Managing social media for business

Managing social media channels on behalf of an organisation means balancing the interests and reputation of the business and individuals alike.

As there is no specific social media law, existing laws must be applied in the social media context. This is further complicated by the global nature of social media – which inevitably crosses legal jurisdictions.

Whilst having a robust social media policy in place is important, its scope and application may not be as black and white as first appears.

How do you take that next step to set your employees on the right path? Here are three ideas to.. http://t.co/ELeD4NNWfL #socialmedia

— Hicham Chraibi (@hichamchraibi) June 9, 2015

Protecting confidential information on social media

Control of confidential business information must be maintained by employees interacting via social media (both on their personal accounts, and when posting on behalf of a business). It is critical for people to understand which data belongs to the organisation, and which is in the public domain. The importance of this is illustrated in the case of a UK based, human resources executive who included company attrition figures on his personal LinkedIn profile. Disciplinary action was taken against Mr. Flexman by his employer who accused him of posting confidential information online.

Similarly, an ex-employee of Hays Specialist Recruitment was ordered to disclose business contacts uploaded to LinkedIn, because they constituted confidential information belonging to the organisation.

It is remarkably easy for employees to be unwittingly caught out. For example, when setting up social media profiles, many encourage the user to import contacts from other systems (such as email address lists):

Imagine the ethical issues in the scenario where a medical professional imports a contact list containing patients’ email addresses (who, unknown to the professional, are then invited to follow or friend them online.)

"All of this technology emerged fast, and employees at all levels of the organization might lack the skills and knowledge needed to leverage social media channels. The resulting digital skills gap can only be addressed through social media education." Hootsuite.

Retaining control over how business contacts and other online information, controlled directly by employees, must be planned for:

• If an individual is a LinkedIn Company Page administrator, and their personal account is compromised, the unauthorised party automatically has access to the Company Page(s) they manage. Ensuring administrator’s personal account passwords are ‘strong’ and changed frequently will go some way towards mitigating this risk. Social media accounts have also been intentionally compromised by employees looking to establish rival firms.

• Organisations need to be clear about the process for transferring contacts and business related conversations stored within social media accounts administered by employees. For example, there have been a number of instances where employees have taken a Twitter following with them when changing employer.

Social media profiles belonging to an organisation must also be protected as a valuable asset. Profiles with a large following may have a commercial value, and/or be part of brand valuation exercises.

#podcast : How companies can work with employees on social media to create trust and interest. http://t.co/JvZ834sy7v #socialbiz

— Ted Coiné (@tedcoine) June 5, 2015

Complying with the terms and conditions of social media platform is of paramount importance in protecting such assets. At the heart of Facebook’s governance, for example, is its real name policy (which goes as far as to prohibit practises such as the use of nicknames as middle names and the use of unusual capitalisation):

“We require people to provide the name they use in real life; that way, you always know who you're connecting with. This helps keep our community safe.” Facebook.

Failure to comply with the real name policy by an administrator (within their personal profile) could result in its removal - along with any company Facebook Pages managed by that administrator.

Well documented examples of Company Pages being closed down for violation of Facebook’s terms and conditions include:

• HellPizza: http://mosh.co.nz/social-media/to-facebook-hell-back-or-how-to-lose-your-client-20000-fans/
• Velvet Burger: http://www.ecommercereport.com.au/facebook-crackdown-shuts-down-nz-business-page-9000-fans-lost/

As well as protecting their own assets, organisations must demonstrate respect for the intellectual property of others. For example, Twitter suspended the account of Bleacher Report in December 2014 on the grounds that it was displaying unauthorised video clips of football matches belonging to the UK Premier League.

Twitter clearly outlines its stance on trade-marked brands and infringement of copyright or intellectual property in its trademark policy.

Protecting online reputation

Adherence to well established regulations governing traditional marketing and communications must be applied within the social media context.

