by 
Lauren Galli, #Strella Creative Director
We live in an emotion-driven society, and at times, our emotions have the ability to cloud our judgment. We tend to go in one of two directions, we are either over-sensitive to others or completely insensitive. When considering a social media presence for your business, a qualified social media manager must be able to reach your audience without being offensive while at the same time getting the point across.
Since I started working in social media, I’ve dealt with a large variety of clients. Some of the clients I was in full support of their business, wholeheartedly supporting what they did and the services they offered. However, there were businesses that I didn’t understand or support. Neither one of these emotionally charged feelings influenced the way I did my job, because they couldn’t. There is no room for emotion social media.
We all remember the iconic line from the movie “A League of Their Own” where Tom 
Hanks tells a female baseball player that, "There's no crying in baseball." Similarly, there is no crying in social media. We cannot allow our emotions or personal feelings to drive the way we handle a client’s account. If we made these allowances, our work would be subpar for the people with whom we disagreed or just plain didn’t like.
This is the ugly side of social media. You’re going to have that client with whom you just don’t feel the connection. Clients may not appreciate your voice when it comes to blog-writing or they may have a different sense of humor than you. This is where the chance of having your feelings hurt comes in. As a writer, your voice is the most important tool in your arsenal and if people don’t get it, it’s hurtful. When managing someone else’s social media, you’ve got to figure out a way to pick up THEIR voice and check your emotions at the door.
I’ve had clients come back to me and say they didn’t like the way I had written a blog or they didn’t like something I had included in their content. At first, it was bothersome and I got angry or offended, threw a little temper tantrum like a petulant four year old, and then got over it. What I’ve learned is this: each client has a right to their own voice and I’ve got to figure out what that voice is or risk losing the client. I can’t let my emotions get involved if a client doesn’t like what I have to say.
I’ve reworked more content and blogs than I can count in order to appease a client. While it can sometimes be time-consuming and emotionally driven, we’ve got to push those feelings to the back of our heads and consider who the client is and what they want. There have been clients in the past with whom I didn’t necessarily agree, but I did my job as though I wholeheartedly supported their product. I leaned very early that my personal feelings are not part of my job.
We've had clients say hateful things or even lash out irrationally on us, and while the human part of your personality wants to feel upset, the show must go on. As a service-based business, we must cater to a client’s needs and our feelings really can’t matter. No matter how hurt or how much we dislike what we’re composing, emotions have to be put to the side because it isn’t our product; it isn’t our social media.
It is part of my personality when I’m writing something to pour myself into it, 100%. For the most part, this has been a positive experience and I’ve acquired the knack of writing for other people. However, when a client offers feedback, no matter how negative the feedback might be, I am forced to remind myself that this isn't personal. As in any profession, it's strictly businesses - and there's no crying in social media!
