Relay Station Blog

Blog Strategy for Business: Beyond Content

| September 27, 2012 | Be first to comment

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It took awhile to get there, but you finally achieved it. One or more people in your organization is contributing regularly to the company blog. You’ve put in place a social media and email marketing plan and it seems to be working. Congratulations! You’re done, right? Time to finally take that Caribbean vacation.

blog strategy for businessSorry, not yet.

To complete your overall effort, there are a number of other things you need to do to really make your blog great.  Here are three of them.

Create an editorial calendar

Sounds like something out of the print era, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. An editorial calendar can help you to control your outbound message and build thought leadership. Sure, there will be unanticipated issues that will cause you to go off course. These opportunistic posts are important for you to stay in a conversation and perhaps defend against an attack. So it’s important to build some flexibility into your editorial calendar. But you don’t want the subject of your blog posts always to be dictated by trending stories. As much as possible, you should attempt to set the agenda.

An ed calendar also allows you to consider whether or not that cool idea for a post is really on target. Does it naturally lend itself to your overall strategy and keywords? Does it help your SEO?

One post per day

Unless your company is large with multiple blogs, you should only post to your blog once a day to prevent dilution. You want people to savor your thoughts, not be confused because there are multiple posts from multiple sources from which to choose. Of course, a news event or action by a third party could cause you to rush something out and post it immediately. So stay loose. An editorial calendar will help you to keep your posts properly sequenced. 

Build a contributors page

Blog Strategy for BusinessWho are your bloggers? Do visitors have to search to find out? Make it easier. Establish a separate page just for contributors and link it to each post. Feature it on your website. Each blogger should have a photo. The style of the photo depends upon the style of your company. Whatever that is, put your best foot forward. A photo from the beach taken by your child is rarely a good choice. Next, you need a short bio. Not a resume or three pages from your book, but a paragraph or two. Then, a link to each blogger’s archived posts.

A good blog strategy for business should incorporate these three simple steps. By doing so, you will move closer toward becoming the influential mouthpiece you want to be.

Maybe it is time to take that vacation after all. 

 

Need help with your program? Contact us right now at 202.630.8014 or info@relaystationmedia.com for a free consultation.

SCOTT PETERSON, co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC, has over a decade of experience in market, securities, and regulatory communications. His firm provides strategic communications consulting, integrated Internet marketing, training, and more to a wide range of organizations.

Are you properly protecting your company from Internet criminals? Download our free Amplification Guide on Data Loss Prevention to learn what you can do now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED. 

Social Media Strategy Should Include a Guidance Document

| September 13, 2012 | 2 comments

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Your company could be at sea without one.

There’s a big ocean of content out there.  Ever wonder what to share on social media?  Or do you or your community managers too often simply grab a shiny object that is passing by and share it? Is that a strategy?

I don’t think so.

That’s why a guidance document is a key building block leading to the success of your program. It’s one of the simplest and most effective things you can do in crafting your overall strategy.  

Ranking Priorities

Content that you want to share as quickly as possible might include:

  • Posts from your own company. This can include written or video blog posts, event solicitations, media releases, and other company material; and
  • Member or partner posts. You may want to show some love by sharing material generated by your members and partners as quickly as possible.

Secondary Issues

Next, what are your important secondary issues? They are important to your organization, but the content is created by respected organizations that are not insiders, members or partners. These are shared because your social media followers or connections may determine the content of interest. Sharing this material strengthens you as the source of interesting, thought-provoking material.

De-emphasize

This category of content might include news reports that your followers can see elsewhere.

Stay Away

This final category is critical. It might include content that is: 

  • overly promotional rather than educational
  • political or religious
  • highly personal, including photos
  • derogatory or insulting
  • alcohol-related or parties
  • team sports if it risks offending customers or clients, and
  • criticism of competitors or government.

Now obviously, if you’re a political organization or a sports organization, the latter two suggestions may not apply. But you get the idea.

Once you create your guidance document, you and your team can refer to it frequently. Update it as necessary. You may, at times, decide to ignore it. But at least you will have thought through another important part of your social media strategy. 

 

 Need help with your program? Contact us right now at 202.630.8014 or info@relaystationmedia.com for a free consultation.

SCOTT PETERSON, co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC, has over a decade of experience in market, securities, and regulatory communications. His firm provides strategic communications consulting, integrated Internet marketing, training, and more to a wide range of organizations.

