designing an effective social media policy

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: christina@oho.com Twitter: @christinainge Website, Newsletter, Blog:

oho.com LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/in/christinainge Personal blog on marketing:

MeasurableMarketingStrategy.com