For example, laws governing the sharing of personal information, or sending unsolicited communications must be considered. Tools such as Facebook graph search have make it remarkably easy for organisations to send targeted, but unsolicited promotional messages.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance outlines how such techniques must be controlled within industry they regulate. However, the guidance highlights some important issue relevant to a number of industries. The first is in relation to the re-publishing of social media posts which may result in the exposure of promotional materials to unintended recipients:

“Firms should ensure that their original communication would remain fair, clear and not misleading, even if it ends up in front of a non-intended recipient (through others re-tweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook). One way of managing this risk is the use of software that enables advertisers to target particular groups very precisely.” FCA.

Think of exposure to promotion of alcohol, tobacco, or gambling related products to those under the legal age; via re-tweets, shares, and online reviews.

Secondly, the FCA guidance outlines the need for “adequate system [to be] in place to sign off digital media communications. This sign-off should be by a person of appropriate competence and seniority within the organisation”. It is sensible for organisations to keep their own records of communications published via social media, and record authority to publish. Further, organisations using third party agencies to create and post content on their behalf should satisfy themselves as to the knowledge and processes of their chosen partner.

A four-eyes review and sign-off process for social media posts may have saved face for US Airways who attached a pornographic image in its response to a complainants tweet – which was seen by hundreds of thousands of its followers.

Balancing the rights of the organisation and the individual

There are no shortage of examples of employees falling foul of social media policies, guidelines, and general etiquette:

• A manager at JD Weatherspoons claim for unfair dismissal, after she was fired for posting comments about the pub chain’s customers on her personal Facebook wall, was unsuccessful. Although the defendants comments were only visible to her Facebook friends, the number of them (646) was an important consideration in the case as it was thought to large enough to constitute bring the organisation into ‘public’ disrepute.

• A Texan teenager’s unsavoury tweet about starting a new job at a pizzeria got her the sack before she had even started.

However, protecting the interests of business must be balanced with the rights of the individual to express their own opinions and have their own online voice - as highlighted in the case of Smith v Trafford Housing Trust (2012).

Mr Smith posted a link to a BBC News article about gay marriage on his personal Facebook wall and commented “an equality too far”. This was visible to his 201 friends, and friends of friends – some of whom had responded to his comment. On his Facebook profile, Mr. Smith had identified himself as an employee of Trafford Housing Trust, who started disciplinary action against him for alleged gross misconduct (being in breach of their code of conduct and equal opportunities policy).

The decision went in favour of Mr. Smith on the grounds that (among other factors) his post could not be considered work-related because it was not specifically targeted at his work [Facebook] contacts. The Court also stressed that the views expressed reflected those widely held by other members of society, which were frequently reflected in mainstream media.

Individuals have the right to post information about their personal interests and beliefs online, and employers must be cautious about using this for purposes for which they were not intended. For example, personal social media profiles will often contain information about an individual’s ethnicity, religion, age, marital status and sexual orientation – which, in the UK, is protected under the Equality Act.

Brands have a responsibility to educate their employees on what's acceptable on online: http://t.co/SDUgwGgAGg pic.twitter.com/ANnAxxyuUg

— Digital Royalty (@DigitalRoyalty) May 31, 2015

According to UK employment and HR specialists ACAS, “digging up sensitive 'protected' information that is not usually sought during the application process could leave employers open to discrimination claims. Rejected applicants could maintain that the real reason they didn't get the job was because of knowledge of the protected characteristic...

...On the other side of the discrimination coin, research suggests that vetting through social media may also encourage 'recruitment bias' according to age, gender or ethnicity. Some recruiters said they drew inferences about candidates from Facebook profile pictures”.

Protecting social media managers

Employees often take on responsibility for administering company social media accounts without having the pitfalls, risks, and legal implications of doing so explained to them.

The personal liability of individuals’ who publish on behalf of an organisation, should be clearly explained to them (including any re-posts or re-tweets of content originated by others) - the Crown Prosecution Service has made clear that such publications could constitute an offence. Where necessary, personal liability insurance should be in place to cover employees acting as administrators (the emotional and reputational costs of a court case being brought against an individual will of course, not be covered by this insurance).

About the author

Claire Cresswell-Lane is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via LinkedIn or Twitter.

