Top 5 reasons to untether your social media coordinator from *some* brand guidelines

5. Social media is interactive, and if your social media person is good enough to be getting into conversations with potential customers or interested vendors, they should be allowed to foster those conversations in the way that makes the most sense in that moment!

4. Social media is of-the-moment, which means your sense of content should also be constantly adjusting. Only someone who is dedicating regular attention to social media will understand the right ways to engage in current conversations.

3. Social media is visual. If you (like many companies!) don't have a big library of visual, video, or interactive content, your coordinator will figure out how to work with what they've got; this often means unconventional use of media and content.

2. Social media has the potential for major wins as well as major failures, and the most important thing you can do is make sure your social media coordinator is well resourced and knowledgeable about your brand. Opportunities for attention are often off-the-cuff, and your coordinator needs to be able to behave in that same way.

1. Social media is interactive. Try as you might, you'll never come up with enough pre-approved replies that have gone through your legal, compliance, marketing, brand, or other in-house experts to totally encapsulate your social media coordinator's job. For social media, brand guidelines are a best practice and a reference, but not the bottom line.