Write a short playbook so anyone in your business can handle comments and messages the same way.
Write down, on one page, what anyone looking after your business's social media account should do with comments and messages in a normal week. That page is your community playbook. Write it before you need it, because problems start when nothing is written down and the person covering has to guess.
Farah runs a small shop. She took a week off for her sister's wedding and asked her part-time assistant to look after the account. When she came back, a customer complaint had been answered with an argument. Two buying questions had gone unanswered for five days. A scam account pretending to be her shop had messaged a dozen followers about a fake giveaway. Her assistant was not at fault. Nothing was written down, so she guessed.
A playbook has four parts: a routine, reply templates, moderation rules with an escalation contact, and scam patterns with a response to each. Write it so that anyone can run the account's comments and messages the same way, including you on a tired day.
Decide when comments and messages get cleared, and write it down. For most small accounts, check once soon after each post goes up (the advice from lesson 7.1) and once or twice a day otherwise. If you can't check every day, set fixed times in the week. Say what they are in your profile or auto-reply so people know when to expect an answer.
Make the routine specific enough to hand to someone else. A line like "keep an eye on it" leaves the person covering to guess. A usable routine reads more like this: check comments within an hour of posting; clear all comments and messages at 12.30pm and 8pm daily; on Saturdays, 8pm only (an example routine).
Templates are starting points for situations that keep coming up. Adjust each one to the person you're replying to. They save time and keep the tone the same whoever is answering.
Write templates for three groups. Common questions include opening hours, delivery areas, how far ahead to order, and sizes. Buying signals are comments or messages that show someone wants to buy. For these, use the public reply and first private message from lesson 7.3, From comment to conversation to customer. For complaints, use the calm public reply and private follow-up from lesson 7.2.
Keep each template to a sentence or two, in the owner's own voice. A template that sounds like a call centre makes things worse. Farah's playbook now has a template for a late delivery: say sorry the order hasn't arrived, and say she has sent a message to check and will sort it out today. Her sizing template points the customer to the size guide pinned in the profile and asks them to message their usual size and height so she can suggest a fit.
Copy in the moderation rules you wrote in lesson 7.2. They cover what to reply to, hide or delete, what to take to direct messages, and when to block or report.
Then separate routine questions from difficult ones. Anyone running the account can answer a question about delivery. Not everyone should decide how to handle an angry customer threatening a bad review, a comment that might involve the law, or a journalist asking questions. Name one person as the escalation contact, the person who decides how difficult cases are handled, and write down how to reach them. In a one-person business that is the owner. One rule worth considering: never reply to these on the same day, and sleep on it first.
Scammers target the followers of small businesses because those followers already trust the brand. The most common pattern is a fake account, also called an impersonation account. It copies the business account, with a near-identical name and the business's photos, and messages followers about a prize, a discount or a problem with their order. It then asks them to click a link or pay. The account that messaged Farah's followers about a giveaway was one of these.
List the patterns to watch for and what to do about each:
A fake account copying the business: report the impersonation account to the platform, and post a short warning to followers that the business never asks for payment or passwords through comments or messages. Comments offering fake promotions: the same warning tells followers not to trust them. Accounts asking followers for personal details: the same warning applies. Messages to the owner pretending to be the platform and warning that the account will be closed: never click links in them.
In Singapore, you can check a suspicious message and report a scam through the ScamShield website and helpline, launched jointly by the Singapore Police Force, the National Crime Prevention Council and Open Government Products. Put this in your playbook.
A finished playbook fits on one page. It has a routine with specific times, templates for common questions, buying signals and complaints, moderation rules with an escalation contact, and a short list of scam patterns with what to do about each. The test is whether someone who has never run the account could pick it up and handle a normal week.
Now write yours: a one-page community playbook with a routine, reply templates, moderation rules and an escalation contact.
Write a one-page community playbook that covers your routine, reply templates, moderation rules and who to contact when something needs escalating.
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