Guidelines for dealing with social media

More and more organizations and brands are the topic of conversation on the Internet. Even employees can play a role in that conversation by participating in online conversations in their free time. When do you say something on behalf of your organization and when is it your own opinion? This line is hard to define. A company can assist employees in how they could present themselves in those conversations. For example, by publishing guidelines for dealing with social media. These published guidelines apply to anyone who works for the company and is busy creating or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other type of social media. It is important that employees have the choice if they want to participate in these social media. It is not mandatory, but for those who feel called

Guiding principles
What are the basic principles that can be provided to employees? There are 6 rules which can be introduced in both large and small businesses.

Be transparent: Use your real name and no alias. Identify yourself as an employee of the company. Be careful not to be to transparent, make sure you have permission when it comes to sensitive issues.

Write from experience: Make sure you have expertise on the topics you write about. It is important to add value to conversations, this can particularly be done from your own expertise.
Be personal: Speak to your readers like you would do in a professional situation. Bring it with your own personality and give your own opinion on topics.

Be a Leader: The dividing line between a healthy debate and a flamewar can be very thin. Do not talk disparagingly about the company or its competitors, invite your readers to approach a situation from a multiple viewpoints. Approach sensitive topics such as politics with appropriate caution.

Admitting your mistakes: Have you made a mistake? Then be honest and admit it. If you choose to adapt your previous posting, do it as soon as possible and indicate that you've modified the posting.

These guidelines are simple, clear and widely applicable. They are so broad that virtually every company can benefit from these guidelines. In the Netherlands, I have yet to discover a business who has an explicit policy on social media. At least, not publicly. Usually the situation is that one or more persons take a leading role in this field. An example of a company which has a social media policy is the brand Coca Cola.
Read it here: http://www.molblog.nl/bericht/coca-cola-gaat-sociaal-met-social-media-richtlijnen/