Social Media: Guidelines and Policy
Issued: September 24, 2010
The purpose of this document is to alert all Visiting Angels Franchises about the potential benefits and pitfalls of using Social Media for your business.
I.
Introduction
Social Media is any form of online publication that enables people to communicate and collaborate via the Internet or other similar electronic media technologies. It can be used as a way for individuals and organizations to foster goodwill and gain support/business. Conversely, social media can also detract from a company’s business and productivity. Flourishing organizations understand how social media, when properly utilized, can be a useful tool to create a positive marketing impact.
II.
Social Media Roadmap I. II.
Introduction Understand Your Audience a. Getting Started b. Devise a Social Media Strategy i. Referral Sources ii. Clients and Their Family Members iii. Competition iv. Employees III. Own Your Space IV. Naming Convention, Copyrights and Fair Use a. Naming Convention b. Copyrights c. Fair Use V. Confidential and Proprietary Information VI. Value Your Business VII. Build the Relationship VIII. Disclaimer IX. Policy Recapitulation
Understand Your Audience
The benchmarking of social media best practices towards generating new business is still very much in its infancy stage. New technology and social media networking platforms are born and developed daily, while others have fizzled as quickly as they arrived. The Visiting Angels corporate staff is excited to assist your efforts using these social media avenues as you build relationships. Specifically, we offer direct support to help you get started, expand your Internet presence, and market to the proper target audiences. A. Getting Started! If you are new to a specific social media platform, create a personal account first before you introduce your business to the site/audience. Learn about the features of the site and how to use all of the widgets, bells and whistles. Join Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, or any social media platform you deem worthy of your time and business, then draft your strategic marketing plan based on what each site uniquely offers. For instance, Facebook is a great location for reposting organizational news releases, blogs or industry related information; while Twitter can be a great resource for driving traffic/interest to a specific destination using quick 1 blurbs and links. Always avoid connecting your business and your personal account, and while you are investigating each site begin to devise your own social media strategy for securing business. B. Devise a Social Media Strategy! When you are creating your social media strategy and determining the best platform(s) to use for marketing your business, know your audience. Since Visiting Angels businesses have interest to several different target audiences, make sure your actions are consistently adding value to each audience without ignoring or insulting another segment of your targeted demographics.
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This symbol represents a specific Social Media Policy item within the text of the adjacent paragraph. All Policy items have also been restated in the last page of this document (Section Title: Policy Recapitulation)
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Here are a few key questions you will want to answer for each target audience: i.
Referrals Sources What referral sources provide you with the most leads? Do my referral sources actively use this site? What motivates my referral sources? What would keep them coming back to my page? *Be sure to maintain your personal connection to your referral sources – nothing can replace a personal phone call, handwritten note, or a face-to-face meeting! ii.
iii.
Clients and Their Family Members Does my site present the best possible industry information for a decision making loved one? Would I feel comfortable reading all of my postings to a client needing care? How would I react if a client or his/her family member disagreed with something I posted? Competition Am I respectful of my competition (reflecting true professionalism)? Am I giving away any of my “secret sauce” to the competition? Is my competition already using this or another social media networking platform? Stay safe by never mentioning your competition or engaging in any negative back and forth – this tends to be one of the perils of using social media in business, a major branding concern for everyone connected to Visiting Angels, and oftentimes punishable by law as defamation!
iv.
Employees What would a potential employee learn about me from viewing the site? Am I willing to trust the management and maintenance of a social media site to an employee if it generates enough business, but consumes too much of my time? Please note that Visiting Angels retains the right of ownership (according to your franchise agreement) of all social media accounts, pages, blogs, etc. that display our marks/logo, our name, or any derivative of our name (including within a username) – so be aware of what is posted on your page!
III.
Own Your Space
Consider everything you and/or your staff publishes on the Internet as a printed press release hand delivered to the entire world. Then envision that press release never getting recycled or thrown in the trash, but rather searchable and re-publishable until the end of time. Get the point? It is extremely important you take ownership of your post. Be authentic. Be genuine. Be a Visiting Angel.
IV.