Are you properly protecting your company from Internet criminals? Download our free Amplification Guide on Data Loss Prevention to learn what you can do now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED. 

The Top Three Reasons Why Google Plus Will Overtake Facebook

| August 13, 2012 | 4 comments

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I like Google Plus better than Facebook, but I use Facebook more. Many, many more of my friends and associates are on Facebook as are 817 million other people.

Thus the reason that more people use Facebook is that more people use Facebook. This dominance has more to do with trend than with quality and there’s no guarantee that this trend will last. Anyone remember Microsoft’s frightening dominance of tech and software about ten years ago? Not that Microsoft is irrelevant today, but compared with Google and Apple, it seems relatively tame.

With so many people on so many other networks, there’s even a digitari meme pronouncing Google+ a ghost town.

Not so fast folks. Despite the report cited by Mashable demonstrating less social sharing on G+, news of the Other Network’s demise is premature. There are some hard numbers as well as substantial inertia favoring G+. G+ reached 50 million users in under 3 months. That had never been done before. Mashable reported in January that G+ is on track to reach 400 million users by 2013, and the Verge reported in late July that G+ traffic increased 66% in nine months.Google Plus vs. Facebook

So although I once wrote that Facebook was taking over the world, today I’d like to present you with the top 3 reasons Why Google Plus will eventually be more important than Facebook.

G+ Has Much Better User Features

First, photos. Even though there are a few adequate photo uploading apps, The Social Network’s native photo uploader is remarkably lame (one at a time folks, and don’t forget to create an album).

While Facebook’s image viewing functionality has improved, it is still quite lacking when compared to Flickr or Google’s own Picasa.  I’ve always loved Picasa’s combination of powerful features and ease of use. The desktop application’s interface with my account online account is just great, even if I now have to upload to my G+ photos, which in turn places them on picassaweb. G+ photos provides awesome features that are light years ahead of Facebook including meta-data and visual effects editing!

Google Plus Photo Interface

And have you tried to use Facebook’s video call recently? Exactly. G+ Hangouts is a killer-app. Especially with the addition of on air broadcasting.

Facebook Fatigue

While Google is certainly not a data privacy hero, Facebook’s obtuse handling of data privacy fiascos has put off lots of people. Adding to Facebook fatigue are problems born of its great success.  While there are far more people and Facebook, there is a lot more crap, and sifting through it to find the good stuff is much harder than on G+.

Facebook fatigue has presented itself most dramatically on Wall Street. Henry Blodget pointed out last week that “Facebook’s stock has crashed since the IPO and is now trading more that 40% below the IPO price.” Significantly, this was due to disappointing earnings, in particular “the number of ad units that the company served in its most important market, the U.S., declined 2% year over year–an unheard-of event for a company that most investors viewed as a ‘hyper-growth’ company.” To put it even more bluntly, “Facebook’s web-based users in the U.S. declined year over year, and the company’s core U.S. business may be shrinking.”

With troubling ad revenue projections, Facebook’s key new advertising product, “Sponsored Stories”, will further dilute interesting Facebook content and drive away even more users. Additionally, Google’s purchase of Wildfire will give the search giant much of the social marketing mojo that marketers love so much about Facebook.

Deep integration into the Google Ecosystem

In a much noted post last week which originally appeared as Quora response, Andrew Brown nailed it:

Facebook does not have the Google ecosystem of maps, calendar, search, books, movies, youtube, music, blogging, desktop search, cloud storage, advertising, rss readers, email, gps tracking, image editing, android, chrome, AppEngine, Compute Cloud, data takeout, or the tons of other products thriving and working together under Google.
….
The goal of Google+ is to create a social backbone that integrates with all services; a side-effect of that is the actual site known as Google+. Eventually anyone who uses Google products (estimated 1 to 1.5 billion people, not users) will be using Google+.

Add to that the “900,000 android devices” activated daily that feature a G+ app that provides a far superior mobile experience (“Chat face to face with up to 9 friends at once”) to Facebook mobile and you’ve got a real case.

So is Facebook the Yahoo! of the 2010’s? And is G+ well, the Google of social networks? Facebook is certainly still a monster and ectonic shifts like these happen over years not months. In 5 or 10 years what do you think the dominant social network will be?

DAVID VYORST is Co-Founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC.

We help companies amplify their communications, build reputations, and expand business through unique communications strategies, integrated Internet marketing, social media, analytics, and training. 

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter or Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY RSS FEED.

