Here are some guidelines for handling social responsibility:
Exercise Confidentiality
Ensure that information that is confidential to the organization is not shared. Determine what information is confidential and establish policy around it. Make sure everyone involved knows and is brief regarding this policy.
Companies like Best Buy have used social media to address privacy concerns(Eridon, 2011).
Productivity Clause
A productivity clause must be in place in an effort to actively gauge employee usage of social media in the workplace. How social media affects workplace productivity is a huge concern for organizations that are so highly co dependent on a systematic approach.
Common Sense Clause
I found Ford's social media policy interesting as they keep it very simple for employees by just encouraging them to use common sense. Often times a simple approach to evaluating content and social responsibility leads to an impactful adherence to this kind of clause.It's a simple concept but the most important when deciding which content to post.
Establish an Engagement Plan
Establishing an engagement plan with consumers leads to not only a stronger brand image but ensures active engagement between the organization and its public. Walmart sets the bar with its vast amount of active Twitter follows who happen to be employees.Walmart uses Twitter as a means to engage their consumers through their strong base of employees.
Share of voice
Every organization must determine its share of voice in advance to avoid common sense mistakes(Eridon, 2011). Deciding who is going to share what within the organization is very important because it controls the tone and perception of the organization.It functions as damage control in a tragic situation.
Social Media Policy Examples:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/policysamplesb/a/blogging_policy.htm
http://www.bakerdstreamingvid.com/publications/Baker_Daniels_Social-Media-Policy.pdf
Eridon, C. (2011, December 14). 5 noteworthy examples of corporate social media policies. Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29441/5-Noteworthy-Examples-of-Corporate-Social-Media-Policies.aspx
Social networking. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mashable.com/category/social-networking/
