Social Media Guidelines

This morning I was skimming through some articles on the internet and one of them caught my eye so I decided to read on. The article was titled "Why Social Media Paranoia is Healthy." Many businesses are finding it beneficial to engage in social media, while others still haven't realized or understand its importance. Point in fact, social media creates awareness, attracts customers, brings in revenue, and increases profits. In order to reap the benefits of social media you have to abide by some guidelines or else the effects could be devastating for you and your company. The article provided some guidelines for social media:

Basic Guidelines for Social Media Communications

Be clear about whether staff accounts are official or personal. If they are personal but relate to their job, then ensure the account holder adds a disclaimer explaining that these aren't necessarily the opinions of their employer. If it is official, they need to follow these guidelines:

·       All enquiries from mainstream media (e.g., national newspapers) should be passed to the press office or a senior director if there is no press office. Don't respond even to seemingly mundane questions about the company without making someone senior aware first. 

·       Never answer a comment in anger, no matter how provoking. Always stop and remember you represent the company -- not yourself.

·       Don't be rude. Companies have to remain polite. It's professional. You can be firm, implacable, and contradict people, but always do so with a professional manner. 

·       Ask a colleague to check any major communications, such as a blog post. This ensures you have an additional pair of eyes checking the tone and content, as well as for typos or spelling errors. 

·       Keep relevant and stick to your area of expertise. Commenting on subjects that you don't know much about risks making the whole organization look amateur. 

·       Never comment publicly on any legal challenges the company is involved in. 

·       The company can be sued for slander. Never pass comment or judgment on rivals, other businesses, or individuals. 

·       Remember that the Internet has a long memory. Don't publish anything if you aren't confident it will still be on-message in 12 months time. 

·       Make sure you differentiate clearly between opinion and fact.

 If you want to read the full article you can access by clicking on this link: http://searchenginewatch.com/3641986