Build a Social Media Program from Business Objectives

| August 2, 2012 | Be first to comment

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Ever feel like you’re lost in a swamp, sinking deeper into a social media quagmire? A bog with no bottom? An endless pool of sticky content?  Do you post, tweet and share whatever butterfly catches your eye? 

If so, then you need to step back—all the way back—to your business or core communications objectives.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

The starting gun that announced the beginning of the social media marathon went off years ago. Most companies and associations by now have a basic set-up. But many are surprised to find themselves in the mire. If you’re one of them, it is because you didn’t do the hard work up front.

The hard work isn’t setting everything up—although to newbies the technology and terminology of the social universe is confusing at first. No, the hard work is thinking through your social media strategy and determining what online tactics you will use to achieve your goals.  A recent post in Business 2 Community said it well: social media is a platform, not a strategy.

Next Level Up

Take a look at your business or core communications objectives. I am sure they’ll be more detailed than simply, “Make More Money.” Once you know your goals, you can determine what tactics you want to use to achieve them.

 

  • Want to promote understanding of your membership? Maybe syndicated blogs and webinars are the right course.
  • Achieve 20% growth in a product line? Perhaps targeted outreach using LinkedIn messages to senior purchasing executives at Fortune 500 companies makes sense.

Whatever your company’s objectives are, you need to formulate a strategy for your social media program based upon them.

If you do this work up front, deciding what to post, tweet, share, and who to connect with becomes a much easier task. Not only will you find your way out of the swamp, you should be able to avoid the confusion altogether. 

 

Need help with your social media strategy?

SCOTT PETERSON is co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC. We help companies amplify their communications, build reputations, and expand business through unique communications strategies, integrated Internet marketing, social media, analytics, and training. 

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR 

How to Create an iGoogle Listening Post

| July 12, 2012 | Be first to comment

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Listening is an essential first step in any successful social media program. It’s vital to understand the nature of conversations that your constituencies are engaged in and equally important to understand what competitors and peers are doing online before you can influence those conversations and build thought-leadership. 

Intelligence-driven social media

Your goal should be to conduct intelligence-driven social media; to rise above mere opportunistic posts.

How do you do that?

If you’re new at the game or don’t have the budget for an industrial-grade intelligence-gathering system, such as Spredfast or Radian 6, you can start by setting up an iGoogle listening post.

I use iGoogle as my homepage. It serves as my personalized dashboard where I’ve plugged in feeds that give me quick access to my G-mail account; shared Google Docs; a Google Reader for RSS feeds; Google Calendars that I share among my business colleagues and family; as well as feeds from a couple of news organizations and the weather.

You may do that, too. But did you know that iGoogle’s dashboard can be constructed to display all sorts of other digital information?

Build an Intelligence Gathering System

The free iGoogle dashboard can be configured to monitor multiple web monitoring searches, yielding an efficient and powerful compendium of much of what an organization needs to know about what’s going on online.

In order to use it as a business listening post, you first need a Google Account. That’s easy enough. Like all of the other Google products I’ve mentioned, it’s free.

We like free

Once your account is established, click on More, then Even More, and select iGoogle. Your template will then be created.

If you have a personal iGoogle, simply repeat the last three steps. A tab will appear in the upper left of the banner that will indicates you now have TWO iGoogles dashboards and you can toggle back and forth between Home and the one you’ve just created. 

Now comes the fun part

On the upper right in the iGoogle banner, you’ll see a little square icon. Hover your cursor over that icon and you’ll see: Add Gadgets. Click on that. At the bottom of the left-hand column, find Add Feed or Gadget.

Select which RSS feeds you want to monitor. If you already use a Reader, then just copy a feed address, paste it in the box, and click on Add. If you’re like me, you have dozens or feeds in your Reader. The Listening Post that you are creating should be selective. Every time you paste one into the Add Feed box and click Add, it will be displayed on your new iGoogle Listening Post dashboard. You can also paste in a Google Alert.

So how do you maintain your listening post?

You don’t. It just keeps rolling along. You can modify it by adding or subtracting feeds. Otherwise, it silently does its job.

Until November 2013, that is.  That’s when Google—for some unfathomable reason—plans to eliminate iGoogle from its list of product offerings and you will have to transfer to less satisfying options like NetVibes, Feedly or My Yahoo. But until then, it’s a great, free way of gathering intelligence. 

 

Need help figuring out your social media program?

