How to Avoid a Social Media Disaster
Implementing Social Media Protocols at Your Company
The Issues
The advent of social media has caused a seismic shift in the way that people consume, share and digest information. Independent data shows that purchasing behavior is influenced greatly by information sharing and user participation on social media and networking websites. But when companies see the tremendous potential for new business opportunities and client engagements they often “rush in” and forget that these activities are not without risks. Companies should recognize that members of their staff, in one seemingly meaningless click of a mouse, now have the capacity to destroy the brand reputation that they work so hard to develop and maintain. Fortunately, most staff members do refrain from displaying unfavorable content on the Internet (out of fear of losing their jobs), so the issue typically surfaces when staff members don’t think they are doing anything wrong, or are not aware of the line between what is appropriate, and what is not. Another issue for companies reflects their lack of knowledge about how to effectively use social media to their advantages. Typically these organizations have myriad questions and do not always know how to find the right answers. • How should we get started? • Who should control the process? • Should we hire outside help? • Which social media channels make the most sense for our business?
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The Solution
As most marketers already know, social media can be an effective marketing channel for businesses if the initiatives are executed with a sound strategy in place that reflects the organization’s prospecting, sales, marketing and brand maintenance goals. But companies remain nervous about implementing social media into company communications without policies in place that regulate the usage of their own employees, and provide guidance to the firm’s “social media experts” who will be executing the bulk of their strategic approach. This is precisely the point when a corporate social media protocol should be developed and employed to help companies feel comfortable about social media participation. A well-constructed protocol can help companies organize and prioritize goals, designate the individuals that should assume ownership of the brand’s online communications, while simultaneously ensuring that these communications broadcast messages that are consistent across all social media engagements.
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How It Works
Drawing on the experiences of other companies, including our agency’s very own clients, we have developed this document for you to use as a guide to implementing a corporate social media protocol that works. We have also included case studies of companies that successfully implemented a social media protocol so that you can glean insights into what has worked for others, and can effectively tailor your own approach.
Tips for Implementing Your Own Social Media Protocol
Step 1: Review your goals and objectives. You will want to begin this process by reviewing your marketing goals and objectives to determine how social media will fit into your marketing and online lead generation plans. Examine your marketing strategy and decide how you will use social media to further your sales. Generally, any engagement attempted on social media sites should reflect your target audience and lead generation goals. This may mean that your usage varies with each outlet and that you may have different sets of rules for each channel.
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Ask yourself these questions: • What are our marketing goals? • How will social media help further our marketing success? • How will we regulate social media use among our staff? • How can we help employees balance supporting the company while maintaining individuality on social media outlets? • How will a corporate social media protocol help us reach our social media goals? Prioritize your social media goals. Tracking conversations is important, but understanding the impact of engagements (leads generated) will help you define the social media priorities for your company. It may not be possible to do everything. Social media is changing continually, so experiment, and only focus on what will help you meet your goals.
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Step 2: Identify your company’s existing assets and delegate roles. Who should participate within your organization? You should identify skilled writers within your company that can persuasively write on the company’s behalf on discussion boards, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels. Additionally, you should determine who will be responsible for maintaining the design, structure and promotion of your company’s blog, fan pages, discussion boards, etc.
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A protocol for handling sensitive issues, such as the crafting of a response or non-response to negative blog posts is also essential. The most important thing is to define the decision maker for each issue. Knowing who the go-to executive will be for answers and solutions will assure that issues are addressed in a consistent and proper manner. Ask yourself these questions: • Which staff members are the strongest writers? • Which staff members will oversee the maintenance of social media use? • What can other members of my staff do to help implement and carry out our social media protocol? • Who will be responsible for decision making? Step 3: Establish a set of rules and guidelines Next you should put together a formal list of guidelines for using social media. This is important because you want your employees to understand that they represent the company on social media outlets and that their conduct can undermine, and benefit, the company’s bottom line. For instance, members of your corporate Facebook group should not have inappropriate pictures accessible to clients or potential clients. A set of rules will also help ease the transition for staff members as they shift their social media time to include both personal and professional usage. If you have a set of online protocols for staff already put in place, try to work with those guidelines.
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Ask yourself these questions: • What information do we want to keep private? • What kinds of information would we benefit from making public? • What personal social media use is appropriate? Inappropriate? • How will we measure which rules are helpful and which are not? • Who are our quality followers? How can we continually engage them? • How can we consistently send our messages? • Should we have a set of rules for proactive social media use? Reactive social media use? • How do we respond to positive engagement versus negative engagement? Your goal is to make sure that the content that your staff posts to social media sites reflects your intended messaging and positioning. Just as importantly, all policies should express that the goal of social media communications is to help spur new business opportunities. Make sure to review the guidelines with your company and gather feedback. Take time to listen to what ideas or concerns staff may have about the social media protocol.
