Social Media ToolkitVermont Businesses for Social Responsibility

May 12, 2011

Agenda

Overview of Social Media and Business Benefits

Employment Practices Legal and Reputational Risks

What’s on your mind?

Success in Social Media

Social media is Public Relations Customer Service Loyalty-building Collaboration Networking

And it changes, quickly. Success in social media takes commitment to generate the desired results.

Social Media Strategic Plan

• Research the Marketplace• Analyze your Competition• Decide where to concentrate your efforts• Identify Goals & Objectives• Measurements of Success• Social Media Design• Identify Content• Ownership of Social Media

Social Media Audit: Research the Marketplace

What’s being said about your company

Where do your customers play in social media?

How your competitors are using social media

• Google Alerts

www.google.com/alerts

• Google Blog Search

http://blogsearch.google.com

• Twitter Search

http://search.twitter.com

• SiteVolume

http://www.sitevolume.com

• SocialMention

http://www.socialmention.com

• Socialcast

http://www.socialcast.com

Social Media Audit: Research the Marketplace

What’s being said about your company

How your competitors are using social media?

Where do your customers play in social media?

How they present themselves

Who their fans or followers are

How they interact with those users/customers

How their users respond

What are the conversations taking place about your competition

Use the same tools mentioned above

In addition: Competitious www.competitious.com

Social Media Planning: Identify Goals & Objectives

Decide Where to Concentrate Your Efforts

Focus on a select number of sites

Diversify as you are able or recognize the need

Most frequented social media sites are: Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Wikipedia Flickr blogs.

Facebook leads the way with the most users and the most time spent on the site, according to Nielsen Online.

B2B might benefit from connections on business networking sites like LinkedIn.

Use your customer-listening research to determine where to concentrate your efforts.

Identify Goals & Objectives

What are you looking to get

out of this investment today and in the future?

What steps do you need to take

to make it happen?

Identify Goals & Objectives

What are you looking to get

out of this investment today and in the future?

What steps do you need to take

to make it happen?

Expand brand or product awareness

Build community Qualify fans and convert

them to customers Improve customer

satisfaction

Social Media: Measures of Success

Number of fans, followers, readers Number of video or other content views Volume of user comments Retweet or peer-sharing statistics Comment or retweet resonation Engagement Media coverage Media impressions Advertising click-through rates Company website traffic statistics Quantity of new qualified leads or sales Volume of customer service issues handled Google Analytics www.google.com/analytics Twinfluence www.twinfluence.com Twitalyzer www.twitalyzer.com Klout http://klout.com

Social Media: Costs to your business

  Dedication of staff time and other

company resources Initial and ongoing social media

education and training Involved in promoting your social

media presence and generating a following

(e.g., ads, contests, “cool” content, etc.)

Research from HubSpot finds that companies that blog welcome an average of 55% more visitors to their sites than companies that don’t.

And they may generate 97% more external website links and 434% more indexed pages, both of which influence a company’s search rank.

Ownership of Social Media

Internal Policies

Dedicate the Appropriate Resources Decide Who Should Represent the

Organization Weigh Whether to Allow Employee

Participation

Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace

74% of employees surveyed agreed that it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation through social media

55% of employees visited social networking sites at least once per week

10% of employees access social networking sites during work hours for personal and business reasons

52% did not access such sites during work hours

26% of employees worked for companies that blocked access to such sites

Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results

Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace

53% of employees surveyed said their social networking pages are none of their employers’ business

40% of business executives disagree with that, and 30% said they informally monitor employees’ social networking sites

27% of employees surveyed don’t consider the ethical consequences of posting comments, photos or videos online, and more than one-third don’t consider what their boss, colleagues or clients would think about their postings

• Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results

ATTRACTING AND LEVERAGING TALENT

How to get top talent and retain it by utilizing social media tools

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

45% of Employers use social media to screen candidates Facebook – 29% LinkedIn – 26% MySpace – 21% Blogs – 11% Twitter – 7%

11% of Employers plan to start using Social Media to screen candidates

Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

Reasons Employers rejected candidates: Candidate lied about their background (24%) Candidate revealed confidential information from

previous employer (20%) Candidate sent a message using an emoticon such as a

smiley face (14%) Candidate used text language in an email or job

application (LOL! gr8!) (16%)Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

Reasons Employers hired candidates:

Profile provided good information as to candidate’s personality and fit (50%)

Profile supported candidate’s qualifications (39%) Profile showed candidate was creative (38%) Candidate showed good communications skills (35%) Profile showed candidate was well-rounded (33%) Other people posted good references about candidate (19%) Profile showed that candidate has won awards and accolades

(15%)Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

(an unconventional approach)

• Talent attracts talent – energy is contagious• Brand attracts talent – make it relevant• Employees like to be trusted• The pro’s of encouraging employees to

build robust social media profiles• Feature people who love their job• Training opportunity (a must)

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

LinkedIn – build a company profile that effectively represents your organization make people want to connect with you join/create relevant groups keep it fresh/accurate

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

Facebook - build an irresistible fan page ooze the best parts of your culture engage fans link back to your organization’s

website/career pg

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

Risks: Discrimination Claims

Medical Issues, Sexual Orientation, Religious Beliefs, Political Beliefs, etc.

