The proliferation of smartphones means it’s become easier than ever to keep an eye on the status changes and amusing tweets of friends and family; even when we should really be doing other things…such as working.
The massive reach of social has of course created enormous marketing opportunities. According to figures from digital research specialist eMarketer, companies worldwide will spend almost $24bn (£16bn) advertising on social networks this year, a massive 33% increase over 2014. And that doesn’t take into consideration the even greater volume of PR-driven social media communications.
There’s no doubt that social media is a great way to boost your visibility and share interesting news with customers and prospects. But alongside the enormous opportunities is the potential to come unstuck.
Many businesses have got it awfully wrong on social media. To the point that it inspired me to write the book Great Brand Blunders – The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time, which looked at the lessons to be learned from marketing disasters. As my book showed, if sophisticated, well-resourced international giants such as Nestlé, Qantas and McDonald’s can land themselves in hot water, it can happen to anyone.
Moreover, the consequences of SM mistakes can be severe. Among the many examples covered in my book were a Facebook misjudgement by Dr Pepper, in which the soft drink brand unintentionally exposed a 14-year-old girl to a reference to hardcore porn. The blunder saw it criticised on Sky News during primetime – in a segment lasting six long minutes. While fashion designer Kenneth Cole provoked widespread outrage by stupidly tweeting a feeble joke about civil unrest on the streets of Cairo in a misguided attempt to plug a new spring collection.
Prudent policy
It’s not just big consumer brands that are vulnerable. Social media can be just as much of a minefield for companies in the print sector. So to minimise the likelihood of problems arising, it can be a sensible step to draw up a social media policy.
“There are many benefits to having a policy on social media,” says Inc Direct HR manager Shanaz Syeda. “It can help the employer to protect itself against liability for the actions of its workers, it sets guidelines to what is and isn’t acceptable and also assists line managers to manage performance effectively.”
Others take the view that it isn’t worthwhile codifying behaviour in a policy. Timon Colegrove, chief executive of Kidlington-based Hunts, believes that a social media policy would be mostly irrelevant in an “authentic workplace” where the ethos should be about developing leadership qualities in all staff so that they have the capacity and will to police themselves.
Counterpoint Matters founder Jo Dodds, a consultant who specialises in social media marketing and social HR issues, sees the value in drawing up a policy but is quick to point out that this is only a small part of the picture. In her view, the onus should be on accentuating the positive rather than focusing on strictly limiting usage. “Social media training, encouragement and confidence are key to create employee ambassadors rather than having draconian social media policies in place to stop people saying anything,” says Dodds.
Thinking of staff as brand or business ambassadors makes more sense than ever in an age when social media has enormous reach and impact. According to We Are Social’s Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015 report, there are in excess of 2bn social media users worldwide and 58% of the UK population now have active social media accounts.
And don’t be so naive as to think that usage amounts to only a few minutes per day. The We Are Social research says that UK users spend an average of 2.2 hours a day on social media. That sounds a lot – indeed, by any measure it is a lot – but it’s a little below the global average of 2.4 hours, and significantly below the world-leading levels reached by Argentina and the Philippines, where they clock up a huge 4.3 hours a day.
With use of social media rife, it’s wise to turn it to the advantage of your business. It’s common sense to specify which members of staff are authorised to post information in the company’s name to help with marketing efforts and outline how they must go about it. Do they have the green light to post content without first running the proposed material past another member of staff? If junior staff are involved, it’s far safer if a consistent approvals process is in place.
“We are only just starting to use social media and are learning as we go along,” says North Wolds Printers managing director Gurdev Singh. “But it does help that there is only one person allowed to post at present. All content is checked by a director before publishing.”
Social media is such a fast-evolving field that even experts can struggle to keep on top of each new development. From a policy perspective therefore it’s better to have an overarching perspective on social media, taking in how it fits within an organisation and what is and isn’t acceptable in relation to employees, rather than getting bogged down in detail relating to specific platforms.
Of course, posting content in an official capacity is only one side of the coin. Firms need to be mindful of the unsanctioned material that appears online as well.
“Organisations should be monitoring social media for mentions of their organisation anyway, for more reasons than just to check that their employees aren’t posting inappropriate comments,” says Dodds. Various tools, such as Hootsuite, can be used to search for keywords like your company name.
“It is always helpful to set clear guidelines,” adds Syeda. “Our policy on social media defines clearly when and where personal use of social media is permitted. Our staff have clear guidance of when they are able to use social media for personal use such as during tea breaks and lunchtime. We have even supplied a computer in the kitchen, which is available to all staff to use during these breaks.”
Safety considerations
Amy Bumford, marketing executive at Banner Box – part of the Specialised Canvas Group – says smartphone use is a key area of attention at her company. For many staff, it’s all too easy to be tempted into having a “quick check” while at work. This takes employee concentration away from the task at hand, which particularly in a factory environment is worrying and potentially dangerous. So the health and safety aspect of this should be taken into consideration.
“We are quite lucky in that our most of our employees who use social media are happy to post the odd work-related link, as a means of helping out the marketing department,” says Bumford. “However, in encouraging this we have be careful it is not abused. I’ve found it’s fairly obvious to tell when this is been misused by looking at the message posted time. If an individual is posting at 10am regularly then maybe we’d have to clamp down on this!”
