Why social media guidelines?

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As if appeasing disgruntled customers and fans wasn't already a problem enough, the company's own employees are increasingly interfering with thoughtless posts. Not only as official representatives of the company, but also privately. As soon as they reveal themselves as part of the company or are associated with it by other users, it's a serious situation. Especially when they present themselves in a way that doesn't seem to fit the company's corporate image. Unlike traditional PR channels, many employees have access to social media channels – there is no such thing as a "social network administrator."

When a celebrity from show business tweets a thoughtless, stupid statement, they primarily harm themselves. However, when a professional footballer posts something ambiguous, it can quickly cause a huge stir. Young football star dominican republic phone number data Mario Götze was recently seen on his private Instagram account with three outstretched fingers. He simply wanted to express the fact that he now has three million fans on the platform. Of course, that's not possible when you're a contract player for record-breaking club Bayern Munich, who had recently lost three Bundesliga games in a row. The tabloid press gleefully seized on the post and used it as a pretext to heap a whole bucket of criticism on Götze. The article concluded with a recommendation to be more careful with the number three in the future. After all, the player is also an ambassador for his club.

This highlights the entire problem of social media guidelines. Should FC Bayern Munich have recommended to its players to refrain from anything associated with the number three? Imagine if a player had become the proud father of triplets and was not allowed to present them on social media. That would, of course, be nonsense, because the press would have reported on it and would certainly have made a veiled reference to Bayern's losing streak. But what exactly should the guidelines contain, and what should the company ultimately pay attention to?

What social media guidelines should regulate
Social media guidelines primarily address who within the company is permitted to communicate with which messages and where. They are intended not only to provide employees with guidance on their official company communications on blogs, Facebook, and other media, but also to offer recommendations for their private engagement on these networks. But how do you get employees excited about this without giving the impression that you're trying to restrict their right to freedom of expression? It's a balancing act. The company should define precisely in its social media guidelines which employees are permitted to communicate which messages. When it comes to products, the authority to communicate product messages should lie with product management. This is especially true when rolling out new products.

The example of the often-maligned Windows operating system demonstrates how difficult this can be. On the official Windows Facebook page, Microsoft is doing its best to foster interest in the new Windows 10 and keep the Windows community engaged. On the Facebook page featuring the latest Windows 10 Preview updates, however, support is required to communicate technical questions related to the upcoming upgrade. Close coordination between product management and support is essential here to prevent contradictory statements from leaking out.