Don’t have a social media policy? So essentially, anyone in the organization can say and do whatever they want? It’s time for some guidelines! While social media is about free and open conversations online, your organization still needs to have some thoughts to paper on how to manage the online sphere. How do you distinguish between personal and professional personas online? What things are appropriate and what isn’t? What about privacy concerns? Join this session to learn more about what your organization can do to make social media work for you. Attendees Will Walk Away With: • Knowledge of the types of social media issues requiring policies • Templates on writing your own social media policy for your organization • Tips on implementing the policies effectively

1. Setting the Boundaries:
Developing Social Media
Policies for Your Organization
Sponsored by

2. CanadaHelps.org
What is CanadaHelps?
A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and
affordable online technology to both donors and charities.
For Charities
A cost-effective means of raising funds online.
For Donors
A one-stop-shop for giving.
CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

3. Today’s Presenter
Kirstin Beardsley
Communications and Marketing Manager
CanadaHelps

4. Who Are You?

5. What are we so afraid of?

6. “Engaging in social media
requires a shift in the way
companies view themselves and
their relationships with
[stakeholders].”
• Social Fish & Croydon Consulting Social Media, Risk and Policies
for Associations

10. Everyone has a megaphone

11. •What are your biggest
fears?

12. GETTING STARTED

13. Don’t start with a desire to CONTROL

14. • Your starting point should be to maximize the potential of social media for your
organization.
Start with a
desire to use
the tools
effectively

15. Do you need a social media policy?
• Zappos: Be real and use your best judgment.

16. Benefits of a social media policy
• Setting expectations
• Educating staff and volunteers
• Protecting your brand
• Avoiding legal liability
• Clarifying the reasons you use social media

17. Review existing policies

18. Develop your social media strategy

19. Clarify roles & responsibilities

20. Identify the risks

21. •What are the biggest risks
for your organization?

22. WHAT A SOCIAL MEDIA
POLICY IS NOT

23. 100%
Guaranteed
A social media policy is not a guarantee
against mistakes

24. A static
document that
never gets
reviewed

25. A staff management tool

26. WHAT A GOOD SOCIAL
MEDIA POLICY IS

27. An opportunity to educate and create
dialogue with staff.

28. A chance to review your social media
strategy.

29. A balance
between
RULES and
GUIDELINES for
success.

30. •What are you hoping a
social media policy will
accomplish within your
organization?

31. GETTING STARTED

32. Elements of a Successful Social Media Policy
• Clarity
– Avoid legalese
– Use bullet points
• Light, Casual Tone
– Avoid punitive language
– Focus on the DOs, not the DON’Ts
• Practical
– Keep it short and easy to implement
– Should be intuitive to follow (i.e. people shouldn’t have to find
the policy before posting, or they won’t use it)

33. Anatomy of a Social Media Policy
• What the policy covers
• How your organization uses
social media
• Link social media to your
values and culture
• Elements of the policy
• Consequences & discipline
• Who to contact with
questions and concerns

34. Preamble
• Explain:
– Who the policy applies to
– What types of sites and/or social media tools are
covered
– When and how updates will be communicated

35. These are the official guidelines for social
media use on behalf of Social Fish. If you’re
a Social Fish employee, intern or contractor
creating or contributing to any kind of social
media… these guidelines are for you.
- Social Fish social media guidelines

36. How your
organization
uses social
media
• Marketing and publicity
• Fundraising, donor engagement
and retention
• Connecting with others around
your cause
• Building relationship and online
community
• Collaboration and collective action
• Sharing expertise on our issues
• Movement building and social
change

37. As a company, we encourage communication
among our employees, customers, partners and
others – and [social media tools] can be great ways
to stimulate conversation and discussion.
- Oracle Social Media Participation Policy

38. Link social media to
your values and culture

39. The vision of the Coca-Cola Company to achieve
sustainable growth online and offline is guided by
certain shared values that we live by as an
organization and as individuals:
Leadership, Collaboration, Integrity,
Accountability, Passion, Diversity, Quality
- The Coca-Cola Company Online Social Media Principles

40. • Alternately, develop a set of social media
“guiding principles”
If you participate in social media, please follow
these guiding principles:
- Stick to your area of expertise
- Post meaningful, respectful comments
- Always pause before posting
- Respect proprietary information and content
- When disagreeing with others’ opinions, keep it
appropriate and polite
- Know and follow the Intel Code of Conduct and the Intel
Privacy Policy
- Intel Social Media Guidelines

41. THE HEART
OF YOUR
POLICY

42. Responsibility
• Clearly indicate that people are responsible for what
they post

43. You are responsible for your actions. Anything you
post that can potentially tarnish the company’s
image will ultimately be your responsibility. We do
encourage you to participate in the online social
media space, but urge you to do so properly,
exercising sound judgment and common sense.
- Coca-Cola’s Online Social Media Principles