SCOTT PETERSON is co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC. We help companies amplify their communications, build reputations, and expand business through unique communications strategies, integrated Internet marketing, social media, analytics, and training. 

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED.

Social Media and the Arab Summer

| June 27, 2012 | 2 comments

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The promise and hope of the Arab Spring has unraveled into the rather messy Arab Summer. Libya is out of sight and out of mind here in DC. Egypt is caught between the rock of its ruling Military Council and the hard place of its newly elected Islamist President, and there is no positive foreseeable end for the open festering wound that is Syria.

However, the darkness of the reality that has set in and supplanted the optimism of the early days of the Arab Spring (does anyone remember Tunisia?) in no way diminishes the key role that social media and internet technologies played in the undoing of the brutal and corrupt regimes of Zine Ben Ali, Moammar Gadhafi, Hosni Mubarak, and hopefully soon, Bashar al-Assad.

State Department Internet Freedom Fellows

Mike Nelson and the Freedom Fellows

On Monday night The Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-DC – of which I am co-convener) hosted a spirited discussion with this year’s State Department’s Internet Freedom Fellows, which combined with a Chapter event on the Arab Spring in February, drive a solid stake through the heart of Malcolm Gladwell’s wrong headed thesis on social media and the Arab Spring.

At last night’s event, Syrian Cyber-Dissident Dlshad Othman detailed the practices of the Syrian regime against Internet freedom:

Syrian opposition and civil society organizations use Internet-based communication systems as their main way to communicate, which can compromise their ability to effectively communicate between parties.  In fact, recently government authorities presented copies of personal emails to detained protesters, suggesting that such surveillance is widespread.  In addition, there are reports that the Syrian government has recently attempted to procure high-end filtering and surveillance systems such as Bluecoat and NetAPP.

It was an incredible (and impressively geeky) presentation. Could we ever have imagined that techno-Orwellian autocrats would use advanced cyber technologies to hack away at free expression online? 

The internet in syria

View more PowerPoint from David Vyorst

Noted Azerbaijani cyber-dissident Emin Milli added that autocracies are becoming more sophisticated in the tools they use to suppress free expression. In 2009, Milli was imprisoned for two and a half years for his critical views about the government of Azerbaijan. Amnesty International considered that Emin Milli was a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association and campaigned for his release. He was conditionally released in November 2010, after serving 16 months of his sentence.

Dlshad Othman also discussed groups working around the regime’s techno snares such as “Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria”, and the “Syrian Electronic Army” – a group of hackers working on work-arounds to the regime’s electronic attacks mentioned in his presentation. 

the Syrian Electronic Army

This post on their site may well cause me to lose sleep. But just as social media and internet technology played an essential role in the Arab Spring, these technologies are still vital to those fighting the ongoing battle for freedom – for organizing, sharing information, and disseminating truth to counter autocratic lies.

The thing that gives me hope is something I read in a tech blog yesterday morning:

… the technology always advances. It sees areas where people try to stop it, and figures out a way to route around it. Whether or not people like this, it exists, and tons of other, similar offerings will likely exist in short order. You can fight the tide — as some seem to want to do — or you can look at ways that you might take advantage of tools like this. Only one of those is a winning strategy.

Dlshad Othman on Twitter: @dlshadothman 

Emin Milli on Twitter: @eminmilli  

Complete Video of the ISOC-DC Internet Freedom Fellows event:

 

DAVID VYORST is co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC. We help companies amplify their communications, build reputations, and expand business through unique communications strategies, integrated Internet marketing, social media, analytics, and training. 

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter or Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY RSS FEED.

Drowning in Email? Move Company Communications to an Enterprise Social Network

| June 22, 2012 | Be first to comment

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Do you start your work day deleting emails? If you do, you know how hard it can be to find the wheat in all that chaff.

We’re being inundated with emails from people who want a piece of us. I’ve got a great spam filter—it’s always shocking to see what it catches. The risk is overlooking an important communication from a team member, client, or supplier—or your boss.

Another loss from being dependent on email for internal communications stems from “silo mentality.” An example of this dysfunction is working on a project and finding out that it’s been done by another employee in another unit. Someone that’s not in your silo.

A 21st Century Answer

People are finding solutions to these problems in enterprise social networks. What are they? Think social media for your project team and company-wide. It can include customers and vendors working on the same project. The adoption rate is increasing rapidly for all sorts of companies. 

