Social Media: Internal Policies Essential
by Danny Nicklin
Media Coordinator/Account Planner
It is expected that through the rest of 2010 and beyond, the number of businesses incorporating social media into their marketing strategies and budgets will continue to increase.
The objective for these businesses is to keep up with the latest technological and sociological trends, create unique promotions and interact with an influential (and still growing) audience.
But what many businesses may be overlooking is how they are handling social media internally. Last week, three Nebraska prison guards made comments on their Facebook walls describing their use of force on an inmate. They have been suspended pending an investigation into the alleged comments.
It's just the latest and most local example of people getting into professional trouble for making work-related comments on personal profiles. While these profiles allow for a certain amount of privacy control, it's still fairly easy for a single message or photo to be distributed to an unintended audience.
It is up to individual users to recognize the very public nature of these profiles and react accordingly. To put it in marketing terms, we are creating a brand - our personal brand. From the photos we post to the comments we make, it's important to be diligent and self-aware enough to pay attention to the brand we're creating and how it could affect personal and professional relationships.
But businesses should also be proactive, and include internal social media management as a part of their social marketing strategy. Educate employees on how they can properly separate affiliation from their employer and create policies that highlight consequences should an employee choose to post something that reflects poorly on the employer.
Social media presents businesses with a number of exciting opportunities to interact with customers. But when you join the conversation, your employees naturally become a part of that conversation too.
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Danny Nicklin is a Media Coordinator and Account Planner at Idea Bank Marketing in Hastings, NE and is currently developing and executing social media plans for multiple clients. |
