1.Social Media *Rulesor *GuidelinesSocial Media Training and Advice Social StatusCopyright 2012 Social Status

2. As you are probably aware; social media has taken over!In the past 10 years; most businesses have a Facebook page, a blog, a Twitteraccount as well as presences on Instgram, Pinterest, photo sharing sites, havelisted their companies on LinkedIn, in social networks and have inserted sharebuttons on all their marketing collateral.While I dont really like using the word Rules; I have noticed that somecorporations have just jumped into social media without preparing a policy, or acontent strategy or have not trained their employees on how to respond to people on social media or how to handle customer service enquiries (or fails). I also believe that we all have to tick the box to agree to each sites terms andconditions; but some of the terms and conditions are often ignored and leave acompany/business without access to their account or having to deal with issueson various social networks. 3. Social Media Guidelines:1. Set up a social media policy - here are many examples -http://socialmediatoday.com/davefleet/151761/57-social-media-policy-examples-and-resources - use these to adjust a policy foryour specific workplace 2. Discuss and set up social media guidelines for your employees -http://www.bluewiremedia.com.au/free-social-media-guidelines-template3. Use a social media crisis plan and train your staff on how to handle amishap - http://socialmediatoday.com/chrissyme/298509/five-social-media-must-haves-crisis4. Decide why you are using social media in the first place - this will helpwith your strategy and your content - then set up a marketing/content strategy which suits your employees and workplace 4. Social Media Guidelines:5. Read each sites terms and conditions and adhere to their rules.6. Choose your accounts - use the ones that your clients/customers/industries are using such as Twitter, Facebook, a blog platform,Google+, YouTube but also look at using other sites such as photosharing sites such as Pinterest, Flickr, Instgram (Google forinformation about thousands of other sites you can use for your business)7. Remember to start small! Each account has to be active andattended to (on a daily basis) 5. Social Media Guidelines:8. Who is going to be attending to each account? What is his/herresponsibility? 9. The community manager (or person responsible) HAS to check eachaccount at least twice a day (early mornings and evenings) to ensure that questions are answered, customer service enquiries have been attended to,inappropriate content (such as people posting pictures or spam comments) isremoved AND ensure that you are engaging - i.e. thanking people for shares/ReTweets, liking a comment (on Facebook) or simply show that you are present and listening10. Who makes executive decisions? If a manager/supervisor needs toconfirm an action - a discussion has to take place around what to do if theyare unavailable. You CANNOT leave something inappropriate on your socialmedia account/s which could harm your brand.11. Monitoring the account/s also has to take place over the weekends - whois responsible for weekend and after hours monitoring? 6. Now lets talk content: 1. Use your company site/blog to promote, share and spread usergenerated content directly from your brand 2. Are you going to hire a copywriter or is there someone in-housewho is prepared to write blog posts, updates, Tweets and source images, videos etc.?3. Are you finding content from elsewhere and using it as inspiration? If yes, you HAVE to source links back to the original content. 4. Are you using images with your content (which is highly recommended)? Ensure that you link back to the original source orname the source (e.g source:CarrotCreative) 7. Social Media Content: 5. Prior to sharing any information online, check the link6. Only share, link to and use links which are from trusted sources. Ensure that there is no inappropriate subject matter oradverts on the links you are sharing - generally when people clickto open a link, they may view other content on the site - so check,check, check!7. When ReTweeting information on Twitter - check the bio/profile,the Tweets, the name of the person whose links, quotes orinformation youre sharing with your followers BEFORE driving content. I cannot stress how vital it is to check, check, check! 8. Check that the sites/videos/images to are secure and safe - I use Wot - http://www.mywot.com/ for this purpose. 8. Use Social Media Content to:9. Build trust with your followers/fans/peers when using, finding, promoting,sharing or driving content - the content you use is affiliated with your brand(So I repeat check, check, check!)10. Seek advice. Ask for help. Enquire about training - this will benefityourself, your brand and your employees. (We are all learning here, evenme!) 9. And finally Social Media Etiquette: 1. Google before you Tweet, post, blog or share. Check yourresources and try to find the original source of any content youuse - this will help you build trust with your peers.2. Be nice - and if you cant than go for a walk, grab a cup of coffee, drink a glass of water - rather than responding inappropriately3. If you do not agree with something and you really want to Tweet, post or blog your viewpoint - think very carefully - is it necessary?Will it change anything? If you believe it will than disagreerespectfully without launching a personal attack. 4. Be diplomatic. You dont have to agree with everything, like everything, choose to share everything - but build diplomatic relationships with others anyway. 10. Social Media Etiquette: 5. Try not to constantly ask others to follow you, like you, ReTweetyou, share your content - build a relationship and trust with yourpeers/fans/followers to build an organic sharing relationship instead (which takes time and effort)6. Shout out, compliment, acknowledge good practices you seeonline - I am a huge fan of social good and this type of behaviour will make your day so much nicer!7. Try not to constantly talk about your brand/business on yourFacebook business page or Twitter account - use those sites toengage with others and exchange information. 11. Social Media Etiquette: 8. Use your business blog to inform, educate and talk about your business. Try to respond to comments and find other blogs in yourindustry to build relationship with other Bloggers. And attend a Blogging event (or any type of networking event) - theyre fun andyou will learn a lot!9. Be kind. Answer queries, respond to comments, find answers and share information. When you see an opportunity to help someone else - take the chance!10. Read everything you can; blog posts, news, Facebook updates, surveys, white papers, eBooks, Tweets, newsletters, manuals - the more you read - the more inspiration you will have to generate your own content. 12. Remember To:1. Ensure that your social media account/s can be used/viewed on mobile platforms2. Make use of share buttons (on your website, on the bottom of each blog post and on other platforms3. Use email marketing to connect with your clients and customersAnd dont forget to - Make your Own Path! Source: Douglas Wilson 13. Always Remember That: Social media is global and embraces each unique individual; you can decide how you are going to use social media to representyourself/your brand. You can be formal, chatty, a curator of information, a helpful sharer, a promoter of social media good, a brilliant sales person, a quiet observer, an industrious entrepreneur - there is no better set of tools to finding your own path as long as you are learning and having a bit of fun along the way.Be authentic and organic. It cant be forced or it wont work. And mostimportantly, have fun. - Richard Branson on social media 14. Brought to you by Social Status Social MediaTraining and Advice Source:justonemomtryingSocial Statuswww.wix.com/ebbyeryan/socialstatusEmail: ebbyeryan@gmail.com