44. The “Anonymous”
Supporter

45. Transparency
• Be clear about
who you really
are

46. Identification on Social Media Tools
• How should your employees, volunteers, consultants
identify themselves on social media tools?
• CanadaHelps
• Kirstin Beardsley – with a
mention about where I work
• Kirstin@CanadaHelps

47. Don’t be a mole. Never pretend to be someone else
and post about DePaul. Tracking tools enable
supposedly anonymous posts to be tracked back to
their authors. There have been several high-profile
and embarrassing cases of company executives
anonymously posting about their own
organizations.
- DePaul University Social Media Guidelines

48. Transparency of Origin.
Dell requires that employees and other company
representatives disclose their employment with Dell
(e.g. Richard@Dell) in all communications with
customers, the media or other Dell stakeholders
when speaking on behalf of Dell.
- Dell’s Online Policies

49. The Not-So-Savvy
Marketer

50. Copyright
• Your policy should
explicitly direct
people to respect
copyrights,
trademarks and
other proprietary
marks

51. Respect copyrights. You must recognize and respect
others’ intellectual property rights, including
copyrights. While certain limited use of third-party
materials (ex. quotes that you will comment on)
may not always require approval from the copyright
owner, it is still advisable to get the owner’s
permission whenever you use third-party material.
Never use more than a short excerpt from someone
else’s work, and make sure to credit and, if possible,
link to the original source.
- Oracle Social Media Participation Policy

52. The Eager Newbie

53. Disclosing Proprietary Information
• Your policy should explicitly state that no private,
confidential or proprietary information can be shared

54. Sharing Personal Information
• Include a reference to your privacy policy and a
reminder that it applies to social media

55. Protection of Confidential and Proprietary
Information. Dell employees and other company
representatives must maintain the confidentiality of
information considered Dell company confidential,
including company data, customer data, partner
and/or supplier data, personal employee data, and
any information not generally available to the
public.
- Dell’s Online Policies

56. Don’t Tell Secrets. It’s perfectly acceptable to talk
about your work and have a dialogue with the
community, but it’s not okay to publish confidential
information. Confidential information includes
things such as unpublished details about software,
details of current projects, future product ship
dates, financial information, research and trade
secrets.
- Sample Nonprofit social media policy @
www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com

57. The Passionate
Defender

58. Respect
• Clearly state expectations around respect:
– Don’t get into fights
– Disagree in a calm, logical manner
– Correct factual errors in a polite way
– Don’t respond to angry, disrespectful people
– Don’t escalate a disagreement

59. Exercise good judgement

60. Avoid personal attacks, online fights, and hostile
personalities.
Build a reputation of trust among your peers,
clients, media and the public.
- Edelman Online Behavior Policies and Procedures
Examples

61. Be Respectful.
Anything you post in your role as a Vanderbilt
employee reflects on the institution. Be
professional and respectful at all times on social
media sites. Do not engage in arguments or
extensive debates with naysayers on your site.
- Vanderbilt University Social Media Handbook

62. The Social
Media
Addict

63. Productivity
• Include a brief
statement about
the need to ensure
that all of your
employee’s work is
getting done

64. Don’t forget your day job. You should make sure
that your online activities do not interfere with your
job and commitments to customers.
- IBM Social Computing Guidelines

65. Adding value
• People should be making a contribution to online
communities and bringing value

66. The Activist

67. Personal Use of Social Media
• Remind employees that their personal posts could
impact your organization’s reputation

68. A common practice among individuals who write
about the industry in which they work is to include
a disclaimer on their site, usually on their “About
Me” page… We suggest you include a sentence
similar to: “The views expressed on this [blog, Web
site] are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect
the views of DePaul University.
- DePaul University Personal Site Guidelines

69. Handling Mistakes
• Specific guidelines about how you want people to
handle their mistakes, such as:

70. Terms of Use
• Create a separate policy or Terms of Use document for
social media sites that you run and/or moderate

71. • Terms of Use:
– Statement of purpose for the community
– Community rules around respect
– Moderation and deletion of comments
– Privacy statement
– How you will use the posts (i.e. marketing
material, fundraising etc…)
– Prohibited posts:

72. Consequences and Discipline
• Details about how your organization intends to handle
violations of your social media policy

73. The
frustrated
expert

74. •What stands out for you?
•What are the most
important sections for your
organization’s policy?

75. •What’s missing for you?

76. TIPS & REMINDERS

77. Involve social media users
• Invite the people in your organization who use social
media to comment on and contribute to your policy

78. Teach the policy
• Don’t expect the
document alone to
work

79. Leave room for personality
• Social networks are about personal connections –
don’t undermine that

80. Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Review other policies and borrow liberally

81. Review the Policy Regularly
• Things change
quickly online!

82. Let Go!
• You can’t always be
in control

83. Questions
THANK YOU!
kirstin@canadahelps.org
@CanadaHelps
www.mycharityconnects.org

84. Thank you for attending!
Slides will be up on:
www.slideshare.com/mycharityconnects
Check out www.mycharityconnects.org for more resources!
Questions, feedback, comments?
Email us at: amyh@canadahelps.org
Thank you