The document outlines the importance of developing social media policies for organizations, emphasizing maximizing social media's potential while managing risks. Key elements of an effective policy include clarity, practical guidelines, and linking social media use to organizational values. It also discusses the need for employee transparency and respect, protection of confidential information, and handling of mistakes on social media.

1. Setting the Boundaries:
Developing Social Media
Policies for Your Organization

2. CanadaHelps.org
What is CanadaHelps?
A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and
affordable online technology to both donors and charities.
For Charities
A cost-effective means of raising funds online.
For Donors
A one-stop-shop for giving.
CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

3. Today’s Presenter
Kirstin Beardsley
Communications and Marketing Manager
CanadaHelps

4. Who Are You?

5. What are we
so afraid of?

6. “Engaging in social media
requires a shift in the way
companies view themselves and
their relationships with
[stakeholders].”
• Social Fish & Croydon Consulting Social Media, Risk and Policies
for Associations

10. Everyone has a megaphone

11. GETTING STARTED

12. Don’t start with a desire to CONTROL

13. Start with a
•
desire to use
Your starting point should be to maximize the potential of social media for your
organization.
the tools
effectively

14. Do you need a social media policy?
• Zappos: Be real and use your best judgment.

15. Benefits of a social media policy
• Setting expectations
• Educating staff and volunteers
• Protecting your brand
• Avoiding legal liability
• Clarifying the reasons you use social media

16. Before you begin:
Review existing policies

17. Before you begin:
Develop your social media strategy

18. Before you begin:
Clarify roles & responsibilities

19. Before you begin:
Identify the risks for your
organization

20. •What are the biggest risks
for your organization?

21. WHAT A SOCIAL MEDIA
POLICY IS NOT

22. A social media policy is not a guarantee
against mistakes

23. A static
document that
never gets
reviewed

24. A staff management tool

25. WHAT A GOOD SOCIAL
MEDIA POLICY IS

26. An opportunity to educate and create
dialogue with staff.

27. A chance to review your social media
strategy.

28. A balance
between
RULES and
GUIDELINES for
success.

29. •What are you hoping a
social media policy will
accomplish within your
organization?

30. YOUR POLICY

31. Elements of a Successful Social Media Policy
• Clarity
– Avoid legalese
– Use bullet points
• Light, Casual Tone
– Avoid punitive language
– Focus on the DOs, not the DON’Ts
• Practical
– Keep it short and easy to implement
– Should be intuitive to follow (i.e. people shouldn’t have to find
the policy before posting, or they won’t use it)

32. Anatomy of a Social Media Policy
• What the policy covers
• How your organization uses
social media
• Link social media to your
values and culture
• Elements of the policy
• Consequences & discipline
• Who to contact with
questions and concerns

33. These are the official guidelines for social
media use on behalf of Social Fish. If you’re
a Social Fish employee, intern or contractor
creating or contributing to any kind of social
media… these guidelines are for you.
- Social Fish social media guidelines

34. How your
organization
uses social
media
• Marketing and publicity
• Fundraising, donor engagement
and retention
• Connecting with others around
your cause
• Building relationship and online
community
• Collaboration and collective action
• Sharing expertise on our issues
• Movement building and social
change

35. As a company, we encourage communication
among our employees, customers, partners and
others – and [social media tools] can be great ways
to stimulate conversation and discussion.
- Oracle Social Media Participation Policy

36. Link social media to
your values and culture

37. The vision of the Coca-Cola Company to achieve
sustainable growth online and offline is guided by
certain shared values that we live by as an
organization and as individuals:
Leadership, Collaboration, Integrity,
Accountability, Passion, Diversity, Quality
- The Coca-Cola Company Online Social Media Principles

38. • Alternately, develop a set of social media
“guiding principles”
If you participate in social media, please follow
these guiding principles:
- Stick to your area of expertise
- Post meaningful, respectful comments
- Always pause before posting
- Respect proprietary information and content
- When disagreeing with others’ opinions, keep it
appropriate and polite
- Know and follow the Intel Code of Conduct and the Intel
Privacy Policy
- Intel Social Media Guidelines

39. THE HEART
OF YOUR
POLICY

40. Responsibility
• Clearly indicate that people are responsible for what
they post

41. You are responsible for your actions. Anything you
post that can potentially tarnish the company’s
image will ultimately be your responsibility. We do
encourage you to participate in the online social
media space, but urge you to do so properly,
exercising sound judgment and common sense.
- Coca-Cola’s Online Social Media Principles

42. The “Anonymous”
Supporter

43. Transparency
• Be clear about
who you really
are

44. • Let your
unique
personality
shine through

45. Identification on Social Media Tools
• How should your employees, volunteers, consultants
identify themselves on social media tools?
• CanadaHelps
• Kirstin Beardsley – with a
mention about where I work
• Kirstin@CanadaHelps

46. Don’t be a mole. Never pretend to be someone else
and post about DePaul. Tracking tools enable
supposedly anonymous posts to be tracked back to
their authors. There have been several high-profile
and embarrassing cases of company executives
anonymously posting about their own
organizations.
- DePaul University Social Media Guidelines

