In the past, Gap Inc. (the umbrella company for The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, to name a few) has come under flack for making stupid decisions. Namely, this.
Or as I like to call it, 'The Logo That Launched A Thousand Angry Blog Posts.'
Luckily for those who enjoy stone-washed wide leg jeans, The Gap heard the cry of the general public and immediately reverted back to their original logo.
It seems that since then, they've learned to get friendly with social media. PR Daily notes that the company issues 'social media guidlines' to their employees, governing how they should navigate discussing the company online.
The booklet uses a conversational tone to inform employees of how they are expected to conduct themselves online. A few highlights:
Be yourself. Be the first to out that you are a Gap Inc. employee – and make it clear that you are not a company spokesperson.
There’s really no such thing as “delete” on the Internet, so please—think before you post.
Don’t even think about it…
Talking about financial information, sales trends, strategies, forecasts, legal issues, future promotional activities.
Giving out personal information about customers or employees.
Posting confidential or non-public information.
Responding to an offensive or negative post by a customer. There’s no winner in that game.
You can see the full list of guidelines here.
In an era where almost everyone has instant access to the internet and unlimited areas to vent, I think that having social media guidelines and upfront expectations are a wonderful thing. For one company, the tweet "Ugh, work was so hard today, FML," is acceptable, for another, not so much.
Sooner or later, every business is going to need to offer firm guidelines about how they expect their employees to navigate social media when it concerns the company. This is a step in the right direction.
Does your credit union have policies in place concerning social media? We wanna know! Sound off in the comment section!
DeAndre