Invasion of Privacy Claims (unlikely)? Unreasonable intrusion on seclusion? Unreasonable publicity given to another’s private life?

Fair Credit Reporting Act issues if searched by third party Are social media sources reliable?

Pre-Employment Use of Social Media

Q: Could negligent hiring claims be based on alleged “failure” to search applicants’ social media sites?

A: Probably not, at least at this time.

How Social Media Can Help You Retain Top Talent

Employees value professional challenges and mentoring opportunities which can come from colleagues

They want to know that you are constantly looking to add more talent to make their employment experience richer

Employees want to be proud to work for you so fully leverage your brand

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

Anti-Discrimination Laws

Discrimination based on membership in protected class (employer learns information it did not know (or want to know))

Discrimination based on association• Risk gaining knowledge that the employee

associates with or is related to members of a protected class

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

Invasion of Privacy Theories Employees may sue for invasion of privacy (e.g., “serious

unwarranted intrusion into private areas”) Question: Does employee have reasonable expectation of

privacy in social networking activities? Case law is not developed in social networking area Many courts have addressed the issue in the email

context Courts have found that there is no reasonable

expectation of privacy in email as long as company makes that clear in policy

Courts have found that even in cases where the emails were stored in personal, password-protected folders

Garrity v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 2002 WL 974676 (D. Mass. 2002)

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

Stored Communications Act

Prohibits accessing “without authorization” a network through which an electronic communication service is provided, thereby obtaining access to electronic communication stored electronically.

Example case: Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002)

Example case: Pietrylo v. Hillstone, 2009 WL 3128420 (D. New Jersey 2009) Jury found that the employee who provided manager with her

password to MySpace employee “venting” group felt coerced, and that she therefore did not “authorize” the employer’s access to the group; $17,000 in compensatory and punitive damages awarded

Lesson: Do not use surreptitious means to monitor limited-access employee social networking sites.

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

The NLRA is implicated where employees are engaging in “concerted activity.” This could be present whether your workforce is unionized or not. NLRA prohibits employer “surveillance”.

The NLRA may apply where:i. An employee notifies other employees about a social

networking site that discusses, e.g., wages, benefits, working conditions;

ii. An employee discusses the work environment/terms of employment; or

iii. An employee allows, or the social networking site provides the opportunity for, other employees to post responses and comments.

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

NLRA Discussion, continued:NLRB v. American Medical Response of CT, Inc.

(NLRB alleged and employer agreed in settlement that policy prohibiting employees from making “disparaging, discriminatory, or defamatory comments” about supervisors on line is too broad and, in that case, violated right to engage in protected concerted activity)

Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002) (court held that management’s accessing web site that complained about working conditions and threatening defamation claim could violate employee’s right to engage in concerted activities)

Bottom line: Traditional employee “concerted activity”/ communications rules apply in social media context.

Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers

Take care not to retaliate on basis of legally protected activities you learn about through any monitoring(For example, protected “whistleblowing”, complaints of harassment or statements in support of such complaints, etc.)Consult with HR re any such issues

Seek guidance from HR if considering sanctioning employees for off-duty online conduct that is NOT connected with the job

Employer Obligations Related to Social Media

If employer has knowledge, it could be liable for un-remedied harassment law violations perpetrated through social media Particularly troublesome if site maintained by employer, but: Contact HR/counsel for guidance re non-employer-maintained

sites, particularly if potential harassment or bullying may be occurring

Defamation Liability? Obligations to act on other information

on social networking sites of which employer has notice

Social Media-Related Employment Policies

The Hiring Process (if the employer ever chooses to screen applicants’ social media sites), supervisors should be trained to follow policies that: Standardize the process Require consideration of job-related information only Govern documentation/recordkeeping

Social Media-Related Employment Policies

In managing current employees, be aware of any policies that address the following issues:

If access to social media is permitted at work – it may not interfere with work

Prohibitions on employees’ revealing confidential or proprietary information

Follow policies re expectations of privacy and/or monitoring

Social Media-Related Employment Policies

Apply general employer policies in social media context, such as those that: Require compliance with employer

non-discrimination/non-harassment policies Prohibition on unauthorized use of employer logos,

brands, etc. Prohibition on postings that create a conflict of interest

or harm employer

Also, employees should indicate that views expressed are personal, and not views of employer, unless authorized otherwise

Social Media-Related Employment Policies

If posting endorses employer generally or an employer’s product or service, employee should provide clear disclaimer stating his/her affiliation with employer due to Federal Trade Commission fair

advertising rules Any employer-related postings should be

approved by employer, or by employees who have been trained and given specific permission to issue posts

If your organization uses social media

How to identify dedicated resources What training is required? What is HR’s role? What is a consultant is managing SM

plan?

Great brands/Great SM usage

Zappos AT&T etc

If you DON’T use social media Identify how your culture views SM use

at work Do you set clear boundaries? Block SM? Handling potential performance issues

time drain distraction harassment brand risk