It really came up as a practical solution. The manager I met the other day realized he needed to produce social content in order to contribute to his industry and to attract more customers at the same time. But he simply had no time. Or wasn’t particularly good at writing, but didn’t want to admit it. I believed it to be a mix of both.
I suggested I would write a draft text of 300-400 words and he would finish it. Tune it to his own ‘voice’ and swap certain words he would not use for his own ‘lingo’. This could be done in less than 30 minutes. I contributed with a relevant topic-of-the-week, an easy to read piece of content and a good header. And provided a planning for 10 weeks ahead. He happily agreed and it worked really well for as long as he was in the position of manager.
Mind you, I wasn’t running his social accounts. We agreed he would still read other people’s postings, give likes and leave comments. And he would respond to questions or comments by himself. Learning about some ghostwriting horror stories, I realized the potential negative implications of being in control of his social accounts. Imagine the manager having conversions with people he would have met in real life and me handling them in social media. Or I could (in theory) be tempted and reply to heated conversations with an opinion that he doesn’t share. Or I could be contradicting something he has said somewhere else. Too risky. And easy to find out.
An alternative way of getting personal and relevant content out is in the form of an interview. This way, there is a natural encounter and quotes can easily be used on other social media channels like Twitter. Is social ghostwriting an idea worth considering for you? Let’s talk!
Rodric Leerling - Sales Power Provider 