8 social media strategy lessons from Frank Underwood
In honor of the new season of House of Cards, we picked eight quotes from Frank Underwood, the most beloved and hated character ever, that teach us some valuable lessons about social media and life in general.
*Please note that we accept no responsibility if after reading this you have a craving for Freddy’s ribs or a tendency to speak directly into a camera in front of other people.
“There’s no better way to overpower a trickle of doubt than with a flood of naked truth”
Being honest is always a good strategy especially on Social Media. If social media users perceive your messages and intentions as sincere, they will engage with you. Being truthful about what you stand for, authentic in the way you communicate with your audience will help you establish a good reputation on social media and build meaningful relationships with your audience.
Frank is right; insecurity is boring. What your audience expects from you is to be confident about your brand or product and a thought leader in your industry. Being confident about the quality of what you have to offer translates into trustworthiness.
“If you don’t like how the table is set, turn over the table”
Social Media are open platforms where people discuss about brands and products, share opinions and feedback. Therefore, it is important to monitor online conversations and actively engage in them.
If you don’t like what is being said about your brand on social media, don’t try to dismiss it, ignore it or silence it. Instead, join the conversation and try to shape it by being transparent, knowledgable, open and responsive. Use your social media channels to demonstrate the impact of your brand’s efforts and create new, positive experiences for your audience.
“After all, we are nothing more or less than what we choose to reveal”
What Frank means to say is that you need to carefully think about your content strategy on social media, using your content and channels attentively to build a community around your brand and create awareness.
Once a tweet or a Facebook post is live, it is there for everyone to see. There have been times when brands have been reckless on what they post on social media. In 2012, KitchenAid tweeted a highly inappropriate comment about President Obama’s deceased grandmother which led to a huge backlash and a great damage on the brand’s reputation.
Bottom line is, always think twice before posting something on social media. After all, positive content is engaging, optimistic and most of all politically correct!
“Generosity is its own form of power”
Frank gets it! Being generous is good karma and on social media, there are many ways to be generous to your audience. A study showed that people follow brands on social media for special deals and promotions and access to exclusive content. So reward your audience by giving them what they’re looking for and express your appreciation by actively engaging with them. Do it for karma and do it for business.
“Even Achilles was only as strong as his heel”
The basis of an effective marketing plan is knowing your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. This way, you can identify where you should focus on, what needs your attention and resources and take action to turn your weaknesses into strengths.
“Run the Marathon, not the sprint”
Social media is a tool to help you reach your marketing goals, meaning that you shouldn’t treat social media as separate of your overall marketing strategy but rather as an integrated part of it.
Therefore, it is important to keep your eyes on the prize and set your action plan, just like Frank would. Define your SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound) and come up with your key performance indicators (KPIs) of success.
“Read the fine print”
Frank is a man of detail. So let’s be Frank about it and keep a close eye to your social media analytics and making reporting on your social media activity a habit. This way, you gain better insights into how far you are from achieving your business goals but also you keep the impact of social media on your brand measurable.
“To improve is to change. To perfect is to change often”
Remember that your social media strategy is in no way static but it should rather evolve with you. So, revisit, revaluate and redefine your social media action plan frequently. After all, nothing is written on stone.
