The 3 P’s of Social Media: Policy, Purpose + Planning

Guest post by @terryeva, a solutions architect and a social media enthusiast

The success of Twitter accounts such as @delloutlet, @comcastcares, and @Twelpforce make organizations eager to jump into the social media space. The recent Old Spice campaign is an example of how a little creativity can breathe new life into an old brand. Grover, from Sesame Street, recently weighed in with a little over 1.2 million YouTube views in 3 days! While there are many other examples of success in the social media space, they all have common attributes such as purpose and planning. In the next few blog posts, I will discuss why organizations need to consider a social media policy, the reasons for being in the social media space, and how to plan a social media strategy.

Organizations hire smart people that they trust to do the right thing. Without a social media policy or guidelines in place, doing the right thing from an employees perspective may not be in the best interest of an organization. In Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform The Way You Lead, Charlene Li, referenced a Deloitte survey that found only 22 percent of companies have social media guidelines or policies in place. The other 78 percent of organizations will not have a choice but to react to problems rather than follow a consistent, thoughtful policy.

Brian Solis, in his book Engage, asserts that “common sense” is not a replacement for a social media policy. Employees may jeopardize an organizations brand, reputation, or competitive edge with a simple update to one of the social media platforms. In championing the need for a social media policy, Brian stresses the need for a way to avert crises before they occur.

Just as every business has a unique product line, every business must also have a unique social media policy. Over the last few years, I have reviewed a number of social media policies at the request of local businesses. The one lesson I have learned is there really is not a cookie cutter approach to creating these guidelines. Kaiser Permanente’s policy, for example, will differ from Comcast’s policy. Feel free to read over the policies of other organizations. Before mimicking other organizations guidelines, ask yourself if the guidelines are relevant in today’s market and are the guidelines relevant to your organization.

When writing social media policies explain why the social media guidelines are important. Consider the following:

• How does the organization expect the employees to communicate with consumers?
• What is the employee’s responsibility to the consumers?
• What is the employee’s responsibility to the organization?
• When a consumer berates a product, how will the organization address the consumer’s concerns?
• What is the escalation process to address consumer issues?
• When do the guidelines apply and when do they not apply?

Take a few minutes and review the social media polices and guidelines from other organizations:

Social Media Governance lists 154 policies in their database.

A collection of social media policies is available on Charlene Li’s website.

Brian Solis said, “With social media comes great responsibility.” Do not be one of the 78 percent of organizations without a social media policy. Put some thought into what makes sense for your organization. Think about the different scenarios one may have to address in the social media space. Put the policy in place to protect your brand, your organizations reputation, and your competitive edge.

My next blog post will discuss determining the purpose for being in the social media space…

Photo Credit:  Rosie the Riveter