Social Wall Moderation: Best Practices for 2024 and Beyond

Master social wall moderation and learn how to curate, protect, and engage your audience while keeping your content on-brand.

Did you know that 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them? That’s right, nearly two-thirds of your audience is craving interaction! And what better way to foster that connection than through a well-moderated social wall? I’ve seen firsthand how a vibrant, engaging social wall can transform events and boost brand engagement. But let’s be real—it’s not always smooth sailing.

I’ve had my fair share of moderation mishaps, from accidentally approving an off-color joke at a corporate event (yikes!) to dealing with a flood of spam during a product launch. But with each stumble, I’ve learned valuable lessons about the art and science of social wall moderation.

In this guide, we’ll dive into the world of social wall moderation, exploring cutting-edge techniques and tools to keep your social displays engaging, safe, and on-brand. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just dipping your toes into the social media waters, I promise you’ll find some nuggets of wisdom here. So, grab your favorite caffeinated beverage, and let’s get started on mastering the fine art of social wall moderation!

What is Social Wall Moderation?

Social wall moderation is like being the bouncer at the coolest digital party in town. It’s all about curating and controlling the content that shows up on your social media displays. Think of a social wall as a real-time showcase of social media posts, usually filtered by a specific hashtag or from certain accounts. Social walls are super popular at events, conferences, and even in office lobbies.

Now, here’s where moderation comes in. Without it, your social wall could turn into the Wild West faster than you can say “social wall.” I learned this the hard way at a financial industry conference where there wasn’t proper moderation in place. Within minutes of the conference opening there were competitors posting ads, a huge stunt that people were taking pictures of and posting to social media, trolls sharing inappropriate content, and even a few bots spamming the wall with gibberish. It was a mess, and our client was not happy.

Moderation is the process of reviewing, approving, or rejecting content before it goes live on your wall. It’s like having a social media bodyguard that protects your brand from inappropriate content, spam, or off-topic posts. But it’s not just about playing defense.

Good moderation also helps highlight the best content, keeping your social wall engaging and on-brand.

Key Challenges in Social Wall Moderation

Let’s talk about the nitty-gritty of social wall moderation challenges. First up, we’ve got the sheer volume of user-generated content. For some larger events it can be like drinking from a firehose. I remember this one time at the Mayweather vs Pacquiao boxing match, our social wall was getting thousands of posts per minute. My team and I were working in shifts, barely keeping our heads above water.

We learned a lot from doing large events like that fight, and it’s a big reason why Everwall’s moderation workflow assigns posts to individual moderators—and you can have as many moderators as you need.

Then there’s the real-time nature of social media posts. Social media moves at the speed of light, and your moderation needs to keep up.

Another challenge is the diverse content types—we’re not just dealing with text anymore. We’ve got images, videos, GIFs, you name it. Each type of content presents its own unique challenges. I once had to moderate a social wall for a pet products company, and distinguishing between cute pet photos and less appropriate animal content was a real eye-opener.

Balancing free expression with brand guidelines is like walking a tightrope. You want to encourage authentic engagement, but you also need to protect your brand’s image. It’s a delicate dance, and sometimes you’re gonna step on some toes. Setting clear expectations from the get-go with a well-defined social media policy can save you a lot of headaches down the line.

Essential Social Wall Moderation Techniques

Alright, let’s dive into some essential social wall moderation techniques. First things first, you’ve got to decide between pre-moderation and post-moderation. Pre-moderation means reviewing every single post before it goes live. It’s safer, but it can slow things down.

Post-moderation is more of a “publish first, ask questions later” approach. Everwall supports both, and which one is best for you depends on your event and audience. For an industry conference or maybe a music festival? Pre-moderation all the way. For a company event with your employees? Post-moderation might be your best bet—those attendees don’t usually want to get fired.

Keyword filtering and block lists are your new best friends. Think of them as your social media bouncers, keeping out the riffraff. Set up a solid list of no-no words and phrases, and save yourself the embarrassment of things being shown that you’d rather not show.

Sentiment analysis tools can be incredibly helpful too. It’s like having a dedicated note taker on your team, helping you gauge the mood of your social wall.

Automated Moderation Tools and Solutions

Let’s talk about the wonderful world of done-for-you moderation and automated moderation tools and solutions. These are like having a super-smart, never-sleeping, always-on-duty moderators on your team—and in the case of using Everwall’s managed moderation team, it’s exactly what you get.

Many social wall platforms come with built-in moderation features. These often include keyword filters, profanity blockers, and even some basic image recognition. They’re a great starting point, especially if you’re new to the game and can do it yourself.

AI-powered moderation tools can analyze text, images, and even video content in real-time. But here’s the thing, AI isn’t perfect yet—and that’s why I always recommend using AI in conjunction with human moderation.

If you want human moderation, and you don’t have the ability to do it yourself, Everwall offers a Managed Moderation service. Our team is familiar with our systems, and moderating social walls, since that’s all we do.

