What is the right social etiquette?

Spread it!

Email This

The consumer experiences your brand through multiple channels. They experience it when they visit your branch or store, your ATM's or kiosks, when they speak to your people, & even when they click around on your site. How you speak, what you say, & how you respond go a long way in building your brand. Social media is no different, your online presence helps you define your brand and how people can experience your organization.

Consistency, effective messaging, easy to 'find information,' no surprises, & welcoming is what most consumers expect from your brand & site. All of this also applies for social media plus add 'engagement.' Social media is dynamic - it should be a back and forth dialogue. Your consumer speaks to you - don't forget, you have people in charge of execution of your social media channels and you need to help your people in how they interact on social media.

You really have no control over what the consumer may say on your social channel or how they frame questions to you if you are using it for feedback. So you have to be careful in how you answer and how much of the question you repeat (or rephrase) as you try and elucidate your response. How you respond to this first leading question is not only the pathway towards your dialogue, it is what the world will find archived for your brand. So be careful what you say, what you say will stay there forever and unlike Vegas it is there for everyone to find.

Many companies have put together a social media policy, but this policy leaves a lot to be desired. You still have no guidelines for what your brand ambassadors are saying (even though they may be using their personal profiles to talk.)

Take a look at these tweets - some are from people representing brands, the others are from people whom you can associate (very easily) with brands (just google their tweets, then google their id, & voila - you know who they work for).

oh yes, please do bully me. That will most definitely help you get what you want. #ornot

I really can not think straight. I'm worse off than a goldfish. I need to get tested, this is bad .
too bad the xanax REALLY wants me to close my eyes.

O....M....G.... 7 Kahlua Mudslides last night = REALLY bad headache this morning!

I want to come visit on 7/20 for a conference. Can you think of a reason I need to go to the NY office so I can justify? ;)

Turns out the ten thousand welts on my arms, legs and face aren't just a bunch of mosquito bites.

Bottom line - this type of dialogue is not good and should not be allowed. You should define the hierarchy necessary for releasing important information and the best way to keep a dialogue going. This should be part of your policy.

Established policies cover everything from responding to user feedback, monitoring the conversation and co-branding posts that can be added alongside their own. Policies also include how to respond to feedback – ranging from simply monitoring to individually contacting those making negative comments.

Things like promptness, responsiveness, & tone - they all play a major role. Defining and adhering to a policy is really your social etiquette.