Risks of using Social Media
Andrew Greenyer
Director, Raise the Roof Marketing
1
2 Main Areas
• Company Brand issues
• Self inflicted
• From external sources
• Employee Issues
• What they say on behalf of the company
• What they say on their own time
What can go wrong?
"..within four days of the song going
online, the gathering thunderclouds
of bad PR caused United Airlines'
stock price to suffer a mid-flight stall,
and it plunged by 10 per cent,
costing shareholders $180 million.
Which, incidentally, would have
bought Carroll more than 51,000
replacement guitars."
Over 11.4m views on YouTube since
July 2009
2 other videos in the series!!!
McDonalds used the hashtag #MeetTheFarmers, in a campaign meant to draw
attention to the brand's guarantee of fresh produce.
Later the same day McDonalds used a dangerously vague hashtag in the
tweet - "When u make something w/ pride, people can taste it," McD potato
supplier #McDstories
American Red Cross
Waitrose Twitter Campaign
Use of Social Media as a
campaigning tool
A big 'Thank You!' to the hundreds of
thousands of you who supported our
two-month Kit Kat campaign by
e-mailing Nestlé, calling them, or
spreading the campaign message via
your Facebook, Twitter and other social
media profiles
“You'll never guess what.
Nestlé has only gone
and agreed to our
campaign demands!”
Greenpeace
How to react
• Respond within 24 hours but not necessarily
immediately
• Analyse the issue
• Set the right tone – keep to company guidelines
• Be visible
• Don’t censor negative comments
Things not to say on Twitter
Things not to say on Twitter
Things not to say on Twitter
Employees who use social media for
personal use:
• 14% posted a status/tweet about their work
• 22% posted a status/tweet about a work colleague
• 28% have posted photos of colleagues or business
activities
• 1% have posted confidential business information
Source DLA Piper – 250 companies
Landing employees in hot water –
employers taken disciplinary action
• 21% due information about another individual
• 25% due to information about their activities at work
• 31% due to information about the organisation
• 30% due to the amount of time being spent on social
media at work
Source DLA Piper – 250 companies
Ramifications for employers
• Damage to reputation
• Breaches of security and confidentiality
• Liability for cyber bullying or harassment
• Liability in respect of “recommendations”
posted on colleagues sites.
• Loss of productivity due to time spent on
social media at work
Facebook drinking posts teacher
Elizabeth Scarlett reprimanded
• She discussed being 100% naughty and liking to party
hard
• You should pop up to see me or even better we can go
out for a drink or clubbing, I'm a very different person
outside school I like to party hard - life is for the living
• I'm not a teacher on here. I'm just like anyone else, I
drink, swear... but don't tell anyone
Social Media and Policy Documents
• 65% of employers encourage employees to use social
media for work related activities.
• 48% of employers say that they are exposed to risk
because they cannot control company information on
social media sites.
A teenager has been sacked from her job after calling it
boring on Facebook.
Kimberley Swann made the comment about her employer in
Clacton, Essex, where she had begun working as an
administrator.
Actions
• Create / updates Social Media Policy and any
associated policies
• Create a workflow/action plan to deal with adverse
Social Media
• Monitor traffic to protect company brand
(and after consultation with staff on employee traffic)
• Educate employees
Social Media Policy from Australia
Risks of using Social Media
Andrew Greenyer
Director, Raise the Roof Marketing
1