Third-party moderation services are another option. We’ve worked with events that went this route in the past. Just be prepared for some sticker shock! P.S. Everwall will be much cheaper!

One of my favorite features of modern moderation tools is customizable moderation workflows. You can set up different rules and actions for different types of content or users. For example, you might want to automatically approve posts from verified accounts but send posts with certain keywords to the blocked queue.

Creating Effective Moderation Guidelines

Creating effective moderation guidelines is like writing a constitution for your social media kingdom. First things first, you gotta develop clear content policies. Start by defining what your brand stands for. What’s your voice? What’s your vibe? I once worked with a client who wanted to be edgy but still family-friendly. Talk about a tightrope walk! We spent hours hashing out exactly what that meant in terms of content.

When defining acceptable and unacceptable content, be specific. Don’t just say “no inappropriate content.” What’s inappropriate to you might be tame to someone else.

Here’s a pro tip: create a “gray area” list. These are posts that aren’t clearly good or bad but need a closer look. Maybe it’s a post with political undertones or a meme that could be interpreted in multiple ways. Having this list helps your moderators know when to ask for a second opinion. Everwall has a workflow for when you need a second opinion, too, we call it the Stashed queue, and all moderators can access that queue to review them.

Don’t forget to establish escalation procedures. This is your game plan for when things go sideways – and trust me, they can. Who does a moderator contact if they’re unsure about a post? What do you do if you spot a potential PR crisis brewing?

Training your moderators on brand voice and guidelines is crucial. Your moderators are the front-line soldiers in your social media army. They need to know your brand inside and out. I once had a moderator who didn’t quite get the brand’s sarcastic humor. They kept rejecting posts that were actually on-brand!

Engaging Your Audience While Maintaining Control

Engaging your audience while maintaining control is like hosting a wild party without letting anyone break your mom’s favorite vase. It’s tricky, but not impossible. First up, let’s talk about encouraging positive user-generated content. This is where the magic happens, people! You want your audience to feel like rock stars when they appear on your social wall.

I remember running a campaign for a coffee brand where we started featuring the most creative coffee art posts on our wall. The submissions we got were mind-blowing! People were practically tripping over themselves to get featured. Create a unique hashtag for your brand or event, make it catchy, and plaster it everywhere.

Gamification and incentives can really spice things up. People love a good competition. We once ran a “pic of the day” contest for a hotel’s social wall. The winner got a free hotel upgrade. Just make sure your contest rules are crystal clear to avoid any drama later.

Don’t be shy about responding to and engaging with posts directly. It’s like hosting a party—you gotta mingle! You should make it a point to have your moderation team leave comments or likes on standout posts. It shows that there are real humans behind the brand, and people love that.

Balancing moderation with authentic engagement can be tricky. You want your social wall to feel alive and vibrant, not like a sterile corporate bulletin board. But at the same time, you can’t let it turn into the Wild West. It’s a delicate dance.

Measuring the Success of Your Moderation Efforts

Alright, let’s put on our data hats and dive into measuring moderation success. First up, we’ve got key performance indicators (KPIs) for social wall moderation. These are like your social media report card. Approval rate is a big one—it’s the percentage of posts that make it through your moderation process. When we first started out, we thought a high approval rate was always good, but it isn’t. If you have any kind of volume, you can curate the content so only the best stuff is shown.

Response time is another crucial metric. How quickly are you moderating posts? In the world of social media, speed is key. We’ve seen events where the average response time was over an hour. By the time they approved posts, the moment had passed.

Analyzing engagement rates and user sentiment is where you really see if your moderation efforts are paying off. Are people interacting with the posts on your wall? Are they leaving positive comments? I remember running a social wall for a tech conference where the engagement rates were through the roof, but the sentiment analysis was showing a lot of negativity. We were able to flag this to the organizers and got it fixed ASAP.

Don’t forget to track your false positives and false negatives. False positives are those posts you rejected that should’ve been approved. False negatives are the bad posts that slipped through. Keeping an eye on these can help you fine-tune your moderation filters and guidelines for your next event.

Conclusion:

Whew! We’ve covered a lot of ground in our journey through the world of social wall moderation. From wrestling with the challenges to mastering engagement techniques, we’ve explored the ins and outs of keeping your social wall vibrant, safe, and on-brand. Remember, a well-moderated social wall can be the heartbeat of your event or brand, pulsing with authentic, engaging content that truly reflects your community.

Now, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it—there will be challenges. You’ll have times where it feels like you’re playing whack-a-mole with inappropriate posts. You might even have a few “oh crap” moments when something slips through that shouldn’t have. But that’s all part of the learning process. The key is to stay flexible, keep learning, and never lose sight of your ultimate goal—creating a space where your audience can genuinely connect with your brand and each other.

As you implement these strategies, always keep the human element in mind. Behind every post is a real person trying to connect, share, or be heard. Your job is to facilitate that connection while keeping things safe and on-brand. And remember, the world of social media is always evolving, so stay curious, keep experimenting, and never stop learning.