Tips on Developing a Corporate Social Media Policy

The Best Practices Committee of the Society for New Communications Research spent a year investigating corporate social media policies. The Committee's research included compiling case studies on the blogging policy implementation, as well as development for companies managing both internal and external corporate blogs and other types of social media. As a result of this research, the Society for New Communications Research were able to compile a set of best practice policies to be adopted in implementing and developing corporate blogging guidelines and policies. From their research, six factors emerged as key to the successful implementation and development of corporate blogging policy.



1. Trust
It's important that company employees are trusted to communicate, and thus develop working relationships with the company's customers. The corporation is advised not to review employees' posts prior to posting, but to trust them as company communicators and have faith in their judgement.

2. Accuracy
Nevertheless, facts must be checked. It is down to the individual to check before posting content, particularly where those posts involve quotes other individuals. Where you are considering quoting others or writing about private conversations, it's always sensible to seek permission prior to posting.

3. Culture
The company should foster a culture of openness. The corporation should listen to, respect and value its employee's opinions as well as those of their customers and other institutions.

4. Transparency
Transparency and authenticity are key. Connections with customers together with commercial and personal connections should not be hidden.

5. Training
Before asking an employee to blog, it's vital that they're provided with adequate training. This includes reviewing legal issues and company policy. Employees should be given the option of participating in training rather than it being mandatory.

6. Comments
It is important to communicate your company's comment policy clearly, setting expectations and making it clear what and what isn't allowed on the blog. It's important that comments should be uncensored from a negative/positive point of view to keep the blog authentic, but where a comment is inappropriate the author should be contacted and the comment should be removed.



As a businessman, Tony Freeman knows all too well the importance of implementing a sound social media policy in terms of attracting new customers. Those who sell their goods and services to the public have a very good chance of meeting new customers through their online interactions. Social media is a relatively low cost-method of reaching out to a wide audience, and hopefully expanding the company's customer base. It's important to devise a corporate social media strategy, so as not to let this huge opportunity go to waste.

There are numerous examples of employees being fired for comments they've made on social media. From defaming customers to making negative comments about the boss, these incidents illustrate why it's necessary for the company to be clear with their employees what will and what will not be tolerated on social media.

Vivienne Storey, General Manager with Australian law firm Blandslaw recently pointed out the importance for any business with employees - no matter what its size - adopting a social media policy. Without one, how can the company monitor and manage what's being said about it on social media?

A social media policy sets down a code of principles and guidelines for employees communicating with the outside world as agents of the company. This policy can be the company's first line of defence in mitigating the risks for both itself and the employee. The employee may have already entered into a confidentiality agreement with the corporation but that might not be enough. Just a few lines on employee interaction on social media might be sufficient. It is sensible to have a specific document on file that employees can be provided with and retain for future reference.



A social media policy can cover aspects such as:

• Employee use of Facebook.
• Employee blogging disclosure.
• A code of conduct in respect of online communications.
• A code of conduct in respect of company representation in those online communications.
• Employee personal blogging.
• Employee use of Twitter.
• Employee use of LinkedIn.
• Company blogging and blog use.
• Company blog commenting.
• Company blog post approval process (if applicable).
• Company use of Twitter.
• Facebook brand page administration.
• Company Facebook commenting and messaging.
• Company passwords.
• Company YouTube policy.

Developing New Guidelines

It's important for the company to think ahead in terms of policies and guidelines. It's a good idea to include company bloggers in the decision-making process. Policies should be developed that extend to both current, and new and emerging modes of communications such as videos and podcasts. Once published, the reach of social media can vary greatly according to the stringency of the distribution guidelines adopted. Companies which facilitate wider distribution stand the biggest chance of their material going viral.

It is important to stay in compliance with the law, and it therefore makes good sense to have the policy looked over by the company's legal department, seeking their input in development of the policy. Confidential information should never be posted, and where the line is overstepped the information should be deleted immediately, together with an explanation of why it was redacted. It's imperative that privacy is protected. It is vital to communicate with employees what information is appropriate to be discussed online, and what information is not. The company should respect its competitors and others involved in the industry, and take care not to write about them in a negative stance.