47. Transparency of Origin.
Dell requires that employees and other company
representatives disclose their employment with Dell
(e.g. Richard@Dell) in all communications with
customers, the media or other Dell stakeholders
when speaking on behalf of Dell.
- Dell’s Online Policies

48. The Not-So-Savvy
Marketer

49. Copyright
• Your policy should
explicitly direct
people to respect
copyrights,
trademarks and
other proprietary
marks

50. Respect copyrights. You must recognize and respect
others’ intellectual property rights, including
copyrights. While certain limited use of third-party
materials (ex. quotes that you will comment on)
may not always require approval from the copyright
owner, it is still advisable to get the owner’s
permission whenever you use third-party material.
Never use more than a short excerpt from someone
else’s work, and make sure to credit and, if possible,
link to the original source.
- Oracle Social Media Participation Policy

51. It’s a conversation
• Coach social
media users
to listen as
much or
more than
they
promote

52. The Eager Newbie

53. Disclosing Proprietary Information
• Your policy should explicitly state that no private,
confidential or proprietary information can be shared

54. Sharing Personal Information
• Include a reference to your privacy policy and a
reminder that it applies to social media

55. Protection of Confidential and Proprietary
Information. Dell employees and other company
representatives must maintain the confidentiality of
information considered Dell company confidential,
including company data, customer data, partner
and/or supplier data, personal employee data, and
any information not generally available to the
public.
- Dell’s Online Policies

56. Don’t Tell Secrets. It’s perfectly acceptable to talk
about your work and have a dialogue with the
community, but it’s not okay to publish confidential
information. Confidential information includes
things such as unpublished details about software,
details of current projects, future product ship
dates, financial information, research and trade
secrets.
- Sample Nonprofit social media policy @
www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com

57. The Passionate
Defender

58. Respect
• Clearly state expectations around respect:
– Don’t get into fights
– Disagree in a calm, logical manner
– Correct factual errors in a polite way
– Don’t respond to angry, disrespectful people
– Don’t escalate a disagreement

59. Examples
Avoid personal attacks, online fights, and hostile
personalities.
Build a reputation of trust among your peers,
clients, media and the public.
- Edelman Online Behavior Policies and Procedures

60. Exercise good judgement
• Accuracy of information
• Don’t offer advice
• Think about connections

61. Be Respectful.
Anything you post in your role as a Vanderbilt
employee reflects on the institution. Be
professional and respectful at all times on social
media sites. Do not engage in arguments or
extensive debates with naysayers on your site.
- Vanderbilt University Social Media Handbook

62. The Social
Media
Addict

63. Productivity
• Include a brief
statement about
the need to ensure
that all of your
employee’s work is
getting done

64. Don’t forget your day job. You should make sure
that your online activities do not interfere with your
job and commitments to customers.
- IBM Social Computing Guidelines

65. Adding value
• Write about what
you know
• Don’t spam
• Post when you
have something
meaningful to
share

66. Measure
Results
• Track the
effectiveness of your
social media presence

67. The Activist

68. Personal Use of Social Media
• Remind employees that their personal posts could
impact your organization’s reputation

69. A common practice among individuals who write
about the industry in which they work is to include
a disclaimer on their site, usually on their “About
Me” page… We suggest you include a sentence
similar to: “The views expressed on this [blog, Web
site] are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect
the views of DePaul University.
- DePaul University Personal Site Guidelines

70. Handling Mistakes
• Specific guidelines about how you want people to
handle their mistakes, such as:

71. Terms of Use
• Create a separate policy or Terms of Use document for
social media sites that you run and/or moderate

72. • Terms of Use:
– Statement of purpose for the community
– Community rules around respect
– Moderation and deletion of comments
– Privacy statement
– How you will use the posts (i.e. marketing
material, fundraising etc…)
– Prohibited posts:

73. Consequences and Discipline
• Details about how your organization intends to handle
violations of your social media policy

74. The
frustrated
expert

75. •What stands out for you?
•What are the most
important sections for your
organization’s policy?

76. TIPS & REMINDERS

77. Involve social media users
• Invite the people in your organization who use social
media to comment on and contribute to your policy

78. Teach the policy
• Don’t expect the
document alone to
work

79. Leave room for personality
• Social networks are about personal connections –
don’t undermine that

80. Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Review other policies and borrow liberally
• Good policies to look at: IBM, Oracle, Dell, Intel and
Coca-Cola

81. Review the Policy Regularly
• Things change
quickly online!

82. Let Go!
• You can’t always be
in control

83. Questions
THANK YOU!
kirstin@canadahelps.org
@CanadaHelps
www.mycharityconnects.org

84. Thank you for attending!
Slides will be up on:
www.slideshare.com/mycharityconnects
Check out www.mycharityconnects.org for more resources!
Questions, feedback, comments?
Email us at: amyh@canadahelps.org
Thank you