Conversations That Matter

We often hear from clients or other contacts that they aren't participating in the social media space for a variety of reasons, a few of the more common ones being:

1) Very vocal opposition and a fear that an opponent will essentially "run" their Facebook wall or Twitter account (whatever it may be) for them. They are worried that someone will monopolize the conversation in a negative way and they don't know how to manage that.

2) They are a publicly traded company and aren't sure how to conduct themselves online during quiet periods, etc.

The last thing you want is these types of reasons to hold you back from having a voice in social media. This is where the policy comes in. Have it set in place before you get started on how you will respond to negative comments, how you will manage vocal opposition (remember that you can always move the conversation offline), when you will post tweets during quiet periods and what kind of content will you publish during those times.

You just need to find out social media can work for YOU.

For bigger companies, one of the main concerns should be "which parts of the business will be involved and how?"

The person running the accounts probably doesn't know everything about customer service, marketing, operations, etc. What's the process going to be when a concern from a specific department comes up?

Hi, Grant, thanks for the comment and questions. Whether you’re a large, publicly traded company or a small privately-owned business (or a nonprofit), the question of which parts of your organization are involved with social media is part of the discussion of how you're going to manage your accounts. “Managing” your accounts isn’t simply who’s going to put out daily tweets, but it includes who’s going to be responsible for monitoring conversations, how are you going to respond to different types of conversations or comments, who will have the final say in what gets done, etc. It’s management at the macro and micro levels.

I believe the communications department is the natural choice to be the hub of the flow of information. To be successful, they of course need to bring in representatives from other areas of the company. One possible result is a cross-sectional team of employees that are empowered to act and make decisions. Constant education to employees about the policy – communicating down – is important, but just as necessary is creating a culture of communicating up so that key information reaches the appropriate level.

This brings up another key point: that to succeed in getting everyone in the company on board and involved in social media – to your point – you need a champion at the top executive level. This is similar to what needs to happen for many internal communications programs. This champion is someone who has weight within the company and who can tell the various departments and divisions that this *is* something we are going to do – and they will get behind it.

Most organizations have current procedures and policies for managing traditional media relations. There are procedures in place to proactively and quickly filter information to the communications department on issues that could reach the media (such as a product recall, safety concerns or rumors, new projects or initiatives, or staffing changes). There should also already be procedures in place for managing incoming media requests – that no one other than official spokespeople speak to reporters, e.g.

The Mile High Social Media Club panel touched on this last night – that you can add your social media policies and information flow procedures onto your current operational and communications procedures. As much as possible, there’s no need to recreate the wheel, and streamlining your policies/procedures will help everyone involved.

I have a question- how do you go about finding your audience and how does that influence your online social media policy?

Hi, Deb! Thanks for commenting. My advice is to start with your goal - what do you, as an organization, hope to accomplish by venturing into social media? Then, who do you need to connect with/reach/ influence/educate/etc. in order to accomplish your goals? Once you determine these two things - pretty much the "why" of what you're doing - it has a significant impact on how you develop your policy.

Among other things, identifying your audience(s) impacts your voice and what you will (and won't) discuss online and how you will (or won't) respond to comments. Identifying our audiences was a big part of MGA's own process in creating our policy and it also is significant when we work with our clients in this space.

Once your policy is created, you move on to a plan that outlines the specific tools and content that you're going to use to reach your goals. It includes measurable goals and timelines. It's an extension of your policy - but the policy really does need to come before the plan and before tactical implementation.