There is no doubt that people are increasingly becoming dependent on social media. Just think of a day without social media updates. Would you find the day dull? We can say that neither popularity of social media will decline in the near future or business will go without having social media. Now enterprises are using social media to communicate, sell, promote goods and services, and provide customer services to manage good relationships with customers and stakeholders. In this digital era, businesses have no geographical boundaries for selling their products and services. Digital platforms are helping brands reach a massive audience in a shorter period, and sales mechanisms get new hype. Technology and digital marketing make the brand journey both straightforward and complex simultaneously. Reputational and data security risk is in higher stakes. Therefore, it is the responsibility of businesses to make the social media platforms safe and secure for their employees, customers and stakeholders.

Let’s share a real-life personal experience with all of you. Most of the household groceries at my home are bought from a retail store regularly. After every purchase, they gave me rewards points, and I am pretty happy with the pricing, range of products, merchandising, product quality and behaviour of the store employees. But one day, I went to a nearby Kacha bazaar, and I found some items’ prices were substantially less than the retail store. Later, the other day, when I was scrolling, I found one of the online shops offering the same products in an equivalent price range as the Kacha Bazar. Then I tried to find out why the higher price but could not reach any justification.

Meanwhile, one day I brought some fruits which were nicely packed but later when I opened the pack, I found most of the fruits were not fresh, and some were so rotten that I had to throw the fruits pack into the bin. I was pretty upset and disappointed about the overall experience. I shared this incident with a picture and the retail store name on my social media account. Surprisingly, that night, the CEO of the retail store commented on my post and instructed his team to look after the incidents. Within a few minutes, the marketing and retail branch manager called me and apologized for the incident. The next day, early in the morning, retail store people came to my house with a basket of fruits and again said sorry. They said that next time, they will be more careful while packing the fruits and will work on keeping the commodities fresh; they also share the price issue with the authority. But I was amazed and happy to see their quick response and how easily they accepted their mistakes. And store employees were responding in a very professional manner.

My story could have been different; retail stores might not respond, or employees might make aggressive comments or threaten me on my post. Their response would have been not so good, or their employees’ behaviour was not so welcoming; I might not revisit their retail store to purchase. And after my post, many people also get a negative view of the retail store. They may also think twice about going to that retail store. I don’t think it is an exemplary scenario for any corporate. Losing business is the last thing that a company wants. And losing business means one day he will be closing his business, employees will be losing their jobs, and their stakeholders, such as suppliers, will be losing their business.

They not only convinced me but were also showing that the brand is responsible towards the customer. They protect the customers’ rights, respect the customers, show a willingness to admit faults, and are concerned about their reputation. From my experience, I can pick important keywords like loyalty, reputation, awareness, connectivity, apology, sorry, competitors, product and services and lastly, employees. And in our daily life, those words are essential to creating an emotional bonding with the brand. I think the management prepared a policy for the retail chain to serve the customers; that’s why they were very responsive and did their best to manage the crisis on social platforms. By doing so, the retail store retains their customer, keeps the business open, and helps protect the business, stakeholders and employees. But, do all companies handle the social media crisis professionally?

In the rapidly growing social media ecosystem, brands need to have a policy, dos & don’ts that ensures the behaviours, course of action and solution for the brand or brand employees to communicate or solve any crisis on social media platforms. Social media policy will help protect the company from a PR crisis, legal and regulatory issues, and the brand’s inconsistent activities. Protecting employees, customers and stakeholders on social media means the corporate house is protecting its equity and holding its reputation in the market. The corporate must have a mindset and policies to maintain a good brand reputation on social media platforms. Policies are working as a safeguard mechanism for corporate, employees, customers and stakeholders. So, it is the brand’s responsibility to have a social media policy to protect its employees, customers and shareholder on social media platforms.

“All brands need a social media guideline.” While digging into this, some questions popped into my mind, and they are as such “What is social media policy?”, “Who is responsible for following the policy?”, “What is the correlation between protection and reputation?” and “What is the definition of protection?” “What will be the mechanism to follow the policy?”, “What responsibilities and duties are there to fulfill to avoid crises?” We need to find answers to those questions better to understand the requirements of social media guidelines for business.