Optimising a website for mobile devices - why it's not just screen size that matters

Optimising websites for mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones is a must-do for today's marketers - but there is much more to consider than screen size...

Why optimise a website for mobile? 

If you are reading this article, my guess is that you are already well versed in the necessity of optimising your online content for mobile devices (if you really need further convincing, check out this infographic by AF-Studio.pl and Super Monitoring).

But when it comes to mobile design, there is much more to consider than simply making sure your copy and images display in the right format on the variety of screen sizes that exist.

Optimising a website for mobile devices - approaches

There are three main methods used for delivering an optimised website for mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. In each case, the website code detects the browser being used by the visitor before serving a layout that is optimised for the specific screen size being used:  

1. Mobile version – this is a separate website (URL) which the user is directed to, which is determined by the device they are using. 

2. Responsive design – serves the same HTML for one URL but uses CSS (design code) queries to decide how to display the content on the user’s device. This is Google’s recommended approach. 

3. Dynamic serving – delivers different HTML for one URL depending on the user’s device. 

Mobile optimised vs responsive design - why it's not just screen size that matters

Responsive design will solve display issues for the end user, but it will not solve performance issues. Many websites deliver the same number of bytes regardless of screen size. 

‘Conditional loading’ is one step you can take to help manage this issue – this is where the browser only parses the selectors and styles specific to the device being used. If conditional loading is not used, the browser will read all of the instructions for all other screen sizes before it starts to deliver the content in the correct format. Yes, we may only be talking about fractions of a second, but this matters to users on mobile devices – it can be the difference between them waiting for your site to load, and hitting the back button. 

Is speed really an issue, with the increasing availability of 4G? 

Connection speeds have a big impact on the user experience in terms of their ability to access large media files such as videos. This improvement in speed is related to bandwidth, which does not impact on the speed of downloading all the component files that are used to build and display a website – this is known as latency. Another way to think of this is the length of time it takes for a website click request to go from the users device, to the server, and back to the browser again (Round Trip Time / RTT) 

“…for the majority of 3G phones and networks we could easily be looking at 5 - 10 seconds of delay to the page load time.” http://www.mobify.com/blog/web-performance-optimization." 

Understanding latency, and the steps developers can take to decrease it, is important because it enables decisions to be made about how to improve the amount of data we try to serve to the end users based on the device being used. 

Grouping devices by screen size 

Simply delivering the same content at different resolutions may not be a workable solution. An example may be the inclusion of a diagram or mega-menu that simply would not be usable or accessible on smaller screen sizes. Grouping content by screen size, can help to overcome this – for example, for all screens over 8” show x content; for all screens below 8” show y content OR for screen over 8” display in portrait mode; for screens below 8” display in landscape mode. 

Content above the fold 

Think of your users as time poor, and make sure you deliver key messages above the fold - that is - before the user is likely to have to scroll on their 7" or 8" screen. For step by step guidance on how ensure your key messages are written into the opening sentences of your content, see my article on the inverted pyramid.

Next, visit the Google webmaster blog guidance on how to make your above the fold content load in under one second, whilst the rest of your webpage loads in the background.

 

Pop-ups and overlays

Most sites have at least one pop-up or overlay, especially since the EU Cookie Directive made this a requirement. Compliance is good, and you should continue to be transparent about the data you collect from users, but pop-ups and screen overlays make for a frustrating end user experience. Make sure you test any pop-ups on a range of mobile devices, to ensure that they are easy to close down (for example, by using finger friendly sized buttons).

If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a share, follow, or like. 

Free digital download - Marketing in less than 1000 words

Do you run a small business? Are you new to marketing?

Grab your free digital download of Marketing in less than 1000 words:  

Lessons from Marks and Spencer website changes

Marks and Spencer (M&S) announced an 8.1% drop in online sales which it has attributed to moving its website to a new platform. Users:

• already registered on the site were forced to re-register
• reported that the navigation was overly complicated and lacked clarity. 

