PROPOSED SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Content
1. Overview 6. Revenue/Expense Goals
2. Social Media and St. Mike’s 7. Measures of Success
3. Objectives 8. Conclusions
4. Tools
5. Key Strategies Appendix 1: Social Media Policy Sample
Overview
Social media is making possible unprecedented levels of engagement with
stakeholders at every level. Through appropriate use of social media, nonprofit
organizations have the ability to engage their donors, volunteers and staff, as well as
those that currently use or have benefited from their charity in the past, as never before.
According to leading analytic site, Compete.com, Facebook has grown from 68 million
users this time last year to over 133 million users in January of 2010. In the same time
period, Twitter has grown from 5 million users to over 23 million users. Love it or hate
it, social media and online communications are leading the pack in communication – with
important ramification for marketers, public relations specialists and fundraisers.
But nonprofits are lucky that social media is booming in this way. Social media and
online communications are extremely cost-efficient and provide nonprofits with exactly
the tool they’ve always needed – an easy, grassroots way to communicate with donors,
educate the public and engage stakeholders. Social media is a new way to have a
conversation, and that allows nonprofit organizations to engage and cultivate prospects
and donors more easily than ever before. It allows users to build relationships with each
other and establish long-term engagement, and should be an important part of any
nonprofit’s overall brand strategy.
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Engaging Donors
Social media has an important role to play in any cultivation strategy because of
the opportunity it presents to connect with donors.
It should be considered a donor service as well as an engagement tool, because
it’s an easy way for donors and charities to communicate with each other –
allowing charities to address donor concerns first-hand, and share information
with supporters quickly.
Social media provides a ton of online fundraising options – from simple “Donate
Now” widgets added to websites, to fast and easy ways to get information out for
important campaigns. After the recent earthquake in Haiti, for example, Business
Week reported that social media brought in “astronomically higher” donation
amounts than is usual for disaster response. Why? Because through social media,
the appeal for donations spread with the rapidity that only information that goes
“viral” online can – reaching a much broader donor base than ever before.
Besides its potential as an effective fundraising tool, social media also acts as an
important communication and information tool, allowing charities to get the word
out about their mission and campaigns more easily than with traditional methods.
Social media has an important role to play in direct response campaigns,
increasing the scope of the appeal, and helping to measure results through the use
of specialized landing pages or “promotional” codes.
It’s an easy and cheap way to test out campaigns in the early stages, and can be
used to encourage supporters to organize their own grassroots fundraising
projects.
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Generation Y
Statistics show that social media is predominantly used by “Generation Y” – people
born after 1980. Generation Y is a key market to tap into, as it holds a lot of promise for
fundraisers and marketers.
There are more Gen Ys than Baby Boomers (79 million vs 78 million)
Generation Y will see social support diminish in their lifetime, as social services
become increasingly privatized and resources like public pension plans become
more restrictive than they were in earlier times.
Gen Y is socially conscious and engaged. This demographic is keen on
volunteering and making a difference in the world. They also want to gain
meaningful experience.
Gen Y is the most tech-savvy generation yet, and they are very plugged in and
engaged. Gen Y are team players. This is the generation that launched social
media.
They prefer to use new media like internet-enabled cellphones, websites and blogs
to traditional media, because they like two-way, interactive communication.
They are “episodic contributors” when it comes to charities. They are reluctant to
share too much personal information and not as brand-loyal as previous
generations, because they are a very marketing-savvy generation.
They are also the significant donors of the future. Engaging this huge audience
provides the opportunity to build meaningful lifetime relationships with
tomorrow’s Major and Planned Giving donors.
Adults 30-65
They’re online and they’re getting more familiar with new media every day.
According to Facebook’s statistics, this key demographic is showing more and more
representation online.
55+ is the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, with women over 55
jumping by 175.3% in 2009.
45% of Facebook users are now over the age of 26.
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Source: Statistics Canada
Adults 65+
They do have an online presence, although, not surprisingly, it’s not as strong as the
younger generations’. However, there is still a possibility to engage with this
demographic online because social media use is increasing across all age categories
eMarketer.com reports that social media use for users between the ages of 65-75
increased from 10% in 2007 to 36% in 2009, while 47.5% of Baby Boomers maintain at
least one social networking profile.