Creating an Online Presence for Your Business

Building an online presence for your new business can be time consuming and sometimes frustrating. All the same, as entrepreneur Tony Freeman knows all too well, it is also incredibly important. Building a presence online is not something that just happens overnight, but it is a vital way of helping people to find, interact with, like and trust you.

The good news is, building your presence on the internet becomes a whole lot less frustrating once you know where to start.

Your online presence is the sum of the identities you have created. This can relate to your business and to you as a person, supporting the interactions and relationships you've already established. Your presence online has a broad reach, creating brand awareness and gaining new leads, followers and, ultimately customers, where it is built diligently.



Where to begin in building the online presence of your business?

As Tony Freeman will agree, there is a lot that goes into building a business's online presence, from building websites and online profiles to developing strategies to encouraging engagement and interaction across the various web-based platforms.

#1 Strategise

What are your goals? You must look at this first and foremost, both on a short and long term basis. As your business's online presence begins to grow, you should examine how every online effort is helping your business towards its goals. It is a good idea to keep written records for easy referral to make sure that online strategies are taking the business forward.

#2 Build a Platform

Building a solid platform, for most entrepreneurs and small businesses, means building a website. Your site is your hub: a centralised location people can visit to learn more about what you do. Here they should be able to see what you have to offer, have the opportunity to engage and interact with you and, of course, contact you.

It's important to be clear and concise on your business website, letting the world know what you're all about. Easy to use navigation is a must. A free giveaway is an excellent strategy - providing the visitor with valuable information or special offers - in exchange for their email address.



#3 Provide Value

Whether it's through the business website, an online community you're involved in, or through social media, it's important that the content you provide offers consistent value. What can you offer the people you interact with? What can you give them that's of genuine value? It might be an informational video, blog post or podcast. It might be a reply to a question in a forum. Whatever the form, you should ensure that your contribution offers consistently valuable content to help you gain authority and credibility in your industry. Engaging with online communities and providing valuable assistance can be a great method of achieving growth of your business's online presence. So far as social media websites are concerned, a good rule of thumb is the 80/20 ratio. 80% of the time, you're sharing other peoples' content, 20% of the time, you're posting your own. This way you begin to build up a rapport, rather than appearing too spammy. This tactic not only builds trust with followers (showing that you're not there to shamelessly self-promote) but helps you to build working relationships with others in your industry. It's a great method of attracting new followers.

#4 SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is an ever-adapting science, as Tony Freeman understands all too well. Nevertheless, thousands of free SEO advice articles are available online, helping those starting out to keep up-to-date with SEO best practices. Google's Keyword Tool is invaluable in helping you to decide which keywords to target in your content. It will give you an approximate calculation of how many times a search term is inputted into Google per month, plus give you an idea of the quantity and quality of competition for those keywords, and even suggest alternatives.

You must continue to update and improve your website if you want it to rank well. At the very beginning, your content will probably be all you have to offer your first visitors. Continue to seek out ways to improve your website, optimising it for search engine purposes as you go.

#5 Tweet

Once upon a time, Twitter was just used by people to interact with their families and friends; letting them know what they were up to in 140 characters or less. Times have changed. Twitter is embraced by millions of businesses internationally for the value it provides as a social marketing tool, allowing retailers to connect with customers each and every day. Many corporations use Twitter as a marketing tool, publishing announcements and news, promoting special offers and getting real-time feedback from their customers.



#6 Google Business Centre

Adding your business to Google Business Centre means that it will appear on Google Maps - a huge plus in helping customers to find you. Additionally, it will boost your business in terms of Google search rankings. Google is the world's leading search engine with millions of visitors a day. Just visit the Google Business Centre for instructions on adding your business to the Google business directory.

#7 Keep Learning

New tactics, technology and information flood the online information market each and every day. It's worth taking the time and effort to stay on top of new trends in what can be a fast paced business. To stay ahead of the curve, stay educated.

