Imagine Your Reality

Different companies have their own cultures and not surprisingly the culture also extends to online interactions, including social media. Consequently social media policies that are developed for companies need to consider the culture that the policies are being developed for. For example, in a recent meeting with a community college, it was suggested that instead of having social media policies, it was better to develop social media guidelines. Semantics? Not really and dismissing the word change as a semantic would be dismissing the entire culture of the community college. That’s not a wise move if you really want to understand how they’ll use social media.

For that community college, social media guidelines respected a key belief they have about respecting the authority and autonomy of different departments. By using guidelines, the culture of independence is respected, while at the same time letting those departments know that there are suggested guidelines if they so choose. If we chose to use the word policy, it would sound like we were trying to centralize the different departments, which would go against a community history and culture that values independence, and not just in the departments but also with students in general.

Understanding the company culture and history is essential to understanding how a given company will use social media for both internal and external communications. This means its wise to pay attention to word choice, because it can signal a lot more than just semantic choice. It tells you a lot about the culture and the values that inform the expression of that culture. In turn it effects the social behavior that occurs on social media for better or worse.

Even and perhaps especially in the case of an internal consultant for a company its useful to do some research into the different departments and how they already interact with each other. Understanding the internal politics as well as how companies already approach communication in other mediums can help with the creation of a policy that proactively anticipates potential problems, while also showing respect to the existing culture that’s in place.

Social media policies aren’t developed in a vacuum. The company culture provides perspective, beliefs, and values that define what employees and even customers will do in context to the company. Doing research and learning about the company culture is essential for developing social media policies (or guidelines) that will mesh with the company and provide the needed integration of social media as a viable method of communication.

I’m currently interviewing some mayors in Oregon in preparation for my talk on social media at the Oregon Mayor’s Association and one of the points that came up in one of the interviews is that social media should be used to push information, but not used to respond to comments, or at least that was how one mayor used it. And the mayor had some valid reasons, due to the need to keep public records of all internet communication, and also due to regulations on what kind of communication can occur using social media as a medium.

Recently financial advisers have been given a go ahead of sorts to use social media, but they need to use social media within strict guidelines, which also involve keeping records of what was said and only discussing finances in certain ways. Violation of those guidelines can result in the loss of the license and potentials for the company that employees the financial adviser. Recently I read an article that discussed this issue, and noted that many financial advisers are using social media without adhering to those guidelines.

In reading that article, and also interviewing the mayor, it’s clear to me that different industries will have different standards and policies that dictate how social media can be used. Some industries have stricter guidelines that need to be respected by the people in those industries. Conversely, not being involved in social media can be an issue, especially in terms of reaching younger generations.

At the same time, I don’t think just pushing out information is really using social media effectively to engage and interact with people. It certainly can serve to keep people informed, which is a good thing, but it may not necessarily generate the sense of connection that a community may want with an elected official.

What all of this demonstrates however is that different industries do have different standards and we shouldn’t expect that every single industry will adhere to a particular definition or level of interactivity, regardless of whether there is an ideal level of interactivity. At the same time, different industries will also have to deal with people from within the industry who approach using social media more openly than may be preferred by the industry. How the regulators of the industry choose to deal with this kind of activity can define industry standards for social media. In general these industries are doing this in order to adhere to federal guidelines and also avoid legal issues.

Ultimately, as social media continues to become more embedded in our culture and in how different industries reach out to clientele, regulatory committees will need to provide guidance while also determining how flexible they can be with how social media is used.

This video entry discusses the value of social media policies and why your business needs one.

I read an article the other day that explained that for most small businesses there is a lot of fear around social media. A lot of the concern has more to do with potential security issues that can occur. Certainly, with the internet, regardless of whether it’s web 2.0 or not, there is always some concern about security, file sharing, downloads, and who knows what else.

Certainly having a social media policy is a step in the right direction. A policy can provide guidelines on what employees can or can’t do, as well as explain why there are security risks, but companies also need to educate their employees about social media and the specific security risks that may occur.