Statistically, people over 65 years of age give the highest donation amounts, and new
media gives them the opportunity to make those donations more easily.
Engaging Volunteers
Just as social media can be used to expand an organization’s donor pool, it can also
be used to recruit volunteers. Existing volunteers are more easily engaged when they can
connect with their charity through their favourite social networking sites, while putting
out a call for volunteers is as easy as updating the organization’s Facebook status,
tweeting about the need for volunteers on Twitter, or writing about volunteering on the
organization’s blog. What’s more, social media provides new opportunities for
volunteering through virtual volunteerism, giving more people – who may have been
unable to volunteer previously due to space or time restrictions – the ability to donate
their time and expertise.
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What counts as virtual volunteerism?
Participating in the organization’s social media: greeting new members or users
on interactive sites like Ning or virtual reality sites like Second Life, as an
organizational representative.
Guest-blogging, contributing content, translations, or other written services
Conducting online research
Providing professional consulting expertise
Providing online orientation to other volunteers
Providing direct contact with donors (thank-you calls or emails, for example)
…The possibilities are virtually endless!
Engaging Staff
Like volunteers, staff are the lifeblood of a nonprofit organization. Social media
provides opportunities for staff to attain new levels of involvement with the organization
they work for, helping them to stay connected with their job and feel engaged with the
important work they do. Through social media, staff have access to many of the kinds of
benefits they might have through a company intranet, such as identifying other members
of the company (for example, in a multi-national organization) through LinkedIn or
Facebook (many large companies are registered with Facebook so that when their
employees enter in the name of the organization they work for it becomes a link, allowing
them to quickly view other users who work for the same company).
Social media can also be used for employee training and education, and well as
collaborative work, like meetings or brainstorming sessions. The virtual world, Second
Life, provides an interesting platform for virtual meetings, complete with descriptive
avatars and customizable sets. Peer-to-peer tools like Skype are more commonly used to
conduct corporate conference calls, with the option of using webcams if available.
Social media can also be used to build collaborative resource centres, typically known
as “wikis,” where users can build and refine an organizational library or training
resources.
Many organizations also create their own internal social network or communication
platforms that allow employees to meet, talk to, and share with one another.
Social Media and St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation
St. Michael’s Hospital has a tremendous opportunity to engage with donors and key
audiences like never before by tapping into social media. Donors can be part of the
conversation, volunteers can achieve a higher level of engagement with the organization,
and patients and families can weigh in on how St. Michael’s has had a significant impact
on their lives. For physicians and staff, social media can build on infrastructure like
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intranets – allowing staff to communicate with each other in a new way – but it can also
allow them to speak to the world about their jobs and the important roles they play at the
hospital. Social media can improve the St. Michael’s brand, and increase the
foundation’s visibility across many channels. And it provides a much cheaper way to
reach donors than print media like direct mail, or email marketing campaigns. Let’s take
a look at the current state of St. Michael’s Hospital’s online presence and its current state.
Strengths
The main website is already highly usable, with prompts to donate and volunteer
posted in prominent spots.
St. Michael’s Hospital has a lot to talk about. As a world-renowned academic
health science centre, St. Michael’s does amazing things, from performing 25,000
day surgeries, treating 600,000 patients in clinics, seeing 54,000 patients in the
emergency room and providing round-the-clock care to 24,000 inpatients. As a
busy hospital that helps hundreds of thousands of patients every year, St.
Michael’s has no shortage of compelling personal interest stories and important
projects to talk to the world about, and that means there is a strong likelihood that
online content will receive a lot of traffic and that some material – perhaps a
video story with emotional content – can go viral. The hundreds of thousands of
people who go through St. Mike’s each year also already have a personal interest
in the hospital. The audience is there.
St. Mike’s has a variety of donation methods to promote – possibility to talk about
different ways of giving (articles on planned giving, tweets about in memoriam
gifts), as well as some events.
Some of the existing material on the website can be very productively spread
online. “Your Stories,” for example, is great, compelling material that would
appeal to a much wider audience.
People respond to “people charities” and St. Michael’s Hospital helps people.