Companies are receiving both positive and negative reviews. No brand will prefer negative comments, reviews, tagging or logo of the brand placed wrongly. Business needs to find out the cause of the negative review and compilation of positive reviews. A negative review or comment expresses disappointment regarding any product, service or customer experience. Apart from customers or external sources, internal resources such as employees may harshly reply to customers’ comments or make fun of them; their activities or behaviour also create negative reviews or impressions on social media platforms. But due to such behaviour of employees, the company may face review or legal consequences.

We all know that Google is the number one review site, and the pandemic makes people interact with more than 50% of previous years, customers are now giving short reviews. At the same time, companies are not responding to negative comments on their official page quickly, according to the review tracker 2021 latest report, which changes the perception of customers regarding brand willingness. External parties such as customers and competitors giving comments or reviews on an official page of a corporate are beyond our control. They have full liberty to do so, considering the legal consequences. According to the country’s digital laws, the company can act against external parties for any falsified or wrong information or disgraceful statements.

But in most cases, companies don’t know how far the company can go in protecting, justifying or clarifying any comments or posts. And, on social media, it is pretty easy to say something without knowing the facts. That is also another reason companies are not paying attention to those reviews.

Corporate houses need to encourage their employees to maintain responsible behaviour on the social as the face of the organization, including on social media. In an ideal scenario, employees must be aware of the organization’s protocol, regulations, and culture before engaging on social media. They are also the core part of the company’s social platform engagements. Hence, they have some duties to hold the corporate reputation. Because we know employees are the primary brand reputation holder. While employees have the freedom to share their personal views on social media, in some cases, employees’ posts or comments may have a conflict of interest with organizational ethics and values. This type of employee activity hampers the organization’s brand image and reputation and may even lead to legal consequences. But, does the company make any awareness campaign or create any policy for the employees to follow?

Another critical aspect of social media is dealing with negative comments. For sure, it is not that easy to deal with such things. A customer has the right to comment regarding their dissatisfaction or can express their opinion. Some comments may be derogatory or offensive language, or personal attacks. But does the company have any manual regarding the appropriate way of dealing with those comments?

Employees and brands need to remember social media or any digital media platform is a permanent place; once anything is published online, it will be somewhere on the web. No matter how hard the employees or brand try to delete or erase it, everything posted over the internet can track back to its source.

So far, we have found our external parties (customers and competitors) and our internal parties (employees and company) who use company social media platforms. While using social media platforms, many issues may arise, and many rumours will roam around. Still, the company, brand, employees, customers and stakeholders are responsible for making the platform more happening and successful. We are on social media to make new friends and well-wishers who will work as our social media ambassadors and endorser.

Employees have to keep away themselves from engaging in any conversation which is related to disrespectful and controversial. Be more careful about religious comments, hateful political and diverse speech. Sharing false information, making sarcasm or prank or discrimination in gender or race, sexual harassment, or sexually explicit content sharing and sharing a company or client’s secrets is always discouraging. Likewise, if the employees do not engage in disagreements publicly as an employee or brand, it would be wise to contact and manage it professionally. Employees should avoid participating in any comments where unnecessary noise creates unhealthy battles. It is a sensible decision not to be a part of any angry and harmful conflict with someone. But, from where do all these directions or decisions will come. A straightforward and straightforward answer is from the company’s “Social Media Policy.” It will work as the saviour of unwanted hassle and reputational risk.

It is always welcoming to judge from the point of common sense before posting or making any comments. Because social etiquette acceptable in the real world is more likely welcome in the virtual world. It is better to remember that every company or person has its view and some principles of living. It is not wise to interfere in others’ areas; one must show respect. Violating any company code of conduct is offensive at the professional level. Employees or brands cannot be a part of anything that violates the core values, code of conduct, copyrights, and intellectual property rights. For any post or comments, the ultimate liability goes with the post creator or commenters. There is no one else to be blamed. So, think about the consequences of the engagements in the future and what trouble they may create. It is wise and must confirm the reliability and ensure it aligns with the country’s Constitution, Administrative law and Cyber Law, our Code of Conduct, and any limitations that may apply to any content based on local legislation and our platform.

