Whether we’re helping clients develop a public-facing social engagement strategy or building out a social computing / collaboration environment behind the firewall, one of the more interesting aspects is the notion of governance and policy development.
Social policies can be as different as the organizations that adopt them but, generally speaking, there are three main components that must be considered:
- How will the organization conduct itself in social channels?
- How will employees be expected to conduct themselves in social channels?
- How will the public be allowed to conduct themselves on social properties owned or curated by the organization?
For an excellent recap of what makes a good social policy, check out this e-book by Toronto PR superstar Dave Fleet.
As is often the case, clients and agencies alike often tackle questions like these by seeking out best practices and examples of what other companies are doing (a simple Google search for social media policies can point you to a myriad of good examples). This is a useful exercise but, too often, organizations simply cherry pick the best of what’s out there to create what is essentially a cut-and-paste policy.
One Canadian firm even partnered with a lawyer to create an online tool for building a policy simply by answering a series of questions. Your answers are tied to snippets of boilerplate content which are woven together to create a basic policy. Bam. You’ve got enforceable rules and guidelines for conduct.
Easy-peasy, right?
Yea, if all you care about is creating the policy. But taking shortcuts like that really robs you of what is, arguably, just as important as the end result - the policy development exercise.
The very act of sitting down with stakeholders (especially skeptical ones) from various teams or lines of business to talk about worst case scenarios, risk mitigation and expected user behaviours is one of the best buy-in exercises you’ll encounter throughout your project life cycle.
You give people a sense of ownership in the project, for one, and you give them an opportunity to air their concerns well in advance of your expected launch date. They get to see that steps are being taken to tame the Wild West that many of them envision when thinking about social initiatives and together you can work to ensure concerns are addressed in a way that truly reflects your organization.
It can be a useful eye opener for skeptics and reality check for enthusiasts. Most importantly, it gets everyone on the same page and allows you to create a policy that works for your organization, not someone else’s.
Looking at what other companies have done is a good first step but don’t miss out on the opportunities afforded by committing to taking a few more before you announce that you’ve reached your destination. The journey is just as important.
Want to know if you’re ready for social media participation at all? You’re in luck, we’ve got a whitepaper that can help with that. And if you’re looking for some help putting together a social media policy for your organization, well we can help with that too. Give us a call.