Personal testimonials and first-hand accounts can be very powerful messages –
messages that are distributed easily through social media channels, be it a blog
post, a video uploaded to YouTube, or a series of photos presented on Flickr.
Weaknesses
St. Michael’s Hospital doesn’t seem to have any existing social media. This
could be filed under “Opportunities” as it means that there is a great potential for
St. Michael’s to grow in this area, but it also means that St. Mike’s is coming late
to the party. Other, similar charities may have had more time to get their share of
the pie.
It’s difficult for hospitals to garner a lot of brand recognition outside their sphere
of influence, which may lead to a period of plateau when attracting online
followers. The good news is that social media is an excellent brand tool, giving
your logo and mission a wide audience.
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Opportunities
Donors are increasingly more knowledgeable, and demanding, about charitable
governance. Social media is perfect for keeping donors informed! Social media
allows nonprofits to engage their donors in an authentic, personal way, creating
the trust that is such an important part of relationship-building.
Developing a social media presence is extremely low-cost. Although the work
can be time-intensive (online presence must be regularly maintained), most
platforms are free.
Social media helps communications and branding: when it’s important to control
the message, social media will allow St. Mike’s to keep the community updated in
real time, and on-brand.
Threats
It’s becoming a competitive market for nonprofits in social media. Online media
is booming and many nonprofits have already started taking advantage of what
social media has to offer. St. Michael’s Hospital will have to work hard in the
early stages of their online presence to catch up.
Many Toronto hospitals already have represented on social media: Sick Kids,
Mount Sinai and Sunnybrook hospital are updating their supporters on Twitter,
while virtually every Toronto hospital is represented on Facebook.
Objectives
By establishing a strong online presence through social media channels, St. Michael’s
Hospital Foundation can:
Build measurable levels of donor engagement and loyalty
o Attract more than 4,000 “followers, fans and friends” through social
media, based on the number of followers of similar-sized charities. Of this
amount, converting 2.5% of these to prospects in Raiser’s Edge through
quarterly drives to capture information (100 new prospects) in the first
year.
Generate $20,000 in direct revenue. It’s almost impossible at this point to know
what the ROI on social media is, and every nonprofit is trying to figure it out. I
believe this is a conservative estimate of the amount of growth that can be
generated simply by getting St. Michael’s Hospital onto the radar. And, of
course, there is the potential to earn much more. Since social media is primarily
an engagement and cultivation tool, the ROI is long-term – more in line with our
expectations for Planned Giving campaigns than direct response campaigns.
Increase brand visibility across online channels, to be measured by monthly
tracking of online mentions of St. Michael’s Hospital.
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Increase volunteerism by 5% in first year, by engaging new volunteers through
social media channels. Improve volunteer retention over the previous year by
increasing volunteer engagement levels. Create strategy in 2010 to expand into
virtual volunteerism, for review by volunteer coordinator/VP, Development.
Increase patient and family engagement by providing new mediums for sharing
stories and experiences, such as creating videos of success stories for uploads to
blog and/or YouTube, and expanding the scope of “Your Stories” through online
channels, including email newsletter.
Engage physicians and staff through special staff groups on networking sites like
Facebook, guest contributions to blog and Twitter, and using these mediums to
tell their stories about working at St. Michael’s Hospital.
Tools
The St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation blog.
o Easily done using online software like Wordpress or Blogger, or managed
through web developer (i.e. www.stmichaelshospital.com/blog)
o Content:
Daily updates – or as reasonable. At least three a week.
Content is extremely high-quality, and uses search-friendly text
content and embedded graphics, like videos.
Patient success stories. Ask an Expert? Podcasts?
Includes post ratings and comments for visitor feedback.
o The bloggers:
President, Alayne Metrick
One or two prominent doctors
Board member
New Media Officer (writes majority of content for all contributors
and manages approvals from signatories)
o Other features: can be used to test content – what gets a lot of hits, SEO,
etc.
Twitter
o Daily updates – or as reasonable
o Monitor for relevant topics and reactions in community
Facebook
o Official page
Regular posts – stay on fans’ news feeds, but not so many that fans
“hide” updates
o Causes
o “I was born at St. Michael’s hospital” – expand group
o Employee groups
o Advocacy and health groups
o Events
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Other fundraising sites, like CanadaHelps.org – although these can sometimes cut
into a charity’s profit. Needs analysis.