Bumford says it can be difficult to find the time to monitor usage and it is not a top priority. Nevertheless, she does use Hootsuite for tracking keywords related to the company and does keep an eye out for anything derogatory. If employees were “bad mouthing” the company on social media this would be deemed unacceptable and action would be taken.
“As an SME it is challenging to monitor social media usage in and outside of the workplace,” she adds. “However, there have still been instances where employees have overstepped the mark. The main problem seems to be taking to social media after a bad day at work, and as a result speaking poorly of the company. This is misconduct. We all have bad days – it is not appropriate to tell the world about it.”
The spectre of trolling or social media bullying should also be borne in mind. AVG Technologies’ Digital Work Life study published earlier this year, which had a sample of 4,000 adults spread across 10 countries, found that social media misuse often infiltrates the workplace. One in 10 respondents discovered secret discussions about them online were initiated by colleagues using social media, and 11% have had embarrassing photos or videos taken at a work event uploaded onto social media sites. This is as high as 19% in Spain and 14% in the UK. Moreover, 6% of employees were subjected to unwanted romantic advances through online media.
Clearly, any harassment of staff by colleagues – either inside or outside the workplace – should be taken very seriously indeed. And at the extreme end of the spectrum, such as if threats are made, is a matter for police involvement.
Totally unacceptable behaviour of this kind is thankfully thin on the ground. But there are grey areas on which it can be far harder to make a judgement call. What one person considers ‘harmless banter’ may, from the recipient’s standpoint, be offensive and construed as a personal attack. To minimise the risk of victimisation occurring, employers should be very clear on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour and set this out in their guidelines for staff.
By guarding against the worst, you can then concentrate on getting the best out of social media.
Getting the fundamentals right
Let employees know that they could face disciplinary action if they post any comments that may be damaging to your company’s reputation.
Don’t forget, the scope of your policy should extend to blogs and ‘wikis’ as well as the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest et al.
Acas produces advice and guidance on social media, discipline and grievances, which may be helpful when formulating policy – or when a problem arises.
Make sure employees understand that they have a personal legal responsibility when it comes to using social media platforms – and that an employer will not ride to the rescue if an employee posts something damaging. As a rule, employers will not defend employees should legal action come about as a result of social media activity – even if they are being sued by a colleague, client or supplier. Unless, of course, the comment posted was officially approved in the first place.
Your social media policy should tie in with your overall employee code of conduct. Make sure there are no contradictions.
Factor in health and safety. You don’t want printing press operators distracted by social media (and other things on their smartphones).
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You can access a database of more than 100 social media policies of leading businesses on the Social Media Governance website.
The social media policies of several major businesses talk about ‘living the values’ of the company. Bear in mind your business objectives and corporate tone of voice when posting and aim to stay in tune with them.
Always stick to the terms of use of the social media platform you are using.
Clarity on usage
Encourage employees to err on the side of caution. If a member of staff is unsure about mentioning something they heard at work in a blog or on Facebook, they should listen to any doubts in their heads and not post that material. Indiscretion can trigger all sorts of problems.
Do not misrepresent yourself, use aliases or attempt to deceive people.
If discussing work-related matters, it is right and proper to disclose who your employer is – to avoid accusations of sneakiness or lack of transparency from rivals. However…
‘These views are my own’ – a phrase that for good reason adorns many a Twitter profile. Unless you have authorisation to speak officially on behalf of your company, make it clear that these are your personal opinions. A standard disclaimer runs: ‘These views are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer’.
Don’t let the cat out of the bag. You might know all about the major new contract your company has picked up, but referring to it before the news has been officially released may rankle with colleagues and could aggravate your important new customer.
Unless you have good reason and permission to do so, do not use your company’s logo or other trademarked or copyrighted material.
Give credit where it is due. Do not post text, images or video created by someone else without crediting them.
Do not say anything defamatory.
Do not post any pictures taken at work without first obtaining clearance to do so.
Do not discuss others unless you have received their permission to do so.
Be sensitive when linking to content on other sites. Redirecting people to another site may be seen as implying endorsement.
Correct any inaccuracies as quickly as possible.
Be polite and respectful of other people’s opinions.
Do not post in anger. If something has annoyed or upset you, take the time to calm down before formulating a response (if a response is even necessary).
Winning the fight against cyber-bullying
Make sure that your anti-bullying policies cover social media activity.
Encourage employees to be careful about the personal information they post on social media so as to reduce any ammunition that might be used against them.
Respecting diversity is just as important in cyberspace as in the office or on the production line. Steer clear of racial, sexual or religious references.
Do not post anything about colleagues, clients or competitors that could be construed as threatening or harassment in any way.
Staying on top of things
Use tools such as Hootsuite to measure the impact of your social media marketing – and to track what employees, customers and suppliers are saying about you.
If an employee spots that someone has said something negative about the firm online they should report this to management, rather than posting a response themselves.
Stay timely. Update information and keep content fresh.
Social media is conversational in nature. Do not alienate your audience by not responding – although obnoxious trolling is best ignored.
From time to time, remind employees to be prudent and careful if mixing what’s going on in their personal lives with their business lives on social media accounts.
Obscenities, feuds, tales of epic drunkenness and so on, even on personal accounts, may be seen by colleagues, customers and other business partners – and may not reflect well on the poster, and by extension their employer. As representatives of a firm, employees have an impact on its reputation. Be clear that the expectation is for them to act responsibly. And impress on them that information intended only for friends and family can be forwarded on.
