Pub 1 2012 Issue 2

March 2012 25 Leading advocate for the banking industry in Kansas. arch 2012 41 Community Bankers Association of Illinois Writing a Social-Media Policy Experts on social media all agree that as organizations prepare to embrace social media, it is important to remember that a social media policy is paramount for many reasons. Shama Kabani, author of the Zen of Social Media Marketing and Presi- dent of The Marketing Zen Group, asks, “What are they saying about you, your company, and your practices? Better yet — how are you responding? Having a social media policy in place does not mean that you get to dictate your image. But, you do get to interact responsibly in the conversation that forms your image.” The same can be said for banks. Fortunately, writing a social-media policy is mostly a matter of asking banking employees to be both sensible and thoughtful when they interact online. Kabani offers some suggestions: 1. Decide what you want social media to do for you, and decide how deeply you want to monitor what your employ- ees are doing. For example, you should consider using it to help people recognize your brand and, if applicable, improve sales. It can also be a tool for talking both to employees and customers. Think about whether you want to initiate actions, or if you prefer reacting to the actions of other people. 2. Decide how you define social media, and write it down. A broad definition is better than a narrow one, because social media is changing fast. (Kabani defines social media as websites or media where open communication can take place.) Ask yourself about how your bank will get involved. Name the specifics (for example, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and online video), and be prepared to add new categories as they develop. 3. Decide who owns what. Using social media at work is differ- ent than using it at home. Draw lines, especially in cases that might be ambiguous, and check those lines with a competent lawyer to make sure you aren’t overstepping. In addition, make sure that work accounts are owned by the company and not by the employee who works for the company. 4. Pay attention to privacy. Employees and customers both have a right to privacy, after all, and so you need to pay attention to whether confidential or private information is being kept safe. Nobody had to worry about privacy when information was kept on paper in a filing cabinet, but now that it is so easy to transfer documents through email or web sites, or even download files to an iPad, Nook, or Kindle, you need policies to guide people about what is, or isn’t, acceptable. Employees should not use social media to distribute private or confidential information whether they are at home or at work. Since people sometimes forget just how public these social media forums can be, you want to make it clear to them. 5. Decide who is in charge of managing and participating in social media. What you want are one or more media advocates who can respond quickly to whatever is going on online. Someone may be doing this already. Maybe it’s even a group. Find them, and train them so they can do the best job possible in presenting your brand. 6. Other employees are also going to be involved in social me- dia. Decide what your policies are about that. This is where you need to find the delicate balance between the rights of your bank and the rights of your employees. You will want to look at what other banks, associations, or companies have done. Kabani suggests looking at the social media policies developed by companies such as Intel, The Emerging Tech- nology Department at the Air Force, and Telstra, which is an Australian company. 7. Decide what can, and cannot, be shared online. Some topics may be taboo. Private and personal information needs to be kept private, both for employees and for customers. Bank secrets need to stay that way. And, of course, online conduct should be both civil and legal. You don’t want anything that suggests the schoolyard bully, racism, or a general lack of class and integrity. 8. Decide how to monitor social media. You won’t know whether policies are being broken if you never look. Free and paid tools can help you monitor. 9. Train people. Many times, violations are the result of people not thinking or not knowing any better. You can eliminate that problem by teaching them. More importantly, though, making it easy for employees to get involved in helping you build a strong brand is the smart thing to do. The synergy of having employees work together to build your brand, intel- ligently and skillfully, can only improve your effectiveness. Social media are here to stay. Those who understand them best will use social media to their advantage. The most successful organizations of all, however, are the ones where everyone is involved in making the right choices to create and maintain a strong and healthy brand. n Ms. Carla Humes is a principal with the newsLINK Group, LLC and works with the firm’s community banks and financial services clients. Ms. Humes has a background in marketing for banks and financial services that goes back well over twenty years. She can be reached at 855.747.4003. AEMad_v2a_outlined.indd 1 4/11/11 3:49 PM