Survey/research to find out which social networks donors, volunteers and staff are
currently using and where they’d like to see St. Mike’s represented.
o Including participant’s interest level in joining a St Mike’s online
community – might be a long-term option.
High-quality content that gets posted to popular bookmarking sites like
Del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati or StumbleUpon (increasing traffic to site)
Email newsletters (can be based on Pulse or aggregated blog content)
Google Analytics, Keyword Tool, Qwitter and other online tools to track results.
Microsoft Excel to produce internal reports.
Raiser’s Edge
o Collecting prospect information when possible.
Adapting the Corporate Culture and Governance
So you’ve set up your social media platforms and you and your staff are engaging
with donors and volunteers in a very personal, conversational way – great! But there’s
one thing that corporate social media users should never fail to consider, and that’s the
possible ramifications if someone on your staff gets a little too personal. Anything said
in cyberspace is a public announcement made to the world. That’s why corporate social
media users should consider implementing an organization-wide social media policy (see
Appendix 1 for a sample) and make sure that staff are educated on what is and what is not
appropriate online behaviour.
Key Strategies
1. Research – understand the audience
a. Survey donors, staff, volunteers and possibly patients to see what
social media they currently use and what platforms they would be
interested to see St. Mike’s represented on.
2. Create blog
3. Set up online profiles
a. Facebook
b. Twitter
4. Create email newsletter
a. Email newsletter can be based on St. Michael’s Pulse or a round-up of
blog content
b. Information provided by subscribers is inputted in Raiser’s Edge by
New Media Officer
5. Establish corporate social media policy (see: Adapting the Corporate Culture
and Governance)
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6. Work with IT department/website administrator to set up widgets on
www.stmichaelshospital.com, driving visitors to the blog, as well as Twitter
and Facebook profiles.
7. Measure results
a. Monitor results against objectives using web analytics, including
Google Analytics and Qwitter.
b. Report against results monthly, providing VP, Development, with
spreadsheet detailing number of “followers”, “fans” and “friends,” as
well as prospects and conversions.
8. Capture information
a. Monitor online mentions of St. Mike’s using TweetDeck search
features, Google Alerts and Technorati. Provide monthly feedback on
St. Michael’s Hospital mentions to Marketing and Development teams.
i. What are people saying? Is St. Mike’s in control of the
message/image? Are there issues that need to be addressed?
b. Quarterly, launch information-capture campaigns to build prospect
pool in Raiser’s Edge. Prospect information will be captured and
tracked by New Media Officer in Raiser’s Edge.
i. Drives to subscribe to newsletter on online channels
ii. Ask “followers, fans and friends” to complete a survey on St.
Michael’s Hospital
iii. Draws or contests for prizes
c. Quarterly, provide statistical information on St. Mike’s “followers,
fans and friends” to Marketing department to allow for targeted
marketing.
i. Age and demographic info provided by Facebook
ii. Survey information captured through information-capturing
campaigns
9. Work with Development team to develop strategy for converting prospects to
donors.
Revenue/Expense Goals
The great news about social media is that its major platforms are free to use.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr… these are the sites that are revolutionizing online
media, and all of them are free.
Many of the tools needed measure the success of a social media strategy are free as
well. Google Analytics is one of the leading tools for website analysis. Google
Adwords: Keyword Tool makes analyzing your site’s keywords for prominent SEO
content easy and it’s also free. Statcounter provides a broad analysis of website traffic
through an easily-installed (and free) invisible counter.
Furthermore, many of the tools that are needed to produce a good social media
presence are most likely already set up and in use at St. Michael’s Hospital. To put this
strategy into action, the New Media Officer will require an internet-enabled computer
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and access to Raiser’s Edge to capture data – as well as the usual suite of Microsoft
Office software in order to produce reports and documents.
