Page 124 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Here are elements that you can incorporate into your SMM policy:

» Purpose: Start with the objectives. You need to explain why the guidelines are
being established, what they hope to accomplish, and how they help the
employees.
» Declaration of trust: Just as important, you must establish that the goal of
the guidelines isn’t to restrict employees or to censor them, but to encourage
them to be better ambassadors of the company. Similarly, it’s important to
establish that no one will monitor employees, nor will you ask them to edit or
delete posts.
» Statement of responsibility: Make clear that employees are personally
responsible for all the content that they publish online, whether it is on a blog,
a wiki, YouTube, or any other form of social media. They should do so in a
manner befitting their identity as an employee of the company, recognizing
that whatever they publish may be attributed to the company.
» An identification of themselves as employees: Employees must know that
although they do not have to always identify themselves as employees of a
company, they must do so when discussing company or industry matters. In
those instances, they should either speak as a representative of the company
or include a disclaimer emphasizing that they are sharing their own personal
opinions. Similarly, employees should declare any conflicts of interest when
discussing professional matters.
» An SMM voice: Employees should speak as an SMM voice by being engaging,
conversational, and authentic but recognizing that they aren’t the official
brand voice of the company. And furthermore, it’s important to do so in one’s
own name and not anonymously. The CEO of Whole Foods Market com-
mented on discussion forums about his competitors anonymously. When he
was caught, it hurt him and his company.

» Engagement principles: Being a good SMM voice also means following
certain engagement principles. These include responding to comments
immediately, providing meaningful and respectful comments, being transpar-
ent in all social interactions online, and always looking to add value.
» No unauthorized sharing of business information: Employees should not
share client, company, partner, or supplier information without express
approval from the appropriate owners. When referencing somebody, link
back to the source.
» Respect for the audience: As with any other form of communication, by
virtue of being associated with the company, the employee is an ambassador
and an SMM voice. He can easily tarnish the brand without meaning to do so
and without even realizing it. It is, therefore, important to avoid personal
insults, obscenity, or inappropriate behavior that is outside the company’s

108 PART 2 Practicing SMM on the Social Web