After you’ve picked which social media platforms to make use of, out of the many options available, the next step is designating which employees you’d like to place in charge of posting content on each platform.
And that decision shouldn’t be taken lightly. The person in charge of your social media pages is in charge of the message and brand voice you project to your followers.
That is why, even though Snap Fitness has an entire marketing team at its disposal, only one or two people have actual posting power. “At the corporate level, our whole marketing team has input, but we limit direct access to one to two people, so the brand voice is consistent, and there aren’t questions as to whose responsibility it is to post different messaging,” explained Katie Bresnahan, the social media coordinator for Snap Fitness.
However, Snap Fitness’ franchisees have a bit more discretion. “We charge our franchisees with running their own local social media accounts, as they know their members on a personal level, and club offerings will vary by location,” explained Bresnahan. “We give our franchisees training when they come to Snap Fitness University, our franchisee training program, so they have a basic knowledge of what to do with their social media. Then, [we] provide an abundance of training manuals and frequently updated materials for them, so they can keep up with the ever-changing space.”
GoodLife Fitness, based in Canada, handles its social media training similarly. “Our social media team at home office decides what gets posted to our main corporate accounts, and we rely on the judgment of our local and regional teams to post what is appropriate,” said Justin Cipparone, the marketing manager of social media for GoodLife Fitness.
However, what exactly is deemed appropriate? To answer this question, GoodLife created a list of guidelines its employees should follow when acting as a GoodLife representative. “If a GoodLife Fitness associate is posting on social media as a representative of GoodLife Fitness, we ask them to follow certain guidelines, such as; behave online as you would offline; respect the privacy of others; and provide accurate and honest information,” explained Cipparone. “We do not police personal or private social media posts by our associates when they are not acting as a representative of GoodLife Fitness.”
Ultimately, trust should be an important factor in who operates your social media accounts. “We do have a manual that explains guidelines when talking about Snap Fitness on social media, but for the most part, we trust that the staff in our system will use their best judgment in what is, and is not, appropriate to post on channels,” concluded Bresnahan.
By Rachel Zabonick
