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Posts Tagged ‘policies’

The Importance of Social Media Policies

Within the social media landscape, perhaps the most uninspiring part is corporate policies that provide guidelines about what kind of activity is acceptable and what isn’t. These policies are important but they’re far from sexy and often viewed as an after-thought as opposed to a necessity.

For companies questioning the need or importance of social media policies, the issue was thrust into the spotlight last week when CNN fired its senior editor of Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, for a tweet she made about Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.

While CNN was criticized in some corners, it stood by the decision based on the fact Nasr breached the company’s social media policy.

Social media policies are nothing new. IBM, for example, introduced its “Social Computing Guidelines” five years ago, which features 12 basic rules.

Coca-Cola attracted a lot of attention earlier this year for a new social media policy that features 10 principles for online spokespeople.

  1. Be Certified in the Social Media Certification Program.
  2. Follow our Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies.
  3. Be mindful that you are representing the Company.
  4. Fully disclose your affiliation with the Company.
  5. Keep records.
  6. When in doubt, do not post.
  7. Give credit where credit is due and don’t violate others’ rights.
  8. Be responsible to your work.
  9. Remember that your local posts can have global significance.
  10. Know that the Internet is permanent.

With the attention given to CNN’s decision, there is no doubt it will cause more companies to seriously explore the need for social media policies, or re-examine their current guidelines.

For companies looking at getting into social media, corporate policies are as important as the strategic and tactical plans being implemented because they represent a major pillar in the overall program.

Without social media policies, employees have no insight or information about what they’re allowed to do, and what can get them in trouble.


By Mark Evans - July 12th, 2010 - 2 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

The Importance of Selling Social Media Internally

For the vast majority of social media programs, the focus is external. It’s aimed at customers, potential customers, partners, investors, suppliers and the media/bloggers.

But what about the people inside the company? Where do they fit into the scheme of things as a company embraces and deploys social media?

In many ways, getting employees to buy into social media is as important as the effort and investment made to make sure social media resonates externally. If a company plans to use social media to become more transparent, engage and have conversations, you have to believe this approach will impact how it communicates with employees.

If, for example, a company has a corporate culture in which the lines of communications between management and employees are not particularly open, it would be strange for a company to suddenly decide it wanted to have public conversations with millions of people outside the company.

Another consideration is whether a company is also willing to let is employees embrace social media – based on the idea that what’s good for the goose must be good for the gander. It is difficult for a company to get itself into social media but, at the same time, prevent its employees from getting involved as well.

A good example of a company that lets its employees engage in social media is IBM Corp., which has thousands of internal bloggers, who follow “Social Computing Guidelines” that feature 12 “rules”.

When a company lets its employees participate in social media, it’s another way of telling the world that it believes in social media as opposed to simply using it as a marketing and sales tool.

Amid the growing excitement about social media, companies often lose sight of the potential impact that social media could have on its organization and corporate culture. By maintaining an internal and external focus, a company can give itself a better chance of being success.

By Mark Evans - June 18th, 2010 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

Don’t Be Afraid of the Negative

negativeWhen many companies are looking at climbing on the social media bandwagon, one of first questions they tend to ask is: “What if someone says something bad or negative about us?”. More than the cost, time and resources need to move into social media, this issue is the biggest obstacle that many companies have to overcome.

The blunt reality is negative or bad comments, tweets, updates and conversations about a brand, product or service are part of the social media landscape. They are part of being involved in a game in which consumers have the power and ability to talk to you as much as you can talk to them.

So should the prospect of negative/bad comments keep a company on the sidelines? The short answer is: “No”.

Think of it this way, people are going to say negative/bad things about your brand, products and services regardless of whether your company has a social media presence or not. As a result, it just makes sense to be involved with social media you can be part of the action as opposed to standing in street clothes on the sidelines.

The key to negative/bad comments and conversations is having plan on how handle them. This plan should include details on how to assess negative/bad conversations, and a ranking system to determine whether it’s just someone venting or a legitimate concern or problems that should be quickly addressed and, hopefully, resolved.

The plan should also include who will be doing the responding, as well as a series of scenarios with the appropriate responses. This provide a framework to get engaged quickly given the real-time nature of social media and the expectation among people for quick responses.

The bottom line is while no one likes to be criticized, it happens so the best approach is being prepared for whatever comes along as opposed to not being involved at all.

By Mark Evans - January 18th, 2010 - 4 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

Do Work and Using Social Media Mix?

As social media becomes as much of a communications tool as e-mail, a major question facing many employers is whether they should let their employees use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, MySpace, etc. during working hours.

For employers, there are a few key considerations:

- How does social media use affect productivity? If people are spending time updating their Facebook status, posting tweets and uploading photos to Flickr, how much time does that take away from work?

- If you provide employees with access to social media services, how much of a risk is there that they will disclose corporate data and strategic plans – even if they aren’t blatantly doing it.

- How do you monitor and supervise what employees do on social media, particularly if it’s happening during work hours?

- What are the penalties for over-using social media?

Many companies have taken a drastic approach by simply not letting their employees use social media at work. It’s certainly one way to safeguard against any risks but it comes across as draconian.

Another approach is letting employees use social media but provide them with well-defined guidelines on what’s acceptable and unacceptable, what services they are allowed to use, and what’s a reasonable amount of time to be using social media.

This is a far more mature and pragmatic approach than simply banning social media. By providing well-articulated policies, companies are making responsible for their actions. It is a way to show employees that you respect their ability to make the right choices and decisions, while treating them as adults rather than children.

It’s also a way to encourage employees to embrace social media at a time when social media is becoming part of the corporate communications, marketing and sales arsenal. In some respects, letting them use social media is on the job training.

So, how does your company handle access to social media at work. Is it banned, or is it allowed? What about social media guidelines?

For more thoughts on social media at work, check out this TMCnet.com article, as well as this blog post by Forrester Research analyst Chenxi Wang on whether companies should let employees to use Facebook at work.

By Mark Evans - December 16th, 2009 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

The Need for Corporate Social Media Policies

In a recent blog post, we talked about the different ways that companies can scale their social media efforts. One of them is “outsourcing” your social media activities to employees, rather than having a social media team responsible for everything.

In theory, this approach makes sense because a lot more social media territory can be covered without having to hire more people to do it. It can also be a great way to harness the passion and enthusiasm of employees, particularly those excited about the Web and social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

In practice, however, bringing employees into the social media fold can be a challenge. Perhaps the biggest hurdle is establishing a corporate social media policy that provides clear guidelines to employees about best practices and acceptable behavior.

For employees to be effective social media evangelists, educators and ambassadors, it’s important to have policies in place that lay out the rules of engagement. These policies can be extensive and in-depth, or they can be succinct and straightforward. IBM’s social computing guidelines, which were established in 2005, consist of only 12 rules.

One of the most important considerations when creating social media policies is trust – employers trusting their employees will do the right things, and employees respecting that trust by behaving well and doing the right thing.

If fair and equitable social media policies are established, they can go a long way in addressing the second major challenge in “outsourcing” social media – convincing employees that getting involved is something they want to do. Unless employees buy in, scaling social media activities can be a difficult goal.

Despite the growing interest in social media, most companies have yet to establish social media policies. But giving the important role that social media is going to play in the future, it’s a matter of when, not if.

Update: Seth Godin has an interesting blog post about why social media is so difficult for many companies.

By Mark Evans - December 10th, 2009 - 4 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

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