In a post I wrote called the A-Z of social media for brands I decided that P stands for Policy. I'm not one for too many rules and regulations, but it is a good idea to define some clear guidelines to help staff (especially novices) to do the right thing.
So let’s take a look at some real world social media policies and guidelines as used by companies. Zappos does a great job of summing it up in seven words, but the detail is also important and there are some fine suggestions here...
IBM
Don't pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don't alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. IBM's brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on IBM's brand.
Speak in the first person. Use your own voice. Bring your own personality to the forefront. Say what is on your mind.
BBC
With conversations, participate online. Don’t “broadcast” messages to users.
With moderation, only police where we have to. Trust our users where we don’t.
Tone of voice. We should be sensitive to the expectations of existing users of the specific site. If we add a BBC presence, we are joining their site rather than the opposite. Users are likely to feel that they already have a significant stake in it. When adding an informal BBC presence, we should “go with the grain” and be sensitive to user customs and conventions to avoid giving the impression that the BBC is imposing itself on them and their space.
INTEL
Always pause and think before posting. That said, reply to comments in a timely manner, when a response is appropriate. But if it gives you pause, pause. If you're about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don't shrug it off and hit 'send.' Take a minute to review these guidelines and try to figure out what's bothering you, then fix it. If you're still unsure, you might want to discuss it with your manager or legal representative. Ultimately, what you publish is yours - as is the responsibility. So be sure.
Perception is reality. In online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by identifying yourself as an Intel employee, you are creating perceptions about your expertise and about Intel by our shareholders, customers, and the general public-and perceptions about you by your colleagues and managers. Do us all proud. Be sure that all content associated with you is consistent with your work and with Intel's values and professional standards.
It's a conversation. Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people in professional situations. In other words, avoid overly pedantic or "composed" language. Don't be afraid to bring in your own personality and say what's on your mind. Consider content that's open-ended and invites response. Encourage comments. You can also broaden the conversation by citing others who are blogging about the same topic and allowing your content to be shared or syndicated.
KODAK (PDF)
Be external. You don’t have to be 100% internally focused. Link to other blogs, videos, and news articles. Retweet what others have to say.
Post frequently. It’s a lot of work but don’t post to your blog then leave it for two weeks. Readers won’t have a reason to follow you on Twitter or check your blog if they can’t expect new content regularly.
Be careful when sharing information about yourself or others.
SAP
Separate opinions from facts, and make sure your audience can see the difference.
Be engaged and be informed. Read the contributions of others. Know what the current conversations are and what people are saying in order to see if, and how, you may be able to contribute a new perspective. Participation is the fuel of social computing.
Aim for quality, not quantity. Offer your contribution with context whenever you can. Provide links to other blogs, media articles or whatever sources you think are necessary. Make your content rich and interesting for others to read. Consider attaching documents when necessary (but not SAP internal documents, confidential or not, of course!). And in every case, keep the language simple and flowing. If you start a blog, encourage feedback and conversation - make sure your readers can add feedback to your blog and respond in a timely manner. A two-way communication exchange allows for a more meaningful conversation.
ZAPPOS
Be real and use your best judgement.
Chris Lake is Director of Product Development at Econsultancy, an entrepreneur and a long-term internet fiend. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.
Recommended reports
Global Social Media Statistics
Econsultancy's Global Social Media Statistics document is one of 11 individual downloads that make up Econsultancy’s Global Internet Statistics Compendium, a comprehensive compilation of worldwide statistics and online market research with data, facts, charts and figures that are essential to understanding the marketplace as a whole.
Alternatively, see our UK Social Media Statistics or Twitter for Business.
1:12PM on 2nd December 2009
Thanks for this list. I had published the intel rules of engagement in my blog. This needs to be spread.
Regards,
Jim Gilbert
http://gilbertdirectmarketing.wordpress.com/
Marketing Web Developer at Marketing Web Developer
1:40PM on 2nd December 2009
Great list! Most of this should be common sense, but it only takes a quick gander at the tweets and other things posted on social media sites to see that this kind of guidance is needed! -Rudi
2:14PM on 2nd December 2009
As always Chris - excellent stuff!
9:04PM on 2nd December 2009
Great article. Most of it might be considered "common sense" by some, but unfortunately, it isn't by many. Thanks for sharing.
9:04PM on 2nd December 2009
Our approach is very similar. The 4 founding members of our business each adhere to these principles in their offline relationships. So when I came aboard as CIO, explaining to everyone that the online world operates by some of the basic communications rules of the offline world helped our team. While we don't have any hard and fast rules for now, we do plan on bringing in more bloggers and volunteers. Once our list of contributors begins growing, we'll need these tips to be made available to them. Thanks for summarizing it all so nicely.
9:09PM on 2nd December 2009
Awesome! This is one of the best posts I've seen in a while. These are all some really great guidelines. It's exciting to see, even though it's not everyone, companies "getting" social media and the enourmous power of it. It's something I'm uberly passionate about and it looks like others are catching on.
10:02PM on 2nd December 2009
Great set of rules of guidelines for participating with your customers using social media. We live in a world that real people are communicating real messages through social media. Companies like blackberry, IBM and dell have been using SM to authentically build their business and provide real value to their customers...oh...and generating high profits because of this. Anyone like profit? Kevin Hayes Internet Strategist - Wake Media Inc. kevinhayes.ca
Founder & Executive Chairman at MediaTrust
10:11PM on 2nd December 2009
excellent post and very useful infomation that shows useful actianable data. thank you!
peter bordes
CEO
MediaTrust
11:01PM on 2nd December 2009
Great pointers. How about "Be Proactive" as a policy and engage your followers/fans personally on a one-to-one basis. Too much social management is done by not productive enough people doing mass management. Big companies should have 10-20 people managing their social media to do it right IMHO. Also being creative and running continuous promotions, i.e. giving away free stuff, etc..to build good will is a must. Oh ya and getting back to people with lightning speed should be a policy, social management should be covered 24/7 if you want to be all over it...