An enterprise social network provides a shared set of tools to locate staff, share expertise, and build personal bonds. It can be a great way to drive productivity. It also has many of the benefits and risks of those well-known external social media platforms. Here are a few ideas to get you started on the path toward deciding if it’s right for your company.

Boost Your Intranet’s Power

Is your company Intranet in need of a facelift? An enterprise social network could be the answer. Every employee is provided with a company profile with basic information from HR and a photo from their security badge. It’s up to each user to fill in their profile. Instead of sending endless emails, project members and subject matter experts communicate through status updates or group chats. On the homepage, company and industry news, messages from the CEO, and images from company events can be posted. A search feature allows you to search for people based upon keywords in their profiles.

Change Happens

Some employees will embrace the features of your enterprise social network. Others like the old ways of doing things and will be resistant to change. Initially, you should expect that your employee communications staff or consultant will need to hold plenty of hands and conduct one-on-one and group training.  

The leader in the category of enterprise social networks is Yammer. Their interface looks remarkably like Facebook, so it will be intuitive to most people. Jive, another major provider, is not far behind. But there’s a growing list of other technology providers. Take a look at their customer base. You may be surprised. 

Now that you know a little about enterprise social networking, you’re ready to take the next step to find out more. 

 

Need help figuring out your social media program?

SCOTT PETERSON is co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC. We help companies amplify their communications, build reputations, and expand business through unique communications strategies, integrated Internet marketing, social media, analytics, and training. 

To find out how you can receive a free Amplification Guide to learn advanced social media techniques, click here now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED.

Simple Tools for a Powerful Password Strategy

| June 11, 2012 | Be first to comment

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(Note: this is an encore presentation of one of my posts from last December–especially timely in light of the news of hackers continuing to steal insecure passwords.)

A university professor told me he has an easy way to remember his online passwords.  He uses the same one everywhere. I admit I was a little surprised. He’s got a PhD and runs an institute. If you use more than one password—and I hope you do—are they written on scraps of paper that you stick in a book? Or do you rely upon Google to protect you and hope no one steals your laptop.

This is serious stuff. InfoSecIsland recently posted a great piece titled the Top Ten Password Cracking Methods. How many are you susceptible to? 

There are a number of companies that offer software to protect you, including KeyPass, StickyPassword, and Kaspersky. But the two leaders in the password space are Roboform and LastPass. Both require only one master password, encrypt passwords, provide secure password generators, and fill in forms. 

Roboform is free as a download that allows users to save information for up to 10 accounts. Bet you have more than that, though, don’t you? Beyond ten, the cost is $29.95. Passwords are stored on an encrypted file on your hard drive. You’ll need to install on all of your machines or use a proprietary sync product. An enterprise version is available with a volume discount. 

LastPass is a better solution for me. There’s a free version that allows unlimited accounts that I’ve been using for a year now. I’m very happy with it. It’s compatible with all mainstream browsers. LastPass saves your passwords into an encrypted file on their servers so it can be accessed from anywhere online. No need to install it on all of your machines.  A mobile version with advanced features costs $12 per year.  There’s an enterprise version, as well. 

You need to memorize one master password to access your LastPass vault where all of your other login data and passwords are stored.
There are several different levels of available security.  But it’s really about opening and closing the vault. 

Here’s how easy it is to use:

  • Generate a free, secure password using LastPass’s password generator tool or create a long, complex password yourself. Here are some guidelines from Microsoft.
  • Change the password in one of your online accounts to this new password, then access the account.
  • LastPass will ask you if you want to save the new login and password into your vault. Click yes.
  • The next time you need to enter a password into this account, first click on the black LastPass icon on your toolbar.  Then enter your LastPass Master Password.
  • The account password will automatically populate. Click and open your account.
  • Close your LastPass vault.

Along with a good password strategy, you also need good anti-malware and anti-spyware programs.  Microsoft Security Essentials and Spybot Search & Destroy are two of the best. 

Password protection may become a thing of the past if technology that enables iris recognition is adopted for the consumer market. But don’t wait. You could be sorry if you do.

SCOTT PETERSON is co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC. We provide integrated Internet marketing, compliance solutions, training, and more to a wide range of organizations.

To find out how you can receive a free Amplification Guide to learn advanced social media techniques, click here now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Facebook. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED.

The NLRB Has Something to Say about Your Social Media Policy

| June 8, 2012 | Be first to comment

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When most people think of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), if they ever do, they think of a federal government agency charged with investigating and stopping unfair labor practices.

