By Joe Dysart
Marketers flocking to Facebook and Twitter without even a hint of a social media policy are discovering a disturbing truth: it only takes a few ill-placed tweets and posts to get your feathers plucked.
Insurance Goliath Aflac learned this lesson the hard way earlier this year when the voice of its wildly famous mascot duck — Gilbert Gottfried — tweeted what were considered off-color jokes about Japan’s earthquake.
In just a few hours, Gottfried’s jokes arguably tarnished one of the most recognizable corporate characters in marketing history — as well as a significant percentage of the nation of Japan, a place where Aflac happens to do 75 percent of its business.
“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac,” says Michael Zuna, a senior vice president at the company.
Aflac fired Gottfried on the spot and jump-started a contest to find a new voice for its fowl. But the damage was done. For many Japanese, thoughts of the Aflac duck will always turn to hunting season.
Fortunately, with a little forethought — and a social media policy — your business need not suffer the same fate.
Chandler Metal Roofing, for example, likes to project a casual image on Facebook, but also instructs employees where to draw the line.
“Our goal on Facebook is to project a voice that is both professional and fun,” says Al Hensel, Chandler’s president. “It’s an informal venue and we even take the occasional stab at humor, but we certainly want to keep everything we post well within “PG” (as in the movie rating) parameters. It’s a great and inexpensive way for us to get our message in front of folks on a regular basis.”
No matter where you are in the process of considering or putting together your own social media policy, here are some of the key elements you should have when formulating such a plan, based on insights from top experts in the medium:
Engage, don’t broadcast: If you’ve had a business page on Facebook for any amount of time, no doubt you’ve already heard this. But it bears repeating. Businesses that use traditional methods to broadcast their brands on Facebook are generally received with a collective yawn — and sometimes even negative retribution — from Facebook users protective of the social network’s culture. Quite simply, Facebook users expect a conversation from the businesses they befriend. And they expect it to be authentic.
Consequently, an engage-don’t-broadcast standard should be a key element of every social media policy.
Not surprisingly, that’s the approach used by the Metal Roofing Alliance.
“The Metal Roofing Alliance uses social media to monitor consumer and contractor conversations about metal roofing in near real-time and engage when appropriate,” says Tom Black MRA’s executive director. “We’ve been surprised by the number of contractors using social media tools. We reach out to them to help advance the MRA’s mission and to build membership. Social media allows us to consistently contribute to the conversation and repost/retweet items of interest that tell our story.”
Spare the sledgehammer: While it’s critical to have a social media policy, be sure it reads like a friendly guide, and not a stern warning. Essentially, don’t “write a huge document that strangles any hint of spontaneity from your team,” says Janet Fouts, author of The Social Media Coach. “Quite the opposite. A corporate policy lets them know what they need to know to communicate the company message effectively and what they should and should not to.”
Let it go: Once you agree to play in the social media space, realize you’re simultaneously agreeing to lose at least some control over your company’s image. Given all the interactivity in the space and the tens of thousands of cacophonous voices, it’s inevitable. Accept the ground rules, social media experts say, and instead focus on the medium’s benefits.
Lose the filter: If you plan to run every post for Twitter or Facebook past your attorneys first, save yourself the trouble and don’t do social media at all. “Social media doesn’t work like this,” Fouts says. “If your statements appear to be canned or professionally produced, it’s bound to fall flat. Let the team know the facts when a new product comes out or you reach a noteworthy milestone. Then let them put it into their own words.”
Build a better wheel: Lucky for you, scores of top companies and corporations have already agonized over the drafting and creation of social media policies. Get a gander at more than 160 of those policies at the Social Media Governance website.
Define the rose: Like many things, social media is in the eye of the beholder. Some think of it as just Facebook and Twitter. Others include what’s posted on blogs, internal wikis and even what’s on the company’s customer service Q&A database. “You need to spell that out so everyone is operating under the same definition,” says Lisa Barone, co-founder, Outspoken Media. “Once that’s squared away, provide an explanation of what social media means to your company. Why are you investing resources in participating? What do you hope to get out of it and how are these tools helping you? That company mantra or philosophy will be invaluable in quickly leading employees out of murky water.”
Dress for success: Before your first tweet, decide if staff should post only using online personas that clearly identify themselves with the firm — such as @TINAwidgetcompany — or if they can use their after-work personas as well. The danger of being too free-and-easy: a fired or disgruntled employee can do great damage to a firm using an online persona not owned by the company, but was used in the past to represent the company.
Distinguish between personal and corporate views: In the casual world of social media, staff can be tempted to mix personal views with official company dogma. Guard against this, experts say. You don’t want to turn on the morning news to find that a key employee has dismissed the moon landing as just another conspiracy hoax — all under your company’s logo.
Schedule a date for HR and legal: While social media offers human resources a new treasure trove for background checks, there are many social media activities HR should simply avoid — including reading opinions about politics and religion on Facebook and the like — when making hiring decisions. Here, guidance from attorneys really could save your firm untold headaches.
Don’t forget about that other job: If Facebook and Twitter are considered work, some employees may conclude that staying glued to both all day is perfectly reasonable. Instruct otherwise. “As great of a tool as social media is, it can also become a colossal time waster,” Barone says. “Let it be known that the company will be monitoring employee social media use — and actually do monitor it — and that abuse will be handled appropriately.”
Post signs for ‘No Man’s Land:’ Even the best-intentioned staffer can destroy a company with a single post that should have remained confidential. Be pro-active and make sure “that they know what they can say, what they can’t and what you’d absolutely hang them from their toes for if they ever muttered,” Barone says.
Don’t poke the crazy: Inevitably, staffers are going to come across that odd character who will do everything in his/her power to provoke a flame war — a seemingly unending game of tit-for-tat that will leave your firm looking amateurish, at best. Employees need to know “where the line is and how, exactly, they should react when someone they’ve never met and whom they were only trying to help, turns around to call them a huge moron,” Barone says.
Offer a clue: Once you’ve established a social media policy, hold a meeting to go over the major points, if necessary. You should also announce the new policy via company wide email, and tuck a copy of the guide in each employee’s HR folder.
Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. Voice: (646) 233-4089. Email: joe@joedysart.com. Web: www.joedysart.com.
