Managing the social media output at an online international clothing retailer is no easy task, especially if said retailer has millions of followers on a number of different social networks and accounts.

PerformanceIN spoke to ASOS’ social media manager, Sedge Beswick, about how she coped, what techniques she used and some of her thoughts on the existing social media landscape.

What is it about your job that you love the most?

Sedge Beswick: The thing I love the most about working in social media is that it’s instantly rewarding, I know within a matter of seconds whether something has gone down well and whether it’s been a success. I can take that insight and the learning’s and immediately implements them into other pieces of activity – I hate to say it but I’ve become a numbers girl, I love looking at the reach, the revenue, the engagement. It’s fascinating! It’s a nice added bonus that I work for ASOS, it’s a great place to be and I feel very passionately about the brand that I represent. 

What takes up your time as social media manager and how do you stay ahead of the social media trends?

SB: ASOS are on A LOT of social channels, I’m kept nice and busy! We have Facebook which has 2.3 million followers, G+ with 1.5 million followers then we have 67 Twitter accounts, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Spotify, YouTube… the list’s really quite endless but it’s what I love, we like to test things out to get a real feel of our customers wants and needs – once we work out what they’re engaging with, we can then put a strategy in place.

In your opinion, what have been the biggest changes in consumer attitudes to social networking since the start of the year?

SB: They’re more savvy! They know they have the power to broadcast and their peers will get a really timely, accurate and relevant experience of that brand from social – they no longer have to believe the company msg.

How far in advance do you plan content for social channels?

SB: We have a weekly schedule that we stick to but the best content is always the topical news stories so you always have to be prepped to swap everything around and push that content out as quickly as possible.

Why have you decided not to adopt Google+ Authorship on your blog?

SB: We’re canning our blogs.

Companies seem to be concentrating their efforts on Facebook – is this a dangerous move?

SB: Dangerous, no. Naive, maybe? The other platforms are catching up, they need some serious TLC too, without that level of understanding, development etc, you can’t expect the results.

What are the most common mistakes you see SMEs making in the social media/digital marketing space?

SB: Everyone’s learning, if you don’t try stuff out – you won’t know whether it’s going to go crazy or be a complete flop. The main broad thing is setting up social channels without realising the on-going implications. It’s not like the olden days when you’d take down a poster and everyone would forget – if you start out on social you have to be prepared to work and really dedicate the time to it.

For those thinking of getting into social media, any tips or pointers?

SB: Enjoy it, have fun..! That’s the only way you’ll really work out what works and what doesn’t work for your community. You’ll spend more hours on Social than you intended but you’ll also learn a whole heap of stuff, really quickly! Read, read everything you can. i.e. Mashable, this will help you get a real understanding of what’s going on and where you need to be.