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Social Media Policies:<br />Does anyone have them?<br />Sarah WallaceFreelance Writer, Editor, Consultantwww.sarahwallace.com <br />

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For 75% of corporations, the answer is “No”<br />More than 34,000 employers surveyed worldwide were asked if they had a social media policy in place<br />Percentage of Employers With Social Media Policy<br />Data from Manpower Inc. International<br />

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Why should you have a social media policy<br /><ul><li>Efficiency

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Consistency

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Privacy/Security</li></ul>Reputation<br />“Taking account of the time spent debating, formulating, managing and executing social media campaigns — not to mention creating content — makes it clear that money is at stake and a well-thought-out plan is needed.” <br /> - Paul Verna, Senior Analyst at Emarketer<br />

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Okay, where do I start?<br />A comprehensive social media policy will serve two purposes<br />Implementation<br />Employee Usage<br /> Guidelines for how employees can or cannot usesocial media in or outside of the workplace<br /> Guidelines for how the business will implement/ utilize social media<br />

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Implementation: Time<br />Time <br /> Whether it’s blogging, Twitter or Facebook, it takes time to do social media. <br /> Consider this when you’re establishing your social media budget and establishing policy guidelines.<br /><ul><li>Creation

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Engagement

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Monitoring</li></ul>Social Media Entails:<br />

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Implementation: Who<br />The person doing your social media should be:<br /><ul><li>Someone who’ll properly represent the voice of your company

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Be able to communicate in an articulate and concise manner</li></ul>?<br />Who<br />?<br />Why?<br />Because you’ll find you not only use social media as a marketing/branding tool but as a sales, customer service and even [in some cases] an IT tool. The person doing your social media will be representing your business from all these fronts.<br />

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Implementation: Consistency<br /> Make sure your social media content is in line with other departments. Communication is key.<br />Traditional Marketing/PR<br />Customer Service<br />Production<br />

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Implementation: Communication<br />Communication is key because it prevents:<br /><ul><li>Misinformation

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Redundancy

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Contradiction

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Inconsistent verbiage and tone</li></ul>*This is crucial among departments and also if more than one person is conducting social media<br />

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Implementation: Copyright & Fair Usage<br />Be aware of copyright and fair usage when writing<br /> It’s not rocket science, but make sure whoever is doing your social media knows to cite and give credit where it is due.<br />

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Implementation: Damage Control<br />Have a procedure in place for damage control<br /><ul><li>How do you respond

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Who can respond

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Chain of command

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Accessibility</li></ul>Two senior staff members who worked at an Alabama NBC affiliate station were suspended after a billboard with a live Twitter feed seemingly accused its three anchors of rape. <br />

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Implementation: Tracking & Monitoring <br /> Have a baseline measurement prior to implementing social media then track your progress along the way<br /><ul><li>Web hits

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Fans/Followers

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Blog comments

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Number of Replies/Retweets

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Conversion to sales</li></ul>Quantitative<br />Qualitative<br /><ul><li>Are we part of industry conversations?

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Are we participating in platforms where we previously had no voice?

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Are we building a better relationship with our key audience/customers?</li></li></ul><li>Implementation: Security Issues<br />Use Different Passwords onEach Social Media Portal<br />SixWeight<br />Mike Spinney <br /> Privacy Consultant and Principal<br /> Ph. 978-660-4053Email: mike@sixweight.com<br />Mike provides guidance on policy development for companies concerned with the security and privacy implications of social media use by employees.<br /> It’s important you use different usernames and passwords for each portal otherwise, if they figure one, they’ll hack the rest<br />Install Recommended Plugins<br /> Installing recommended plug-ins will help keep your website secure from hackers and exploits<br />InfoSecurus, Inc.David Jacquet<br />Ph: (207) 514 0599 Email: dmj@infosecurus.com<br />Web: http://www.infosecurus.com<br />An information security services firm<br />Change Default Admin Name<br /> If a hacker already knows your username that’s half the battle, it’s highlyrecommended to rename the defaultadmin accountto a unique user name<br />

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Employees: Usage<br /> Employee usage and behavior can effect productivity and reputation of your company<br /><ul><li>Usage during work

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Divulging of proprietary information

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Misrepresenting the company</li></li></ul><li>ABOUT SARAH WALLACE<br />Sarah Wallace works as a freelance writer specializing in social media writing services. She helps clients with their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletters, web copy, Search Engine Optimization and press releases. In addition to performing these services, Wallace also provides editing, consulting and monitoring/analysis.<br />Wallace has spent the past two decades writing for both print and web and has worked as a reporter and editor for various newspapers, magazines and web sites. She has also served as a technical writer for organizations like the Smithsonian and KPMG, a research analyst for the telecom industry and a screenwriter for PBS.<br />Wallace currently maintains her own blogs and is a guest blogger for the Guiding Stars web site. You may learn more about Wallace’s writing services at http://www.sarahwallace.com or email her at sarah@sarahwallace.com<br />