With social media used as a branding tool for business, the potential for a PR disaster is increasing. Instead of waiting for it to happen, business can be proactive by developing strategies and procedures which support and protect the organisation, not harm it.
Here are 6 tips that will go a long way to protecting your company brand and reputation.
Develop a clear policy
All companies need to have a strong social media policy regardless of how active or inactive they are on social media. It is important to develop a plan for maintaining the policy which takes into account new platforms, new regulations or a different strategy. As the company develops, the policy evolves and so changes over time.
Educate and train employees regularly
Never assume that your employees know what you mean or what they can or can’t say in relation to the company. Unless it is spelled out to them, it is essential to never believe employees are on the ‘same page’ as the organisation. Regular education and training is necessary to make sure employees understand what is expected of them and why the policy is required.
Collaboration
Employees are your best spruikers about your company. They are invested in the organisation by working for it so why not tap into this by asking for their assistance. It is so much more effective to work in partnership with your employees, and to find the best options when it comes to social media engagement. When you have an internal team on board working with and for you, social media risks are minimised.
Define responsibility
When a social media policy is drafted, it is essential to identify and assign responsibility to a number of aspects of the policy.
Some of these include:
- Who will be responsible for making sure social posts are implemented?
- Who will follow up and engage with the audience?
- What happens when something goes wrong?
Grievance and termination procedures
If an employee does do the wrong thing and from time to time this is bound to happen for a number of reasons, it is critical to have procedures in place to deal with these occurrences. An organisation can’t stop something happening, however, dealing with the aftermath is much easier when there are procedures in place documenting the steps.
Never stop learning
Social media technology is evolving at incredible speed. As a company it is your responsibility to be on top of these changes and know what is happening. As with anything in life you will never have the complete picture or all the answers. However, what is important is to keep striving and finding better ways of implementation for your company.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or subscribe to our newsletter for more tips.
Take a look at our website or Facebook page for more information about how we can support your business to use social media safely.
Tags: Managing social media crisis • Negative Comments on Social Media • Online Reputation • Reputation managment • social Media • Social media crisis • Social Media Risks
6 tips to help your business avoid a social media fiasco
With social media used as a branding tool for business, the potential for a PR disaster is increasing. Instead of waiting for it to happen, business can be proactive by developing strategies and procedures which support and protect the organisation, not harm it.
Here are 6 tips that will go a long way to protecting your company brand and reputation.
Develop a clear policy
All companies need to have a strong social media policy regardless of how active or inactive they are on social media. It is important to develop a plan for maintaining the policy which takes into account new platforms, new regulations or a different strategy. As the company develops, the policy evolves and so changes over time.
Educate and train employees regularly
Never assume that your employees know what you mean or what they can or can’t say in relation to the company. Unless it is spelled out to them, it is essential to never believe employees are on the ‘same page’ as the organisation. Regular education and training is necessary to make sure employees understand what is expected of them and why the policy is required.
Collaboration
Employees are your best spruikers about your company. They are invested in the organisation by working for it so why not tap into this by asking for their assistance. It is so much more effective to work in partnership with your employees, and to find the best options when it comes to social media engagement. When you have an internal team on board working with and for you, social media risks are minimised.
Define responsibility
When a social media policy is drafted, it is essential to identify and assign responsibility to a number of aspects of the policy.
Some of these include:
Grievance and termination procedures
If an employee does do the wrong thing and from time to time this is bound to happen for a number of reasons, it is critical to have procedures in place to deal with these occurrences. An organisation can’t stop something happening, however, dealing with the aftermath is much easier when there are procedures in place documenting the steps.
Never stop learning
Social media technology is evolving at incredible speed. As a company it is your responsibility to be on top of these changes and know what is happening. As with anything in life you will never have the complete picture or all the answers. However, what is important is to keep striving and finding better ways of implementation for your company.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or subscribe to our newsletter for more tips.
Take a look at our website or Facebook page for more information about how we can support your business to use social media safely.
Tags: Managing social media crisis • Negative Comments on Social Media • Online Reputation • Reputation managment • social Media • Social media crisis • Social Media Risks