There are dangers to both sides of the question.

As you point out, there are dangers to uncontrolled social media eminating from a company, but to have only "committee/lawyer" approved social media posts can be just as damaging.

The ENTIRE point of social media marketing for businesses is that it is a less formal, more intimate way to communicate with customers. If the only social media communications are the same bland corporate speak that we here in press releases and ads, better to not participate at all.

I think that the corporation can have a few social media accounts that are obviously "official" to the corporation. These should be managed by smart, trusted employees who have proven that they can be trusted. All other employees can do as they please, but not officially representing the company. This is all so new that rules have not been formulated yet, and the lawyers haven't had time to set precedent in courts, but any company that can prove that they were thoughtful and prudent in their efforts is likely to not suffer too badly monetarily. And I believe that public opinion would be vastly in favor of a company that obviously tried to be open and friendly but got dragged into court because someone wanted a quick payday.

One of the overlooked powers of social media marketing is that if you have a great prorduct/service and your customers are happy, they will rabidly come to your defense if someone with an axe to grind starts sniping. I've seen it play out over and over.

Ralph

posted March 24, 2010

I believe that the answer will vary by industry and by size of company. The larger the company the more employees that may be engaged in social media. I think a social media strategy is important for companies to define. The strategy should address issues such as which outlets you will use, who will be responsible for monitoring/posting, the amount of resources you will devote to this strategy and a set of policy and procedures regarding social media involvement.

What employees do on their own time is their business, but when they represent themselves as an agent of your company or if they do social media on company time/computers then it is the company's business too.

I mentioned that industry was also a consideration. Some industries such as financial management, banking and insurance are highly regulated in terms of what can be said in advertising,etc and social media could technically be considered advertising/communications. So be sure to research any regulations in your industry.

Links:

• http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html
• http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/03/the-facebook-nestle-mess-when-social-med...

posted March 24, 2010

Yes and No.

It depends what you mean by lock down.

Does it mean access? Or Posting company information?

If you mean access - then sometimes it's necessary to lock down. But sounds like you are referring to Posting about the company.

I would allow people to post, but within rules. eg Do not disclose you client names, do not disclose pricing, do not disclose notes about any clients - or conversations, do not disclose trade secrets.

Otherwise, openness is usually good. In some cases it backfires though. I run a Mystery Shopping Company with 10's of thousands of contractors. The contractors we reject may go online and whine, thus keeping away our good shoppers. Although we didn't want the failure, they can negatively impact the good relationships.

From a client perspective in a B2B environment, they may not want to be opened to Social Media.

I'm a massive fan of Social Media, but the answer is not a simple Yes (to be trendy) or No (to be defensive).

posted March 24, 2010

I have said before that "social media" is the wild west. I see the possibility for great (free) access to your potential customers and great liability for you. I do believe that the company needs to establish a social media code of ethics and clearly articulate penalties for violating it.

posted March 24, 2010

Social Media Tools, the majority being Open Source, cannot be locked down...

Locking down access will not deter those who really want to play either... ;)

posted March 24, 2010

I can safely say that for 99% of companies - no, they should not lock down social media tools or access.

The short answer: The benefits of embracing an integrating social media into your business (objectives, initiatives, workforce, etc.) significantly outweigh the risks of doing so.

The beginning of the long answer: Fist, this isn't the beginning of social media - that began years ago. That said, social media will be around for a long time, new media and web 2.0 tools, information, capabilities, etc. all play into a truly fundamental shift in the way we communicate and get things done. There are HUGE advantages to embracing these - some include tightening customer relationships, boosting sales, increasing creativity & collaboration.

It needs to be done right, no question. A good place to start is by looking into creating a social media policy for your company. That includes on a "for corporate use" level, and for employees. That's a great foundation for launching a strategy, minimizing risk, and getting your "ducks in a row" before getting your feet wet.

- Patrick

Links:

• http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15351002

posted March 24, 2010

I worked for a company that "locked down" a lot of sites--facebook, match, starwars, perhaps others but those were the ones I noticed. You could get to eBay and amazon, though... AFAIK, it was because there was limited business reason to be on those sites during work hours.

Depending on the size of the company, and the sophistication of the employees, it's pretty near impossible to manage a brand through "lock down" strategies. If your employees aren't supporting the brand, you have bigger problems than access to facebook.

posted March 24, 2010

We have drafted quite a few social media policies and--equally important--adjustments to existing employment policies (because most of the conduct is already covered by such policies). Each of the answers has some great examples (see the first one re: LI training). Here are some elemental points we use in creating the policies:

1. Social networking is a given and a corporation's response to it will affect both its brand and its ability to attract and retain people.
2. Use its sudden ascendancy as a positive experience to reinforce your brand(s) and to enhance the commitment of employees to the corporation (and its brand(s)).
3. Social media are neither good nor bad just tools that can be used (and, see #1, WILL be used).
4. Explain the overlap between use of social media during the working period and while off work AND the use of social media as a corporate employee (or representative) or in making reference to one's connection to the corporation ("Hey, I'm a programmer at XYZ Corporation and I know these things") and vs. the use simply as another person in the world.
5. #1 and 2 will depend upon the corporate culture that you have and want to have. Our experience suggest that companies that want to "local down" social networking tend towards the hierarchical and rather rigid approach, which has damaged, and will damage, a corporation's future.
6. Corporations should decide where responsibility for the policy resides. Too often it is strictly in the HR department, while we think it should be both marketing and HR or, if the corporation is smaller, then in the marketing department, with support from HR (or HR attorneys). and, remember, that it is an on-going effort--not just a matter of writing a policy and sticking in front of employees.

That being said, we craft a policy on the basis of the following principles. By the way, the IBM link is an excellent place to start (though we did not create that policy). You will see that they have "embraced" social media with a few simple rules and also connecting conduct back to their overall policies.

1. Provide "Conduct Guidance." Create an intranet/blog to give simple examples of what works and what does not. THEN, as with the IBM site, explain the basic principles of HOW to do it--respectful behavior, respect for copyrights, etc., use of corporate IP only when and as allowed (i.e., examples), and limits of pre-existing policies written in simple terms (don't use information from internal conversations, etc.).

2. Provide "Content Guidance." On that intranet provide materials employees can use, whether it is press releases or talking points, or comparisons, etc.

3. In simple English explain how the pre-existing policies affect such conduct.

4. Explain why it matters.

5. Explain consequences, some of which can be positive. We do not think that it necessarily has to be negative (i.e., doing x will get you fired) because that should already be covered in the pre-existing policies (and that is why connecting to them makes them important).

6. Decide in your planning AND in the documents (and sites developed) whether you are creating a POLICY or RULES or both.

Corporations should be prepared to address the frequent (and sometimes defiant) reply that (at least in the US) the 1st Amendment protects social media conduct. This can be done outside of the confines of the policy; it could, for example, be a link on the intranet to a reasoned discussion. (It does apply but employers are generally given considerably more leeway in applying reasonable restrictions).

Hope this helps.

Jame C. Roberts III
www.globalcaplaw.com

posted March 27, 2010