6:26AM on 3rd December 2009
Great post,
Eileen Brown told me that Microsofts blogging policy is:
"Blog Smart"
9:41AM on 3rd December 2009
All guidelines are really helpful and the most i like is "Be careful when sharing information about yourself or others."
3:57PM on 3rd December 2009
Definitely agree with the "be external" tip - no one wants only information about your brand. I'd suggest to share external content and RT others daily. As Evan mentioned, responding to your community quickly is really important, too.
9:03PM on 10th December 2009
This post just became mandatory reading for employees and clients - nicely done
10:59AM on 14th December 2009
Thank you for the valuable information and great list! These are guidelines everyone should follow!
10:35PM on 15th December 2009
I've been looking for this type of article/information for a while and was thrilled to see this. Thank you so much for collecting the content, summarizing and posting!
4:38PM on 16th December 2009
The one rule I always tell people to follow is: "post nothing in social media unless you're sure you won't regret it in 6 months, 5 years, or 20 years."
8:17PM on 16th December 2009
I get this question so many times from clients. What to do about guidelines in Social Media. It seems to be one of their biggest concerns. My response is always the same. It's not Social Media they should be worried about it's the people they hire. If you can't trust the folks that are working for you because they may do something that would hurt the company then Social Media is not the issue.
offical at new york post
7:51AM on 17th December 2009
i know these knowledge until i read this article,thanks your list!!!
11:08AM on 17th December 2009
Hi there - Lovely to see so much sense being given out! I've re-blogged your post here http://rowank.tumblr.com/post/287382774/16-social-media-guidelines-used-by-real-companies
Rowan
2:33PM on 17th December 2009
Wow, love this post! We can really tell a lot about each company and their corporate culture from these social media guidelines.
2:54PM on 17th December 2009
My only regret about this article is that there are not more companies represented. Great insights, thought. I made this one of my three links for the day at my daily "Design Thought for the Day" design blog: http://designthoughtfortheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-17-best-ad-campaigns-real-world-smm.html All the best, Ted
6:22AM on 19th December 2009
I'm thinking of choosing CT internet marketing company (www.3-prime.com) to do our web design and all of our marketing, but I'm nervous about being posted on social media, like Facebook. It seems...almost demeaning, in a way. I mean, do I really want my business to have a myspace page when I think it's stupid?
11:31AM on 27th December 2009
It's nice tutorial , some of these can be truly useful.
3:22AM on 3rd January 2010
Chris,
This is the first time i heard about Kodak PDF, normally all social media blogs suggesting slideshare and flickr related APP's for content sharing. but your article suggesting new things like BBC,Intel,Kodak,SAP..
really Nice article, Keep it up.
Jennifer
Founder at Twankers
6:30PM on 6th February 2010
"Don't get your accounts mixed up on Tweetdeck" This has just been added to Vodafone's guidelines. Some additional ones here too.
7:45AM on 18th March 2010
Great article with some nice examples of SMM Guidelines.
I do believe 40% of the companies are (according to Gartner) experimenting on Social Media
11:48AM on 19th March 2010
Chris,
your post really usefull, most companies and webmaster forums missusing this social emdia strategy with some blackhat spamfull techniques. Hope your articles will help them :)
Kim
5:18PM on 23rd April 2010
Try to add value (IBM) is simple and great guideline. It's very easy to use this frase to lot's of things. For example to blog posting. Every post should add value of the blog and every comment value of the post.
12:28PM on 17th June 2010
Excellent article. At the end of the day it is common sense and it would be good to see other people following these guidelines.
4:57PM on 30th June 2010
Every business would benefit from having a social media policy in place, but it should not be an all or nothing approach. Instead of having a policy in place that blocks social media completely or doesn’t block social media at all and expects employees to follow policy rules, why not block some pieces of social media and keep some parts of social media accessible? Social media is growing in the business world and companies would be missing out on its benefits if it is blocked entirely. Palo Alto Networks might have found a solution to this problem, they have a new software that has the ability to do thing such as a read-only facebook. I think companies could really benefit from something like this, what do you think? Here's a link to new whitepapers they have created: http://bit.ly/d2NZRp http://bit.ly/bsrh9CFacebook
1:38AM on 4th March 2011
Great list! Most of this should be common sense.Great article. Most of it might be considered "common sense" by some, but unfortunately, it isn't by many. At the end of the day it is common sense and it would be good to see other people following these guidelines.<a href="http://www.flash-watch.com/">cool LED watch</a>
1:37PM on 17th March 2011
I get this question so many times from clients. What to do about guidelines in Social Media. It seems to be one of their biggest concerns. My response is always the same. It's not Social Media they should be worried about it's the people they hire. If you can't trust the folks that are working for you because they may do something that would hurt the company then Social Media is not the issue.
3:28PM on 23rd March 2011
Try to add value (IBM) is simple and great guideline. It's very easy to use this frase to lot's of things. For example to blog posting. Every post should add value of the blog and every comment value of the post.
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7:40AM on 27th July 2011
If you can't trust the folks that are working for you because they may do something that would hurt the company then Social Media is not the issue.