad communicator to manage your online community.
It’s important to test the competency before hiring or allowing a person to volunteer. Give them a project to do. It’s also important to ask them where they see where their strengths lie. And where their weaknesses are.
Another key way to way out if the have the right person is to ask them about their experience and to provide some examples of what they have done.
The good news is that you can always lift a person’s competency. That can come through coaching or training. As a leader it’s your role to help them be lifted.
Although in some areas there needs to be a natural talent there in the first place. I remember hiring a person for a video role. They were clearly very inexperienced but they clearly had creative talent.
Character
This is so important. A person’s character can have a massive positive or negative impact on a team. They can be an organisational terrorist. Or be the life and the soul of a team.
They can literally disrupt an organisation and take down a team from the inside. Or they can help take the team to a new level.
In-fact character is the first thing I look for. Because if they have a good character and are inexperienced I know that I can train competency into them.
Questions to consider:
Do they turn up when they say they will?
Are they clear in their communication?
Can you trust them to do what you expect them to do?
Are they teachable?
Chemistry
Chemistry is so important in a team. When sparks fly you can get amazing results from a team. Not only do people actually love showing up to work because they enjoy the people they are working with. They are more productive. You can get so much more done if people work well together. As the leader you won’t be having to be like a diplomat treading carefully not to offend people.
Questions to consider:
How do they handle themselves in a team environment, do they have a positive or negative impact?
Do the team mates enjoy hanging out together?
Can you see any obvious amber lights between team mates?
Can you foster a closer affinity?
Culture
Everyone has a culture. We bring our own culture into a workplace and a workplace will already have a culture. The $64,000 question is does the person fit within your organisational culture? Do the two world-views align? I can remember a very bright and voracious person in a team, but they didn’t fit in the team culture. When times were great, the fun was amplified. It was wonderful. When times were tough, they voraciousness actually went sour. It ended badly for them. And very quickly.
Summary
When all these 4 C’s come together it’s a beautiful thing to see. A team can rise and fall on them. More importantly your content will rise and fall on the strength of those who create it. Get it right and everyone wins. Get it wrong. And the results can be a disaster.
Your Turn
What do you think works to make a great team? Do you disagree or have anything extra you would add to this? Comment below.