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Activities and rules may also vary based on the specific tone of the communications. For example, if you were to receive a positive comment on one of your social media sites, you would respond with a “thank you,” and seek to advance the connection by following the individual on Twitter or engaging them on their own blog. If the tone of the communications is more negative, depending on the severity of it, you may want to respond privately, or pass the comment along to the proper decision maker within your agency who can more effectively address the situation. Bottom line is that you will need to track every single interaction that is made and have a set of protocols in place that can be referenced quickly. Step 4: Evaluate the impact and measure your goals Evaluate company goals and social media plans. Determine if your goals have changed, what is working and what needs to be restructured. • Measure your success. • Consider your objectives and results. • Evaluate the impact of your social media plans and the effectiveness of your social media protocol. • Make any necessary changes. • Constantly strive to align your goals with your social media strategy.
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Case Studies
The following case studies outline two companies’ different approaches to implementing corporate social media protocols. Both sets of guidelines are effective and serve as testaments to the benefits of implementing corporate protocols for different social media channels. Intel Intel is one company that has effectively implemented a set of comprehensive social media guidelines across the enterprise. The document is easily accessible to members of Intel’s staff, as well as the general public, on the company’s website. Intel’s guidelines are split into two parts: rules of engagement, and content moderation guidelines. Intel’s rules of engagement instruct employees to act in a particular way on social media sites, while the moderation guidelines reflect Intel’s focus on ensuring that all content posted should be thoroughly reviewed before it is published. Some of Intel’s most notable rules of engagement include: • Be transparent. • Write what you know. • Perception is reality. • It’s a conversation. • Be a leader.
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And, Intel’s three moderation guidelines are as follows: • Intel does not moderate content that staff members publish (“Intel content”). They allow blog authors to post directly without consent, as long as they have taken the required trainings. • For “anonymous content,” Intel requires moderation on all submissions. Content authors and space moderators must review the content for approval before the content can be published. • Intel does not require moderation of “registered content” before the content is published to the site. This type of content is immediately published and content is moderated post-publishing. More significantly, Intel has a set of protocols for each type of content, as well as a set of rules for the type of comments that may be posted to the company’s blogs. Intel’s protocol for comments says, “If the content is positive or negative and in context to the conversation, then we approve the content, regardless of whether it’s favorable or unfavorable to Intel. However if the content is ugly, offensive, denigrating and completely out of context, then we reject the content.” Intel’s guidelines are consistent with company goals and provide the necessary information for staff to effectively use social media to generate sales and accomplish objectives. View Intel’s full set of guidelines here: http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm
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Westin Copley Place 451 Marketing assisted The Westin Copley Place in implementing its social media engagement protocol. The protocol is designed to outline procedures, as well as proactive and reactive strategies, that will provide consistent messaging and extend the highest quality of service throughout Westin Copley Place’s social media assets. To further Westin Copley Place’s success with social media use, 451 Marketing identified social media community growth opportunities, content dissemination strategies and additional protocols for how to best handle challenges. The overall focus of the social media engagement planning stage was to produce practices and protocols that allow the hotel to best develop tangible and loyal relationships with existing and future customers. 451 Marketing’s plans will also include an execution stage, where the firm will examine and manage Westin Copley Place’s social media outlets, so that all accounts are continually populated with pertinent, relevant and helpful content. The act of scheduling and organizing content for dissemination via custom social media accounts also allows 451 Marketing to efficiently support an integrated approach through all of the Westin Copley Place’s social media channels. Finally, 451 Marketing makes daily assessments of Westin Copley Place’s social media accounts through as-it-happens monitoring, and also through monthly reporting. • As-it-happens monitoring allows 451 Marketing to immediately respond to customer queries and gauge how customers are responding to the distributed content. • Monthly reporting allows 451 Marketing and Westin Copley Place to review detailed monthly highlights of audience 11 interactions via the social media accounts.
Bottom Line
Monitor and manage your reputation on social media channels by implementing a set of easy-to-follow guidelines. When connections are made, whether with a client or prospect, nurture the relationship to ensure continued success that reflect your organization’s overall goals.
About 451 Marketing (www.451marketing.com)
451 Marketing is a Boston-based online lead generation and public relations agency. The agency specializes in creating and implementing customized communications campaigns for mid-size to large companies geared towards generating highly qualified business leads. Core competencies include: search marketing (SEO and PPC), social media marketing, traditional and online public relations, search leveraged public relations, Web 2.0 integrated website design and development, content development, and CRM integrations. For more information, visit www.451marketing.com.
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Additional Resources
“How to Utilize Social Media to Manage Your Brand’s Reputation” http://www.451marketing.com/Free-White-Paper-Social-Media.php “How to Make Your PR Campaign Generate Sales” http://www.451marketing.com/Free-White-Paper2.php Free SEO Analysis—Get a customized SEO report for your website. http://www.451marketing.com/Free-SEO-Analysis.php For additional needs you may contact one of our Inbound Marketing Strategists at strategy@451marketing.com
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