Why so complicated?

In my latest Auros blog post, I ask why there are so many complicated guidelines designed to avoid social media meltdown within organisations, and whether this process could easily be significantly simplified. Social media, of course engenders excitement and trepidation in equal measure, i.e. it’s instant, permanent and could go viral.

The inspiration for my post came from the BBC’s set of social media guidelines for its employees, and specifically, an edict in the opening lines saying, “don’t do anything stupid”. This is a refreshingly simple piece of advice regarding corporate social media guidelines. The truth is, all that is required in order for an organisation to avoid social media meltdown, is common sense. That is not to assume however, that this precious trait is particularly prevalent throughout industry, with new social media disasters appearing on our newsfeeds on a daily basis. Most recently ASUS, the Swedish government, and Starbucks have joined the party.

A few very simple processes can be put in place in order to avoid such slip ups, and frankly it’s not complicated. Those organisations that use a social media management tool  can give employees permission to create content, but not publish anything until approved by someone more senior. Those who have yet to put a tool in place, can simply insist that all content must be seen by 3 pairs of eyes before being published. It is more than likely that anything with the potential to offend or mislead readers will be intercepted prior to publishing and brand integrity will be maintained; it’s not rocket science.

To put this into perspective, I wonder whether back in the 90’s, during the explosion of email as a business tool, there was a wealth of articles, written by ‘experts’ telling us exactly what we should and shouldn’t be doing, just as we see now in the social media space. I suspect that this information has, over time, been simplified almost to the point of extinction, becoming common sense for the majority of email users today.

Currently, we are bombarded with different opinions on social media best practice, with some excellent content. In terms of avoiding a social media nightmare however, the most valuable advice is surely the simplest:

• Keep control over who is speaking on your company’s behalf
• Have more than one person check any content
• Don’t do anything stupid.

We should appreciate that in-depth guidelines are often put in place to protect the company against employee stupidity in a legal sense, providing a valuable buffer and peace of mind for a firm. Notwithstanding this legal necessity, promoting a culture of common sense and basic checks prior to publishing content would help perhaps go a long way to prevent negative PR through social media faux pas.