Now, social media is considered an extension of our daily life. The employees’ or brand’s responsibility is to ensure that what is acceptable in the actual world is consistently the same rules maintained in the digital world. Showing respect to each other is the most critical factor in social media. When an employee or brand interacts with any customers on the official platform or on any personal level, it should behave according to the company-guided code of conduct by showing respect to its culture. It is welcoming to respect everyone from colleagues to customers in any circumstances. Respecting religious and political beliefs, gender equality, diversity, nature and culture is an absolute pre-condition for having good relations and reputation on social media platforms. As a company representative, it is welcoming for the employees to dress well while carrying any brand elements and behave accordingly in the virtual world. Company success is dependent on how the employees show respect to the company policies, code of conduct, principles, managing conflict, organization confidentiality and brand guideline.

If employees are not authorized to make any comments on behalf of the company name, then it is not wise to make any. But it is also true that if employees are not protecting the company or brand, who will? So, it is better to disclose real identity, use any tag and mention, “All opinions are my own.” Sometimes some posts or comments are inappropriate, and those are beyond control, then it is the employee’s responsibility to inform the respective personnel. The company runs its social media and constantly keeps updated, following the regulatory rules and regulations to avoid compliance issues. By now, we all know that it is impossible to remove anything from the internet world, so employees and brands need to be more aware of communication, post, and comments; it is a public place, so acting wisely as protection mechanisms. Never carry anything which may lead the organization into a false corner, and to protect employees and brand, accurate, informative, and transparent information is a necessary pre-condition.

Other issues need to consider for managing social media and dividing it into professional and personal levels. It is wise not to use an official e-mail ID or number to set up personal social media accounts or the wrong name or pretend to be someone else. Also, avoid using the organization’s name, logo, trademark, Infographic, or photographs without concern. And to mislead the customer or protect the customer from scammers, it is strictly prohibited to open any account/page/ events associated with a corporate name. Employees always share any information or post from the official social media platform.

So organizations and employees can easily avoid this conflict by following general policies, using common sense, and understanding the consequences. Previously I said the company needs a “Social Media Policy.” But the question is on what principles the company will prepare the policies? Like Intel Social Media Guideline, we can follow three engagement rules in social media. “Think,” “Respect,” and “Protect” (TRP) these there rules we can follow instead of disclosing, protecting and using common sense as three rules keeping country conditions. Simple and everyday words, but if anyone wants to follow this, they need to think about what they are posting; while posting have to respect the code of conduct and protect the company, and they cannot entrain certain things. So when an employee or brand follows “TRP,” there is a lesser chance of falling into difficulty. It is an easy way to avoid confrontation and win the heart of audiences. By doing so, the brand became successful and received good reviews. It is also applicable that employees will get benefits in their personal life.

We all know that every day new digital channels are open; people are joining new social media platforms. Monitoring is one way to keep the brand name up-to-date and trendy, but it is not always going according to the plan. Billions of social media users are worldwide, and it isn’t easy to attend individually. But if the company wants to be responsive on the social medic platform and try to be with the customer digitally, then it needs adequately qualified human resources for the brand team, train them and equip them with advanced equipment and tracking modules. Lastly, set an objective. And the digital team should be under the brand team; otherwise, the company will not get the required results in this digital arena.

When someone mentions the company name or brand, it is necessary to respond to create a better perception of the brand. So all brand managers should propose a policy for managing the employees and brand on social media. It will not only work as a brand shield; it also reduces the stress level of the brand manager. Social media guidelines are required for the company and employees to avoid unwanted issues. But the principal purpose of this policy and guideline is to help employees and brands feel at ease when using social media and suggestions on avoiding pitfalls. I will close my writing with the line from Dell’s Social media Policy “Be Nice, have fun and connect.”

Author

Md. Raziuddin
AVP, Brand Marketing & Communications
LankaBangla Finance Limited