If you are professionally engaged in administering SoMe pages and profiles, you certainly know that it is no longer enough to post something appealing and reach an amazing success. SoMe have become one of the most important segments of communication, with companies caring a lot about the image they present with their pages and profiles.

Despite being an abundant source of data and experiences, SoMe can also be a central point of tarnishing corporate image if something is not done right and breaches business ethics.

An engaged panel at the Digital Marketing World forum, held in London last week, surveyed and presented this topic in detail, elaborating on each of its segments.

The first mistake everyone makes on SoMe is: being what you are not.

There are several theories about how to create a viral post. Because, if there were a universal recipe for it, all posts would be like that, with their author probably being the best paid person in the world.

It is a fact that Facebook “likes” videos and animations, but such content will not necessarily always be viral – it’s the overall content that matters. Furthermore, some experts say that adding videos to posts is a slow and long-term process, while we often don’t have enough time for it when it comes to some brands.

However, if you stick to it, the success will be delayed but the effect will be better.

William Bonaddio, director at “Will B Social”, has worked with McDonald’s. At the above mentioned forum, he revealed how this fast food brand managed to have so many viral posts on SoMe: each of their posts had a variation A and a variation B. Both were boosted (paid) with five pounds per click and it was monitored which was more successful and why.

As an example, Bonaddio used a 2016 campaign where McDonald’s suggested dipping French fries in a milkshake to its consumers. Metro criticised this move severely: “Loads of people do it,” they commented. “But it’s always been considered an underground trick. Now your favourite gross eating habit has been approved.”

It’s crucial to find balance between paid posts and organic reaction. Because, paid posts are good because they give you a potential to expand beyond your existing audience – but a warning story is not to let them become your core audience. That’s why it’s necessary to find balance.

SoMe manager Alvin Gunputh has explained as follows:

– We use organic messages as an indicator – said he and added:

– We do evergreen content but if we get traction – ‘this has done better than we thought’ – then we’ve got a bit of budget for evergreen campaigns.

This may be the best guideline someone can provide in regard to SoMe at the moment.