Education about those risks can help employees understand what how social media use on company computer can actually hurt the company and also help them recognize where a potential security breach could come from. Additionally such education should also focus on explaining how sharing information on social media sites can create issues, especially if the information is proprietary.

Social media policies are useful, but education provides extra knowledge that is needed to help employees understand why the policies are in place. It’s time for companies to start investing in training on social media in terms of security and also the danger of sharing proprietary information. Being proactive with such training can help employees understand how to use social media during work times, and more importantly why not to and when not to.

Companies will inevitably have situations where they deal with negative feedback and critiques on social media sites. How companies choose to deal with that negative criticism is very critical to how they are perceived on social media sites. One policy I propose to companies is the use of an escalation policy, when dealing with negative criticism that could require careful handling.

For that to work, anyone a comment is escalated to needs to be able to keep cool in the face of criticism, have a good understanding of social media, and also be able to represent the company’s culture and perspectives. The escalation path can’t be too bureaucratic either, because responses need to be made quickly so that people can see a visible response.

At the same time the escalation policy should also make it clear what needs to be escalated and what doesn’t. If a person can easily resolve a situation with a response, there should be no reason to escalate it. Escalations should mainly deal with situations where its in question as to what kind of response should be made or how further communication should be continued.

Escalation policies make negative situations in social media more manageable if each person who maintains the social media for a company knows they can turn to other people for help in situations they may not have answers to.

I was recently pointed to this social media policy from IBM and I liked what I saw overall, in terms of presenting a general guideline of expected behaviors and activities employees could engage in. I also recognize that they won’t necessarily share their strategies for using social media on particular, but I do find that while general policy is good, specific policy is even better.

What do I mean by that? General policy can tell you what the expected behaviors are and how you should behave professionally on a given site, but specific policy focuses on examining how each site should be used by the professional. Specific policy recognizes that each site has different interfaces and activities and that it’s important to create policies that explain what activities are sanctioned on a given site, as well as what are unacceptable.

With specific policies in place it becomes easier to target an employee’s usage of a social media site and determine if it’s actually useful for the company or if its just the employee goofing off. Such regulation can be important, especially when there are non-social media related activities to get done. It’s fair to say that it’s very easy to spend all day on a social media site, without actually contributing anything toward the work one has to do.

At the same time, having a social media presence is useful for a company. If the company can help an employee understand not just the general policies but also the expected specific activities an employee can engage in while on a given site, it can help the company streamline their own social media strategy, while making good use of their employees activities on social media.

And of course, what should also go into specific policies is a clear delineation of the difference between personal activities and professional activities so that employees do have an understanding of how they represent the company, and how to make it clear to their followers when they aren’t representing the company. This kind of clarity, in a policy, can make it an effective guide for employees and for the company strategy.

The other day, a client and I decided to do some research to see what kind of social media policies similar organizations had. What we ended up finding looked really thin, a brief description of what social media was and that it was only to be used on break. There was no focus in the policy on how the organizations would actually engage and use social media, and the type of organization I was developing the policy for definitely needed more than just a brief descriptor of what social media is and when employees could use it.

Good social media policy defines not only what social media is or when employees may or may not use social media. It defines how the company will use social media, what sites the company will be on and who has the authority to post information related to the organization, as well as handle positive and negative commentary.

The reason a good social media policy focuses on all of these details is because they are essential to understand, in order to successfully integrate social media into the rest of the marketing and outreach efforts the company engages in. Good social media policy asks who is responsible for what message and defines how social media will be used and what forms of it will be used. Without that kind of clarity, a social media policy doesn’t begin to effectively address where social media fits into the marketing strategy of a business. A good policy allows a business to begin allocating resources and personnel for their social media effort, while channeling that effort into productive outcomes that generate more traffic and leads for the business.

It will become more important for businesses to develop a social media policy that isn’t something you would find in an employee handbook. While what’s in an employee handbook is useful, businesses need a more sophisticated outlook and awareness of social media and how it fits into their overall plans and goals.