For the creation of St. Michael’s Hospital blog, it is strongly suggested that the
organization’s web team set up a special page on the existing website (for example,
www.stmichaelshospital.com/blog). Graphic design can be outsourced, although it is
recommended that the existing web developers simply lift the existing graphics from the
main site (i.e. logo) and set up a simple template for blog-style posting. Predicted cost in
man-hours for web development is 4 hours.
Additionally, the costs include the New Media Officer’s salary and possibly the cost
of an additional license for Raiser’s Edge.
What’s more, having a strong online presence can actually reduce costs, because it
plays a crucial role in providing donor services (reducing cost-per-issue-resolution, for
example) and can be integrated – and in many cases replace – direct marketing
campaigns.
Cost Comparison: What About Outsourcing?
Projected costs:
Launching a blog from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation (including customer interaction) – $3,000-
$6,000 a month
Launching a blog from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation at first, eventually take over – $3,000-
$6,000 a month for 3-6 months
Launching a blog from the ground-up, outsourcing some content creation till you can handle all – $2,500-$5,000
a month for 3-6 months
Restructuring an existing blog to improve your efforts – $3,000-$6,000 a month for 3-6 months
Limited coaching to improve your existing blogging efforts – $1,500-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months
Launching a new presence on Twitter and outsourcing all content creation and customer interaction – $2,000-
$5,000 a month
Launching a new presence on Twitter and outsourcing all content creation at first, gradually taking over – $2,000-
$5,000 a month for 3-6 months
Restructuring an existing Twitter presence to improve your efforts – $1,500-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months
Limited coaching to improve your existing efforts on Twitter – $1,500-$3,000 a month for 3-6 months
Launching a Facebook Fan Page from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation and customer interactions –
$3,000-$6,000 a month
Launching a Facebook Fan Page from the ground-up, outsourcing most of the content creation at first, gradually
taking on more – $3,000-$6,000 a month for 3-6 months
Launching a Facebook Fan Page from the ground-up, outsourcing some content creation at first, till you can
handle all – $2,500-$5,000 a month for 3-6 months.
Restructuring an existing Facebook Fan Page to improve your existing efforts – $2,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6
months
Limited coaching on improving your Facebook Fan Page – $1,500-$3,000 a month for 3-6 months
Comprehensive Social Media Strategy, assuming outsourcing of all content creation through all channels (not
recommended) – $5,000-$12,000 a month
Comprehensive Social Media Strategy, assuming outsourcing of most content creation at first, with company
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assuming more responsibility as project proceeds – $4,000-$9,000 a month for 4-12 months
Creation of a Social Media Strategy, with limited coaching and assistance with execution of the strategy – $3,000-
$6,000 a month for 3-9 months
Restructuring of existing Social Media Strategy, with limited coaching and assistance with strategy – $2,500-
$6,000 a month for 3-9 months
Limited coaching on improving the execution of an existing Social Media Strategy – $2,000-$5,000 a month for
3-6 months
Social Media Strategy Audit – $2,000-$5,000
From: http://mackcollier.com/so-how-much-will-a-social-media-strategy-cost/
Revenue Expectations
St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation revenue from all sources in 2008/2009:
$30,597,000
Estimated number of donors to St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation based on
average donation amount of $488: 62,698
Estimated number of donors that can be converted from prospects acquired
through information-capturing campaigns (based on some calculations I did about
other nonprofits’ growth patterns): 100
Additional revenue expected in 2010 with addition of increased online presence:
$20,000
But remember! Gaining online presence through social media is not about raising
money – at least, not immediately. It’s about increasing visibility and building donor
loyalty over time. Revenue gains associated with social media are more in line with
revenue gains associated with Planned Giving campaigns – the projects come to fruition
long after the groundwork has been laid.
How Donors Would Support the Charities that Communicated With Them More Effectively
93% would definitely or probably give again;
64% would give more;
74% would continue to give indefinitely
70% of donors would increase the overall value of their philanthropy if charities were more effective at
acknowledging their gifts and communicating results.
From Donor-Centred Fundraising
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Measures of Success
$20,000 in additional revenue in fiscal 2010/2011.
4,000 “followers, fans and friends” in first year.
100 new prospects added to Raiser’s Edge in the first year.
Increased brand visibility across online channels, as measured by monthly
tracking of online mentions of St. Michael’s Hospital.
