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How To Draft A Social Media Policy For Your Company
John Trader – Communications Specialist, Public Relations and Social Media,
M2SYS Technology
If tweeting during the presentation, please use hash tag #smpolicy
@John_Trader1 @m2sys [email protected]
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Agenda
• Why Let Employees use Social Media?• Why Have a Social Media Policy?• Elements of an Effective Social Media Policy
o Policy and Platformso Imageo Etiquetteo Communityo Common Occuranceso Respect and Protecto Productivity and Valueo Monitoring
• Resources
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“With great power comes great responsibility.”
-- Uncle Ben, Spiderman
Why let Employees use Social Media?
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Why let Employees use Social Media?
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Why let Employees use Social Media?
What Does Social Media Mean?
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Why let Employees use Social Media?
• Leverage your brand
• More customers and prospects use social media
• Employee retention and hiring
• Engaged employees are more valuable
• Reinforces a strong, positive culture
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Why let Employees use Social Media?
• Trust employees to make the right decisions
• Accountability
• Millennials expectations
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Why have a Social Media Policy?
• Employees are digital footprint
• Allows you to spell out company’s beliefs
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Why have a Social Media Policy?
• Where are the opportunity and risks?
• Is it better to develop at the beginning or develop organically?
• What should the employee take away after reading the policy?
• Who should the policy be distributed to?
• How much information should we include?
Additional Questions to Answer
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Elements
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Policy Should Come Before Plan
I = Policy E = PlanC = If plan has already been developed
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyDefine Platforms and Channels Covered
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Image
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Company Specific or Personal Accounts?
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyCompany Specific or Personal Accounts?
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyConsistency
Coca-Cola Facebook Page Coca-Cola Twitter Page
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyTake Responsibility for What You Write
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Etiquette
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
• No personal attacks
• Don’t poke or goad crazy people
• Don’t use slurs, derogatory, inflammatory language
• Refrain from offensive jokes or comments
• Stay away from discussions on religion or politics
Using Common Sense
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Some Examples of What Not to Say
Kenneth Cole Disaster Red Cross Slip Up
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Reminders to Include on Etiquette
• Stress the permanency of the Internet – things do not disappear!
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep
• Be quick to correct mistakes and admit that you are wrong
• Consistency - stick to proper etiquette on company and personal accounts
• Remind what is acceptable and what is not
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Community
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Balance of Personal and Professional Information
• The 80/20 rule?
• Be real
• Be transparent
• Not a competition
• Stay away from pseudonyms and false screen names
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Common Occurrences
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Negativity & Complaints – How do You Handle?
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
Which Topics are Off Limits?
• Religion
• Politics
• Competition
• Jokes
• General rule – keep your emotions in check
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Respect & Protect
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyCopyrights, Trademarks, Fair Use & NDA’s
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
• Make employees aware of their obligations
• Set clear guidelines – define
• When in doubt, ask
• Policy on using personal accounts
Confidential and Proprietary Information
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Productivity & Value
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
• Execute core competencies
• Find the right balance
• Respect work committments
• Set priorities
Productivity
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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy
• Return on engagement
• Identifying opportunities
• Relevance
• Up-to-date (real time)
• Alignment
Value
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Monitoring
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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyMonitoring
• Make privacy guidelines clear and understand the laws • Define platforms covered
• Set parameters for pre- employment screening
• Invest in monitoring software
• Involve legal
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Resources
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Books
The Social Media Management Handbook – Nick Smith, Robert Wollan, Catherine Zhou
Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Company – Steve Helland
Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization – Oliver Blanchard
Monitoring Software
http://employee-monitoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://monitoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
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Companies
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Web sites
http://www.techipedia.com/2008/social-media-etiquette-handbook/
Etiquette
Policy
http://www.compliancebuilding.com/about/publications/social-media-policies/
Monitoringhttp://www.natlawreview.com/article/employers-using-social-media-to-monitor-employees-risks-and-liability
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Q & A