Naming Convention, Copyrights, and Fair Use
It is very important to understand both the structure of Visiting Angels and the social media platform you are using for your business. Since Visiting Angels is structured under the franchise model, brand consistency is imperative for each franchise to adhere to and help monitor. Our organization flourishes on national and international brand recognition. We must avoid client confusion by combining our efforts
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to carefully manage and discipline our social media practices at both the corporate and local franchise level. A. Naming Convention: Please use the following username template for all social media networks bearing our brand (specific exceptions are listed below this example): VisitingAngels -> underscore -> your franchise’s city OR town name OR portion of major metro you border -> comma -> State (example: VisitingAngels_Havertown,PA) For specific sites, please use the following: Ning: Your franchise’s city OR town name OR portion of major metro you border -> comma (,) -> State -> dash (--) -> your name (first and last if both fit, if not than just your first name) (Example: South Philadelphia, PA – Larry) *Please note that our Ning account is for internal use only, therefore user names do not need specific Visiting Angels branding components associated to them. We are using the naming convention above so we can identify each other via locations. Facebook: VisitingAngels -> your franchise’s city OR town name OR portion of major metro you border -> State (Example: Visiting Angels South Philadelphia PA) Twitter: Full Name – Twitting Angel #X (use a number between 1 and 500 – our goal is to be able to follow flocks of Twitter Angels!) (example: Twitting Angel #21) User Name – TA -> underscore (_) -> your franchise’s city OR town name OR portion of major metro you border using a maximum of 12 characters (example: TA_Havertown) *Please note, your Full Name will also appear to those who follow your Tweets ▪If you have specific questions in regards to naming requirements, please contact Mike Broome at corporate headquarters via e-mail (
[email protected]) or via phone (1-866-49-Angel). B. Copyrights: Copyright infringement and/or plagiarism are forms of intellectual property theft and can cause irreversible damage to your business. Plagiarism can also be a major concern regarding information you post. Therefore, if in doubt consider reaching out to the source of the information and ask permission to post his/her content (most will feel honored by the request and revisit your site often and/or direct traffic your way). C. Fair Use: The Visiting Angels corporate staff distributes weekly content that we encourage all of our franchises to utilize. The Weekly Message (every Monday) typically speaks directly to our target audience and our industry. You can also reach out to other Visiting Angels franchisees and share information with each other; like ideas to blog about, who they are connected to, and how their social media presence is working for them. As a participant of any third party site, you are also required to adhere to all rules and regulations governing that site. For instance, some social media platforms (such as MySpace) are not business friendly platforms and reserve the right to remove your account without warning. Understand the Terms & Conditions of the social media networking platform, not only for personal usage but also for your business! If you view content on the Internet that is inappropriate to the Visiting Angels brand, please notify corporate headquarters immediately so the issue can be addressed. Please note that all Franchisees are required to take any action necessary to transfer listings and registrations to the franchisor upon expiration of franchise agreement or termination. 4
V.
Confidential and Proprietary Information Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides patients with privacy privileges regarding all medical and health related information. Without expressed written consent, it is illegal to post pictures or information about your clients. Visiting Angels must consistently ensure full HIPAA compliance while developing and implementing social media strategies. Please note that Visiting Angels Guidelines and Policies, including HIPAA laws, also apply to your caregivers and their individual social media sites. Please educate all office employees and caregivers on your franchise’s social media strategy and/or regulations. As a Visiting Angels franchisee, you have access to a vast amount of proprietary information designed to grow your business. It is important that you understand these documents are intended for the sole purpose from which they were derived and delivered. Do not post any private Visiting Angels policies, training materials, forms, and/or legal issues or documentation not intended for this medium.
VI.
Value Your Business
Long before the development of the Social Media era, authors coined clever phrases about enjoying the journey far more than the destination. Social Media can be viewed as a unique combination of both the journey for some and the long awaited destination for others. As you embark on your social media networking journey, it is important to stay focused on the ultimate goal of drawing in more business. Track your referrals and how long it took to gain each new client. Is this a method you can duplicate, multiply, or improve over time? Bottom line: Evaluate your social media strategy often and be open to the technology around you without forgoing the more traditional methods of marketing, advertising, and networking.
VII.
Build the Relationship
Marketing savvy is all about knowing how and where to spend your business development time most effectively. You can certainly reach more people around the world via the Internet in five minutes than you can by individually shaking hands for five years. One could argue though that a five minute face-toface encounter could prove more profitable for your business than five years of social media networking. Only you can decide how to best spend your time and money, but be mindful that studies have shown a variety of marketing strategies and advertising have far more long-term impact than one constant form of advertising or marketing. Be sure to contact your social media acquaintances in different ways, not just through that particular social media site.
VIII.
Disclaimer
All websites bearing the Visiting Angels marks are required to include the following disclaimer: All Visiting Angels franchises are independently owned and operated. The views expressed on this site are the responsibility of [LIST YOUR VISITING ANGELS LOCATION], and in no way express the sole views or opinions of Living Assistance Services, Inc. or any other Visiting Angels franchise or owner.
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Policy Recapitulation Avoid connecting personal social media accounts separate from your Visiting Angels social media accounts Social Media websites cannot contain any disparaging comments about competition or the Visiting Angels brand (Visiting Angels franchises, Visiting Angels Franchisees, Corporate, etc.) Visiting Angels retains the right of ownership of all social media accounts, pages, or sites where our marks are displayed or our name is used (including any derivative of our name contained in the username) and reserves the right to require franchisees to remove any content that it deems to be inappropriate Naming Convention – accounts are to be named visitingangels -> underscore -> your franchise’s city or town name -> comma -> State (example: visitingangels_havertown,PA) Specific exceptions to the naming convention are listed in Section IV All users must comply with the laws and regulations including those of the third party social media site Franchisees are required to take any action necessary to transfer listings and registrations to the franchisor upon expiration of franchise agreement or termination Do not post any material that violates HIPAA laws Visiting Angels proprietary information or comments regarding legal issues/documentation are strictly prohibited from posting to a social media site Social Media sites bearing the Visiting Angels marks are required to include the disclaimer listed in Section VIII of this document
As with the ever changing nature of technology, Visiting Angels reserves the right to make addendums to this policy at any given time. If you have any questions in regards to social media, please contact Mike Broome at corporate headquarters via e-mail (
[email protected]) or via phone (1-866-49-Angel).
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