Increase volunteerism by 5% in first year, and improved volunteer retention over
previous year levels.
Increased patient and family engagement through new mediums for engagement.
Increased level of engagement among physicians and staff through social media
participation
Web analytics: increasing number of visits to blog, number of followers on
Twitter, number of friends on Facebook, etc.
Content that gets bookmarked to sites like Del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati or
StumbleUpon
Subscriber interest in email newsletters
Adherence to Social Media Policy within organization
Traffic to social media from www.stmichaelshospital.com
Increased amount of demographic information available for Marketing
department, as captured quarterly by New Media Officer
Conversion of prospects uncovered through online channels into donors
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Conclusions
Remember that, above all, social media is an investment in the future. It’s possible to
see a fair amount of growth in the first year, as St. Michael’s does not currently have a
strong online presence in social media channels, and the initiation of that presence will
initially put the organization into people’s minds – especially existing donors. The
biggest return, though, comes years down the line, after social media has helped to build
solid and lasting relationships with St. Michael’s Hospital’s supporters. Social media
isn’t the answer… but it is most definitely part of the solution.
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Appendix 1: Social Media Policy Sample
If you are developing a Web site or writing a blog that will mention your company
and / or our current and potential products, employees, partners, customers, and
competitors, identify that you are an employee of your company and that the views
expressed on the blog or Web site are yours alone and do not represent the views of the
company.
Unless given permission by your manager, you are not authorized to speak on behalf
of the company, nor to represent that you do so.
If you are developing a site or writing a blog that will mention our company and / or
our current and potential products, employees, partners, customers, and competitors, as a
courtesy to the company, please let your manager know that you are writing them. Your
manager may choose to visit from time to time to understand your point of view.
Confidential Information Component of the Blogging Policy
You may not share information that is confidential and proprietary about the
company. This includes information about trademarks, upcoming product releases, sales,
finances, number of products sold, number of employees, company strategy, and any
other information that has not been publicly released by the company.
These are given as examples only and do not cover the range of what the company
considers confidential and proprietary. If you have any question about whether
information has been released publicly or doubts of any kind, speak with your manager
and the Public Relations department before releasing information that could potentially
harm our company, or our current and potential products, employees, partners, and
customers. You may also want to be aware of the points made in the non-disclosure
agreement you signed when you joined our company.
Your company logo and trademarks may not be used without explicit permission in
writing from the company. This is to prevent the appearance that you speak for or
represent the company officially.
Respect and Privacy Rights Components of the Blogging Policy
Speak respectfully about the company and our current and potential employees,
customers, partners, and competitors. Do not engage in name calling or behavior that will
reflect negatively on your company's reputation. Note that the use of copyrighted
materials, unfounded or derogatory statements, or misrepresentation is not viewed
favorably by your company and can result in disciplinary action up to and including
employment termination.
Your company encourages you to write knowledgeably, accurately, and using
appropriate professionalism. Despite disclaimers, your Web interaction can result in
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members of the public forming opinions about your company and its employees, partners,
and products.
Honor the privacy rights of our current employees by seeking their permission before
writing about or displaying internal company happenings that might be considered to be a
breach of their privacy and confidentiality.
Competition Component of the Blogging Policy
You may not sell any product or service that would compete with any of your
company's products or services without permission in writing from the president. This
includes, but is not limited to training, books, products, and freelance writing. If in doubt,
talk with your manager and the president.
Your Legal Liability Component of the Blogging Policy
Recognize that you are legally liable for anything you write or present online.
Employees can be disciplined by the company for commentary, content, or images that
are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary, harassing, libelous, or that can create a hostile
work environment. You can also be sued by company employees, competitors, and any
individual or company that views your commentary, content, or images as defamatory,
pornographic, proprietary, harassing, libelous or creating a hostile work environment.
Media Contact Component of the Blogging Policy
Media contacts about our company and our current and potential products,
employees, partners, customers, and competitors should be referred for coordination and
guidance to the Public Relations or Human Resources department. This does not
specifically include your opinions, writing, and interviews on topics aside from our
company and our current and potential products, employees, partners, customers, and
competitors.
From About.com
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