NLRB Issues Social Media Guidance

But the agency’s mandate isn’t limited to unionized shops. In fact, it extends to any U.S. company whose employees use social media. 

That would be, uh, most every company. Even yours. 

So you want to pay attention.  Otherwise, there’s the possibility you could end up with a court order to comply with an NLRB decision or an employee civil suit. 

As described on its website, the NLRB “protects the rights of most private-sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions.”

New Guidance

On May 30, the agency issued new guidance on what is permissible in a company social media policy. The report was the third pronouncement from the NLRB and the most detailed yet. The first two were about employer actions taken against employees who had been disciplined for social media policy violations. The third focused upon seven, actual employer policies.

Guess what? The NLRB found problems in all of them… except the last one, which they actually liked. So, we finally have definitive guidance on what is lawful in the area of social media labor law.

“In the first six cases, I have concluded that at least some of the provisions in the employers’ policies and rules are overbroad and thus unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act. In the last case, I have concluded that the entire social media policy, as revised, is lawful under the Act….” – NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon.

Make Life Easier

If you don’t have a social media policy yet, you should start by modeling yours after number seven. You can find it at the end of The Acting General Counsel’s OM 12_59 Report Concerning Social Media Cases.  Most companies should also include guidance on IT security. If you are a highly-regulated company, in the financial sector, for example, your policy should include other points, as well. 

If you already have a social media policy, you ought to examine the NLRB’s guidance closely, then take a look at yours and see how many violations you can find.

NLRB Issues Social Media GuidanceConsequences?

There are plenty of labor lawyers who question whether NLRB’s social media guidance will ever stand up in court. But until a judge strikes it down, you better take it seriously.

 

Need help with your program? Contact us right now at 202.630.8014 or info@relaystationmedia.com for a free consultation.

SCOTT PETERSON, co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC, has over a decade of experience in market, securities, and regulatory communications. His firm provides strategic communications consulting, integrated Internet marketing, compliance training, and more to a wide range of organizations.

To find out how you can receive a free Amplification Guide to learn advanced social media techniques, click here now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED. 

 

Don’t Forget the Map: Social Media Policy Isn’t Enough

| May 25, 2012 | Be first to comment

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Before you get into your car, hop onto your bicycle, or load up the boat, you’ve made decisions about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. You also understand the laws of operating your vehicle. 

The process isn’t dissimilar for companies and associations about to embark on a social media program. There’s preparation that must take place before the first post or tweet.

You need a social media plan AND a social media policy.

What’s the difference? Think of a plan as the map, whereas the policy serves as the “rules of the road.”

Thinking It Through

The first step in developing a high impact social media program is to create a plan that answers a number of critical questions. Some of them are:

• What are your goals?
• How will you use social media to achieve those objectives?
• What platforms will you use? Should you use video?
• Will social media be used only to promote the brand? What about customer service? Or recruiting?
• If you want to use social media for business development, will all employees and team members be permitted to participate?
• What about social media advertising?
• How often will analytics be reviewed and by whom?
• Who will be in charge and available if a crisis occurs?
• Do you have enough staff or will you need agency support?
• Will your social media program be integrated into your marketing and business strategy?

A good place to start the process of creating a plan is a benchmark analysis to determine how competitors and clients use social media.

Then, of course, there’s the question of budget. Social media is not free. 

Policy Issues

The social media policy should include internal and external components. Among the issues to be addressed include: 

• An employee code of online conduct for the use of social media at work and away from work when it relates to the firm;
• The right to monitor employee use at work and comments made about the company on the Internet at any time;
• The right to remove content posted from company systems;
• Legal disclosure, if any, on the platforms;
• Mandatory use of an archiving and review system and explanation of how compliance will provide oversight;
• Training requirements, including IT security; and
• Outline of the disciplinary process for policy violations. 

Once your plan is in place and policy is written, you can finish building your systems, get your people trained, and get to work.
It’s a big new social world out there. What are you waiting for?

 

Need help with your program? Contact us right now at 202.630.8014 or info@relaystationmedia.com for a free consultation. 

SCOTT PETERSON, co-founder of Relay Station Social Media LLC, has over a decade of experience in market, securities, and regulatory communications. His firm provides strategic communications consulting, integrated Internet marketing, compliance training, and more to a wide range of organizations.

To find out how you can receive a free Amplification Guide to learn advanced social media techniques, click here now.

If you like this blog post, drop us a line on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS FEED.

 

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