Guidelines, Codes of Conduct & Social Media Platforms

The social media platform has become an innovative approach to communication beyond someone’s social groups. Individuals and businesses alike can use social media to connect with their target audience, but it can be difficult to police behaviours and conduct on the platforms.

A tweet could be likened to a megaphone that you are using to broadcast your thoughts, which is why appropriate measures must be taken in case those thoughts are not conducive to business or customer relationships.

There is no real distinction between personal and professional thoughts on social media, as as an employee, you are often held up and accountable as a representative of the brand. Similarly, using the case of Twitter again, the public scape that the tweet exists in can be accessed by anyone, with privacy challenging to guarantee. If your employees have access to your business’s social media accounts, the way they conduct themselves can reflect on public perception of the brand.

A simple way to approach when it is and isn’t appropriate for content to be sent out when it’s you personally speaking could be, “would my manager, client or customers be happy to see the content published?” If no, then bestie, you need to sit the hell back down off your platform.

Here are some guidelines to ensure that your business isn’t left in the lurch when it comes to how your employees conduct themselves on social media

    • Have a crisis management plan in place (including an escalation patch) before the commencement of the account. This gives you a planned out approach for worst-case scenarios.
  • Be transparent about who you work for, who you represent or who you may be speaking on behalf of
  • Ensure that all posts are accurate and fact-checked. If a post needs to be edited, do not simply delete the content; note the edit in the original post so that you have evidence that you noticed the mistake, as the original post probably exists somewhere else.
  • Always act professionally and constructively, use sound judgment before posting, and be polite and respectful of individuals’ opinions.
  • Be respectful of everyone you interact with within social media, and consider how you are being perceived as a brand representative. Derogatory comments, discrimination, obscene remarks should not be posted, and statements made in response to others should be considered further concerning how other people may react.

 

Use These Five Principles To Create Good Email

Regardless of whether your email campaigns are being delivered to your customer’s inbox, it will be for minimal effect if the copy within does not engage with your customer.

With marketing through email campaigns an engagement-driven system, you’ll want to ensure that you generate the leads you need and that your clients engage with the copy and open those emails to find out more about what you have written.

There are five simple principles that you need to bear in mind when creating copy for email campaigns.

Know Your Audience

Who are you writing to? You need to know who the product is being sold so as to tailor your message to suit. Don’t try to appeal to everyone with a single email campaign, as the messaging won’t be as effective. You’ll also potentially lose out on reaching the right audience. Consider: 

  • Segmenting your email lists to support your campaign goals (e.g. demographics, products purchased previously, etc.)
  • Forming in your mind an Ideal Customer Avatar as the representative of the person that the copy’s message must reach and be targeted towards 
    • If you were selling tools to tradespeople, you wouldn’t be writing a message aimed at a retail cashier; you would be looking to sell to tradespeople who need tools or are looking for an upgrade.

Know What The Goal Is

You need to make sure that they know what the next step after reading the email is, and the best way to do so is to have a goal in mind to work towards. Are you trying to get signups on a new product, or looking for people to trial your new demo? If you know how you want your readers to proceed and can direct them where you want them to go, your email copy will naturally become more focused and clear. 

Keep It Simple

It can be very easy to get lost in technical jargon in copy, and it can be very disruptive and jarring to your readers when it arises. Try writing your copy as though you are speaking to your friends – keep it conversational and simplify the language you use to ensure that you can keep your audience interested.

Get A Second Opinion

Even though your copy may be understandable to you, you’re also the one with the most knowledge about it. Get someone else to review after editing the content and ensure the message has the maximum clarity of information available. The second pair of eyes may also catch any other mistakes you might have missed before sending it out.

Test Different Versions

You can use A/B testing of your email campaigns to see which ones generate the most clickthroughs and what does not. Use this information to tailor your copy further and keep the key messaging that is working.