Five-step social media risk management plan

It seems to me that there is a blog that begs to be written about managing the business risk of social media. I was asked to cover this subject in a speech for the Club Manager Association of Australia.

As my audience at the conference was primarily middle aged men and women, I decided to describe it using an analogy of being a parent.

I'm a huge fan of socila media, but just as I love my children, I think of social media as a modern day youth. No respect and it talks back.

With smartphones giving instant internet access, video and photo taking ability - not one business is immune to the risks of being broadcast when something goes wrong; tetchy waitress, line too long, product that didn't live up to expectations, movie not as good as promos promised. Conversations are being held on the web with or without your consent. They travel very fast and can wreak havoc along the way. How do you manage this risk?

Here's a five step plan for you, using the analogy of parenthood.

1. Learn

As a first time parent you start from scratch learning what is necessary to ensure the best outcome of the pregnancy, the birth and then helping your child grow healthy, happy, and educated.

It's the same with social media. You start by educating yourself about it. What does it mean? What are the different avenues? What are the benefits as well as the pitfalls?

Three great websites to learn more are:

1.       http://www.mashable.com/

2.       http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

3.       http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

2.  Establish Boundaries

As your child starts to crawl and move through the house, you have to establish boundaries to keep them out of danger and mischief.

How will your staff know what is and what isn't acceptable to do on social media if they haven't been told? So the second step is to set up a company policy and procedures (and have staff sign off on it.

Telstra 3R's

I think the easiest and clearest one is summed up by Telstra Australia with their Three R Policy

1. Be clear about who you are representing

2. Take responsibility for ensuring that any references to Telstra are factually correct and accurate and do not breach confidentiality requirements

3. Show respect for the individuals and communities with which you interact.

Policy does not apply to employees' personal use of social media platforms where the employee makes no reference to Telstra related issues.

To get you going, here are two internet links to help you create your own policy.

• IBM
• 136 Social Policy Links

3.  Educate

Just as you start educating your child by showing and reading to them, you need to educate your staff about social media. Your staff can vary from computer illiterate through to the tech saavy 18 year old. I would advise you to try and engage them on an emotional level by following these steps:

1. Explain what social media is and which ones you'll be using
2. Explain what the benefits are to the company
3. Discuss potential pitfalls and risk. Use analogies if possible
4. Give examples through stories
5. Ask for their help - both in monitoring and in providing excellent customer service so a problem doesn't develop in the first place.

4.  Watch

Just as you always keep a watchful eye on your child, you have to continually monitor social media.

Routine
Like trying to get your infant into a regular routine of eating, napping and play time, you need to be disciplined and allocate a specific time to do your social media reputation checks (as well as your interaction). This needn't be onerous for two reasons.

1. You'll see in 'monitor the web' below, that you can set up email alerts to come into your inbox - then you just set a time to look at these alerts.
2. If you have a smartphone - it removes the necessity to do checks from your computer and enables you to check at any time, from any place.

Monitor staff
Search for any social media your staff is a member of and ask to be a friend (Facebook), connection (Linkedin), follower (Twitter). If they blog, subscribe through a RSS feed.

Monitor the Web

• Search Google - you can either do a regular Google search looking for words or phrases that pertain to your business (through the 'even more' tab), or set up a Googlealert or a Gigaalert which searches Yahoo and sends search results straight to your email inbox
• SearchTwitter - the Twitter search engine. You can also refine the search by adding near: to focus in on your location

5. React

If your child gets hurt or is in trouble you don't just sit there - you get them and take care of it.

The most important way to fight the fire of criticism, negative feedback and unwanted comments is:

• Immediately respond with a thankful tone if it's someone that has a problem and laid out what went wrong, or they commented with a suggestion of how to fix things or if it's valid criticism. Respond in the same medium. For example if it's a Tweet, use Twitter to respond.
• If it's just a random or spammy attack, it's best to ignore it.

So, there we are!

To mitigate your businesses social risk you just have to follow the following simple five step plan

1. Learn
2. Establish Boundaries
3. Educate
4. Watch
5. React

Debbie can be reached on Facebook, Successis and debbie@successis.co.nz