Top Tips for Starting a Business

Starting your own business can be liberating, exciting and rewarding. It can also be draining (both financially and emotionally) and incredibly stressful. Whether you're aiming to start a corner shop or become the next financial guru, the following collection of tips will help you to get off to the best possible start.



Start Small

As businessman Tony Freeman will attest, an important consideration will be start up costs. It's a little known facts that Marks and Spencers started its retail life as no more than a market stall. Back at the start, Tescos was no more than a couple of corner shops. Laura Ashley started out from her kitchen table. Before splurging on premises and equipment, consider how necessary that expenditure is. Many business's begin in the home, relying on little more than a laptop. For those working from home, issues such as insurance will need to be examined (household insurance may no longer be valid if you turn your home into a business premises). The policy may need to be upgraded. You should think about setting up a business account to save you the hassle of having to work through your personal and business expenses when the time comes for you to file your annual tax return.

Parcel Checker is a fabulous service for those needing to send parcels to their customers. It can save a fortune in delivery, its comparison tools linking users with the cheapest shipping company to meet their requirements.

Cash Flow

Customers don't always pay on time, so it's important not to make assumptions. Cut down on waiting time by persuading them to sign up to agreed payment terms right from the start. Be clear that you will charge an uplift percentage where bills are not paid within 30 days. Avoid spending money early on working on the assumption that this will be reimbursed by the client. Where possible, ask for payments on account. It may be prudent to ensure that you have an alternative income source to fall back on, even if that means taking a part-time job.

Draw Up a Business Plan

Business experts such as Tony Freeman will be familiar with the concept that to fail to plan in business means to plan to fail. Whether you're setting up as a freelancer or opening your own shop, it's vital to calculate your monthly business costs along with how much profit (or alternative income) will be necessary to source it.

Those starting up their own business must work out what their monthly sales need to be to keep the business afloat. It's a good idea to draw up a chart covering the next year, indicating the growth in sales which can realistically be generated and how you'll attract new consumers.



Finding Partners and Suppliers

Even if you're a sole trader, working alone, the business is likely to entail suppliers, distributors and possibly partners. So far as business partners are concerned, finding a co-founder with sufficient knowledge and skills is imperative. Where your own skills do not cover all aspects of the business, starting up with a specialist who has the knowledge you lack will enable you to cover all bases.

Create a list of potential suppliers. Approach them for estimates, and use this as an opening point to negotiate prices (it may be that they will apply a discount for buying in bulk etc). Begin to develop business relations with your suppliers to try to gauge which are reliable and trustworthy.

Networking

The more coverage the business has, provided there is a market for its goods or services, the more likely it is to find trade. In the age of the worldwide web this is especially true. You can market your business without leaving your desk.

Networking groups and forums are helpful places to find useful advice and meet individuals and companies relevant to your business. Interacting via this method can potentially create positive publicity.

It's a good idea to have business cards printed for potential clients you may meet in person. The Vistaprint website offers this facility for free. Trade can often be sourced via networking events in the local vicinity, depending on the nature of the business. It's always prudent to have something useful to offer potential customers, be it a business card or a brochure. Cold sales and door to door sales are particularly tricky venues in which to achieve success. Networking is infinitely easier. Networking puts people with a need in touch with people who have a solution. It's important not to be too brash - just exchange business cards initially. Feel free to email them (though only if you have information which would be of value to them), but not until 48 hours have passed. If you can provide them with useful information, or point out where they might find it, you've just created a positive association and they have your contact details.



Keep Your Ambitions in Check

You need ambition to start a business. However, those ambitions need to be realistic. James Caan of the Dragon's Den television programme recently commented in interview that those starting up a new business often fail to carry out sufficient research in terms of fundamental issues such as pricing. The prospective business person may believe they are offering incredible value, but if they have carried out insufficient research they'll never know whether they're being underpriced by their rivals. It takes two minutes to pick up the phone and talk to potential customers. Those new to business often spend too much time primping their website are throwing parties instead of concentrating on the fundamentals: the bare bones of the business.