There’s more to effective social media than posting pictures of cute animals and babies. Oxford’s Social Media team knows the value of being original, striking a balance and … yes, recognizing that a well-placed puppy picture can sometimes do wonders for engagement.

Even though they're always on top of what's trending – keeping track of what’s hot online, utilizing pop culture, scheduling holiday-/weather-/event-based content, etc. – Oxford’s team is devoted to doing something extra and creating custom, unique content whenever possible to keep fans engaged, interested and happy.

Our winter intern, Reed, modeled different scarf wrapping techniques for client Vero Beach Outlets’ Facebook page.

“If it’s boring for us to create, it’s probably boring for others to read,” says Social Media Engagement Specialist Maddie Horvath. “We put ourselves on the same level as the fans. Our thinking is, ‘If we were your Facebook friend, what would we post that you would find funny or interesting?’”

Communications Account Executive Stefanie Rumpf preps one of client Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen’s pizzas with a clever caption to entice ‘LIKES’ and engagement.

After content is created, approved and posted, it’s a delicate balancing act when it comes to replying or acting on comments left on the page – not every comment warrants a response, but people also can’t feel like they’re being ignored. Our team knows when to jump in and add to a discussion, steer a conversation in a different direction or sit back and watch a debate unfold.

“Let conversations happen,” says Maddie. “We don’t always need to step in.”

Even when those conversations sometimes get negative, Maddie puts faith in the team’s social-branding abilities … and people. “Fans have a way of sticking up for brands if they feel connected to the page … if it’s done right.”

It all comes down to trust – our clients trust the Social Media team to best represent their brands and create an effective voice that reflects the company in the best way possible. This trust allows the team to take on a brand with little or ineffective online presence and mold it into a consistent, fun, interesting social character … sometimes literally.

“It helps to introduce an object, mascot or person that can represent the brand. It helps soften a company’s image, makes it relatable and encourages deeper fan connection,” says Maddie, pointing out their success with client QuickChek’s “Q” – a giant, green letter Q that exists in the online space, but comes out to events once in awhile to greet QuickChek fans in real life – as a brand ambassador. Fans of the page speak directly to Q as if it (kept gender-neutral on purpose) were a real, living creature, which gives the team a lot of options to use Q to their advantage – especially when they have the mascot costume handy – as well as other items from the store itself.

Stefanie and Maddie set up a festive holiday photo shoot with a dolled-up QuickChek coffee cup.

And it’s not just our clients that trust the team to do right by their brands; Oxford itself has entrusted its own Internet presence to its team of experts, knowing there’s no better place to look than in-house for expert social handling.

“We treat our own page as a client,” says Maddie, emphasizing the importance of putting the time and effort into doing our own social efforts. “It is a reflection of our abilities, and it’s important to showcase the best to our current and future clients.”

The social team created this collage of one of Oxford’s monthly Breakfast Club events to show off our creative (and culinary) skills.

There are a lot of moving parts to keeping up a social media page – content creation, posting , interacting with fans, monitoring, promoting … but Oxford’s Social Media team does it all, going that extra mile to create unique content, engaging brand voices and pages that resonate with fans brilliantly.

To harness our team’s abilities to bring fun and fan engagement to your brand’s social pages, contact solutions@oxfordcommunications.com now.