So, whether you are transferring to a new content management system (CMS), hosting in a new environment, or going for a radical redesign, what lessons can be learnt from the M&S experience?

1. Let website users know that changes are coming, and the reasons for them

Nobody enjoys logging onto one of their favorite websites to find that it has a radical new redesign. It leaves them wondering what was wrong with the old site that they liked so much. Yet, a few weeks down the line we can hardly remember what the previous version looked like. Fact is, people are uncomfortable with change, especially if it is sudden and unexpected.

Chances are the changes you are planning will be based on user feedback and analysis of your site's analytics. Make sure you communicate the reason for the changes to users ahead of time, during, and after the transition. Give users a channel through which to express their opinions about the changes.

2. Prioritise the changes

If 80% of your business is conducted via 20% of your website, make sure you know which 20% that is, and ensure resources are focused on getting these sections right.

It might be that you can make the changes to your site incrementally, rather than going for a big bang approach. This will allow you to gather feedback along the way, and make adjustments if necessary, based on user feedback.

3. Have a backup skeleton site on standby

If you are making wholesale changes to the way your website operates, it is a good idea to have a very simple backup site on standby. This need be little more than a holding page with the contact details of customers services on it, for example. You probably have one of these as part of your business continuity plans anyway, that is hosted in a separate environment. All you need to do is point the DNS at this second site, but remember, DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect.

4. Managing external suppliers

Make sure that any external suppliers you are working with have resource dedicated to your project throughout the change process. You will be reliant on them for some aspects of service continuity, so they need to function as an extension of your in-house team.

Research their experience in dealing with changes such as CMS transfers before you appoint them. A standard way of doing this is to contact some of their existing customers - ask what went well, and what pit-falls they experienced that you can avoid. A good supplier will let you choose which of their customers to speak to.

5. Future proof Content Management System 

We would all like a future proof CMS, and of course this is not completely possible, however, make sure your supplier has a clear road-map for product development. Upgrades and version releases should be scheduled at least a year into the future, and may or may not be included in your contract, so check this out.

Of course, nothing can mitigate against mergers and acquisitions which may result in the CMS you are using becoming obsolete or unsupported over time.

6. Buy in additional resource

Large scale changes to your website, which may be your biggest or only source of income, will be resource intensive. When planning for the changes, factor in additional (wo)manpower. This could be to help directly with the changes, or to take on some of the day to day business tasks that you won't have time for during the transition. 

7. Pilot sites

Ask yourself whether you can safely make changes to a small area of your website as a tester before site wide changes are implemented. It may be that parts of your website are hosted in different environments, and are not interdependent. If things do go belly up, you are in a better position than if you try to make all the changes at once.

8. Take time to get service level agreements (SLAs) with suppliers right

It can be tempting to sign paperwork with a supplier without making time consuming changes to the terms and conditions. However, working out the actual cost of a day's down-time will really clarify to the supplier the significance of the project to your business. Consider working financial penalties into the contract if failure to deliver the project is on the part of the supplier.

9. Test, test, test

Regardless of the changes you are making, ensure that there is a sandpit environment where changes can be previewed and tested before being sent live. Be open-minded about who can conduct the testing and consider not just user acceptance testing (UAT) but also employee feedback and consumer panel testing. Yes, this takes more time to complete, but it could mean you end up with a better product at the end of the process.

10. Reflect on lessons learnt

All large website changes will encounter problems. Manage risk, assign risk owners, and have clear processes for escalation. Take time at the end of your project to debrief with the team, reflect, and learn lessons for next time.

Personally, I can see a lots of positive changes to the M and S website that are getting lost in the current bad press around the downturn in sales. It's important for the team to remain motivated and focused which is sometimes easier said then done at such times!

Sources

- Marks and Spencer

- BBC - Marks and Spencer sales hot by website move 

Developing a social media policy - what to include

10 issues to cover when developing a social media policy

 

1.  Stress that the policy is there to protect the reputation of the individual, as well as the organisation.

 

2.  Be clear on who is responsible for setting up and managing social media accounts on behalf of the business.

 

3.  Outline the scope of the policy – does it cover work social media accounts or personal social media accounts too? Specify that the policy covers posts made during working hours as well as those made out of hours.

