designing an effective social media policy
Post on 14-Sep-2014
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Slides from my PodCamp Boston 2011 session on designing an effective social media policy for your organization.TRANSCRIPT
CREATING AN EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Christina Inge
What Is the Perception?
Companies fear: People are going to do bad things They will harm your brand They will goof off or allow threats into your
system The organization will lose control of their
message
Assumption: You’re not in a regulated industry. In a regulated industry, it’s all different.
The Reality is the Opposite
In most real-world scenarios, there’s less question of the harm team members can do to your brand than the harm commercializing their personal communications can do to your team’s brands—and yours.
Don’t turn
people into
billboards
Social media doesn’t work as well if it’s siloed within marketing
Customer insights, product insights-you don’t want those experiences mediated
Lack of authentic voice
At the Same Time, You Need the Team
What Is a Real Social Media Policy? Creates boundaries on both sides Sets expectations Sets limits Empowers voices
Policy In Action
Encourage authentic participation Evangelize Coach
Participation Across Functions You need as many hands on
deck as possible if it’s going to be effective
If social is part of your strategy, it needs to be part of your company
All-Hands Approach: More human More multifaceted, reaching
new audiences More credible More resilient
Evangelizing
Show value Make it simple Low barrier to participate Communicate values Communicate brand
Show Value
Show metrics that illustrate that social media is generating traffic, conversions
Make It Easy
Start people with simple, one-off tasks Tailor to existing social media
participation
Low Barrier to Participate
Reward first steps Eliminate roadblocks:
Make access easy Standardize processes and
make them widely available
Communicate Values
Strictures backfire; instead, communicate your org’s values and tie them to social communication: Fairness Respect Tastefulness
Communicate Brand
Ensure consistency in communications throughout departments by making sure your branding statements are complete
“Brand” is not your logo, but what your brand means: sporting, family, green, etc.
Once people get the brand guidelines, they have the tools to live them in their communication
Keeping Social Media Authentic
Don’t make use of personal account required Ever For anybody
Balance between making it easy and encouraging individual expression: Have an easy option: pre-
written, automated (busy executive, spreading a basic announcement)
Coaching, modeling Start with support, then move
to do-it-yourself
Community Moderation
If your whole staff get to share moderation duties, or participate in your online community, you need a whole new set of rules.
Set broad expectations of support, engagement: Time Content Participation
Set expectations based on role: Customer service Technical support: IT Market research: marketing, C-
suite
Putting It Together
Create written guidelines that protect the brand and the team.
Have meetings to answer questions
Offer coaching sessions to anyone who will be doing front-line social communication
Thank You!
Christina Inge Email: [email protected] Twitter: @christinainge Website, Newsletter, Blog:
oho.com LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/christinainge Personal blog on marketing:
MeasurableMarketingStrategy.com