Social media: governance and strategy

Helen Mitchell

Guest lecture for

Queensland University of Technology

Master of Information Technology (Library and Information Science)

April 2011

What we’ll cover

• About me and my experience in this area • Social media strategy • Social media governance• Social media governance in practice• Questions & comments

• Resources listed for you!

…And I’m happy to take questions as we go

Key questions

• Why do we need governance in social media?

• What are the issues and risks around it?

• What does it look like in practice?

About me

What I’ve learned about social media governance

• It’s about getting people on the same page

• Fear of ‘what if’ is a distraction

• It’s about creating the right environment

• Keep it simple and easy to understand

• It will evolve and needs people to drive it

Social media…

What is it good for?

Image credit: http://www.ethority.de/weblog/social-media-prisma/

Ideas & co-creation

Government& policy

development

…?

Customerservice

Internal collaboration Recruitment &

talent attraction

Learning & professional development

Knowledge &expertise sharing

PR & external communication

Brand engagement

MarketingNetworking

TheSocial Media

Universe

The idea

• What do you want to do with social media?

Examples

People: What does your audience care about?

Objectives: What are your goals in using social media with your audience?

Strategy: How will your objectives change your relationship with your audience?

Technology: Which tools and tactics will best reach this audience for your objectives?

http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2007/12/the-post-method.html

Examples

This story is true, only the names have been omitted…

Me: “I see that your organisation is out there in social media, I’ve seen

some good conversation on Twitter.”

Them: “Yes, the marketing department is using social media, they’re on

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube…yet

We’re not allowed to use it internally – everything is blocked.I need it for my job too. I have to log on from home to use it.

It’s inefficient and annoying.”

Impacts

• What do you think this does to…

– Trust

– Morale

– Culture

– Enthusiasm

– Engagement

– Ability to do their jobs?

The reality is…

• Social media can be everywhere and anywhere, anytime

Organisations are changing fast

Image credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Navy_Squadron_Organization.png

Image credit: http://knowledgecafe.care2share.wikispaces.net/Social+Network+Analysis

…enabled by online media that flattens communication structures

…internally and externally

So what are the issues & risks?

• The Institute of Internal Auditors identify nine:

1.     Lack of social media strategy 2.     Intellectual property issues3.     Inappropriate disclosure of information 4.     Compliance with applicable laws 5.     Liability issues 6.     Human resources issues 7.     Lack of, or ineffective, key performance indicators 8.     Not having the right social media “evangelists” 9.     Not incorporating social media as part of the crisis communications plan

http://www.theiia.org/theiia/newsroom/news-releases/index.cfm?i=15450

In my experience

• Use of social media:

– For the organisation

– For the individual

– and how it all links together

Brand & reputation

IP / data ownership

Staff useat work / outside work

…Underpinned by resourcing & budget for social media

There are natural tensions

• “We must use social media – we’re being left behind.”

• “Prepare me a strategy for <insert social media tool> by <insert date>”

and

• “What if someone says something bad?”

• “We’ve got to close it down!”

Governance – why we need it

• How many different perspectives would be in this crowd?• Isn’t it all just common sense?

Credit: Anirudh Koul, http://www.flickr.com/photos/anirudhkoul/3786725982/

‘Common sense’ needs encouragement

Desired behaviours

Creating the righttone & culture

Align with existing Code of conduct

Align with business strategy

What’s acceptable,What’s not

What happens If somethinggoes wrong

Governance & Policy

Governance – it’s about setting expectations

• About behaviour• About culture• About trust• About awareness• And to educate

• It needs a group to drive it:– discussion as things happen– revision over time

What does governance look like?

• A tour through some examples, in various sectors…

• Commonwealth Bank• Victorian Government: Department of Justice• Telstra • ABC• National Library of Australia

In practice: Commonwealth Bank

• Its social media policy had unintended consequences…

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/CBA-social-media-policy-pd20110203-DQ2N5?OpenDocument

In practice: Commonwealth Bank

In practice: Commonwealth Bank

In practice: Victorian Department of Justice

justice.vic.gov.au/socialmedia

In practice: Victorian Department of Justice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQLkt5CG8I

In practice: Telstra

http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/download/document/social-media-company-policy-final-150409.pdf?red=/at/m/d/smcpf150409pdf

In practice: Telstra

http://exchange.telstra.com.au/training/flip.html

In practice: ABC

• A one-pager...here’s an excerpt…

http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/useOfSocialMedia.pdf

In practice: National Library of Australia

• Summary at the end of the policy…

http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/social-media.html

There’s more!Database of social media

policies

• 164 policies:– International– Australian

http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

Wrapping up: it’s about being clear

• Setting the right behaviours and expectations, for your organisation, brand and reputation

• It’s part of your strategy

• Keep it simple, easy to remember

• A ‘governance group’ to oversee its evolution

• Communicate it, role model it, communicate it, role model it…

Over to you

• Questions and comments

Find me

@helmitch

helmitch.blogspot.com

linkedin.com/in/helenmitchellaus

Resources for you

• Why you need a Social Media Policy – David Meerman Scott with Vivienne Storeyhttp://www.bluewiremedia.com.au/blog/2011/04/why-you-need-a-social-media-policy-david-meerman-scott-with-vivienne-storey/

• Program Plan: The Social Media Center of Excellencehttp://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2011/04/04/program-plan-the-social-media-center-of-excellence/

• The POST Method: A systematic approach to social strategyhttp://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2007/12/the-post-method.html

• Launch of Social Media Strategy Frameworkhttp://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2009/07/launch_of_socia.html

• Database of social media policies:http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

• Social Media: Business Benefits and Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives http://www.isaca.org/socialmedia

• Best Practices for Developing & Implementing a Social Media Policyhttp://sncr.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sncr-social-media-policy-best-practices.pdf

Resources for you

Commonwealth Bank• http://www.smartcompany.com.au/legal/20110204-cba-social-media-policy-raises-questions-over-control-of-employee-actions-online.html• http://www.nett.com.au/opinion/blog/nett-blog/lessons-from-the-commonwealth-bank%E2%80%99s-social-media-policy-1593• http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/bank-threatens-staff-with-sack-over-social-media-comments/story-e6frg6nf-1226000454432• http://www.news.com.au/business/facebook-could-get-commonwealth-bank-staff-fired/story-e6frfm1i-1226000225097• http://www.fsunion.org.au/News-Views/CBAs-Social-Media-Policy-Impedes.aspx• http://egovau.blogspot.com/2011/02/learning-from-social-media-policy.html• http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/FSU-slams-CBA-social-media-policy-pd20110203-DQ5MX?OpenDocument&src=hp1

Department of Justice• http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/victorian-government-resources/government-initiatives-victoria/law-and-justice-victoria/social-media-policy-

department-of-justice.html

Telstra• http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2009/12/17/telstra-launches-interactive-3rs-social-media-learning-module/• http://exchange.telstra.com.au/training/flip.html• http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/download/document/social-media-company-policy-final-150409.pdf?red=/at/m/d/smcpf150409pdf

ABC• http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/05/2733929.htm• http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/useOfSocialMedia.pdf

National Library of Australia• http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/social-media.html