 

4.  Offer examples of how individuals might be identified as an employee of your organisation, for example, via personal details posted on a range of websites.

 

5.  Be clear on what individuals should do, to avoid conflicts of interest, when commenting on work related topics via their personal accounts -  for example, by being explicit that ‘all views are my own’ in posts.

 

6.  Outline whether it is acceptable for individuals to use their work email address to manage their personal accounts.

 

7.  Be clear on what individuals should do if customers or other stakeholders offer to ‘friend’ them via their personal social media accounts.

 

8. Tell individuals what steps they should take if they feel uncomfortable about discussions taking place on social media.

 

9.  Offer safety advice about opening links and attachments sent via social media that are not from trusted sources.

 

10.  Align the social media policy with others related to code of conduct to ensure continuity of message. Make the rules easy to understand - If you wouldn’t do it offline, don’t do it on social media.

If you have found this useful, please show thanks with a comment in the box below, tweet, or share.

 

Building an intranet - identify your starting point

Back to series index: How to build an intranet

You may be in a position where you are building an organisations first intranet. More likely, you will be updating or replacing an existing intranet. This comes with its own set of challenges and benefits:

Benefits	Challenges
There may be an existing recognition that an intranet can bring business benefits.	You will need to establish whether investment in your existing intranet was depreciated over a number of financial years. If it was, and that investment has not yet been fully realised, you will have a tougher job building a business case for a new one.
If your existing intranet has a back-end reporting system, you will have some information about what employees find beneficial. This might be in the form of most frequently accessed content, visit duration, or user feedback. If there are clear areas that are working well, you will want to consider replicating these on the new site.	People can be resistant to change and you will need to explain to employees why you want to change a system that they don’t perceive as ‘broken’. Once the new intranet is in place, there will be some early adopters and some later followers.
Regardless of its current effectiveness, you have a starting point for your intranets taxonomy and information architecture structure. This will give you clues about the internal language used within the organisation.	Your current intranet will no doubt contain lots of useful information – as well as some that is out of date or no longer relevant. Either way, a decision will need to be taken on each piece of information to identify an owner and make a decision to transfer, archive, or delete it.

Action point – Identify what is working well on your current system, as well as what can be improved.

Action point – Do some research into when your existing intranet was built. What was the original budget and how was it accounted for (has the investment been realised)?

Action point – Identify early adopters and encourage them to be intranet champions – selling the benefits of the new system to their colleagues.

Action point – map out the existing information on your intranet and identify an owner for each page. Secure agreement at management level to invest resource into cleansing the information. Take time to explain the process to content owners, agreeing realistic review dates. Once it’s reviewed, make sure it’s kept up-to-date until the new system goes live. Don’t underestimate the time and effort this part of your intranet development project will take. It could be a separate project that you need to run in parallel with the technical development of your new intranet.

Action point – think about your existing information architecture and layout. Even if they are successful, explore alternative formats. Use these formats for the basis of user testing. Once the information architecture framework is in place, it is extremely difficult to change, so use this precious opportunity to explore different ways of working.

Aligning your intranet strategy with business objectives

Back to the index: How to build an intranet

Justifying the cost of a new intranet to those that hold the purse strings can be extremely challenging. 
To help your business case, make sure you identify clear objectives that are linked to corporate  outcomes and build  your intranet strategy around these. For example, your objectives might be linked to:

•    Facilitating the reduction of email traffic

•    Sharing of information quickly across geographical locations

•    Increasing cross-departmental collaboration

•    Document management and version control

•    Communicating and securing buy-in for business events

Discussion point - What strategies did you / will you use to influence decision makers and secure support for the development of your intranet? 
Next article in this series: Building an intranet - identifying your starting point

Action point - Identify the business objectives for your intranet and make sure they are understood by key decision makers. Talk to key individuals separately to make sure they have fully understood the benefits a modern intranet will bring before presenting the business case at Board level.