A Company’s Ethical Guide for Social Media

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Social media has allowed information to spread quickly and be accessed from almost anywhere in the world. According to the Public Relations Society of America, social media platforms operate as multi-directional communication tools that offer an exchange of information in an open system that has the ability to quickly amplify ethical mistakes. With the addition of new platforms and tools, social media has the ability to become the downfall of any person or company, especially with the rise in today’s cancel culture.

When using social media, people are connecting with other people from all over the world and forming communities. Each community is compiled of people from all different places, of all different ethnicities, cultures, races, gender identities, etc. Each individual community is a group of people with similar interests. Because each group is different, there are different expectations within each community; in terms of how they communicate with each other, and what they expect to get out of the community — whether its to form friendships, seek information or help, or just a place to be themselves.

Communities

Your company is your community. Your customers, followers, and prospective customers are all apart of your community, and there is a proper way to communicate with them. Your brand voice — how you represent yourself, how you respond to comments, messages, and emails, what your captions read, and the content of your posts — is what your customers know about you, and how your customers expect you to communicate with them.

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Ethics

In order to develop a proper ethical guide for your company, it is important to have an understanding of what ‘ethics’ actually is. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the values that relate to human conduct. Ethics says that each action has a rightness or a wrongness, as well as motives that are either good or bad. Basically, ethics is a system of moral principles that affect how people make decisions.

For your company, you will want to ensure a positive ethical experience for your customers. You will want your motives to be good and you will want to always do the right thing. This team is designated to handle all ethics related situations, as well as crisis management. Follow the list of best practices below if a situation arises. It is vital that you stick to these practices in order to maintain your company’s brand voice throughout every situation.

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Best Practices

1. Be Honest — It is imperative that the information that is provided to your customers is honest, truthful and accurate. Be sure to cite and reference all information or photos that have been taken from another source so that it can be fact-checked and credit can be given to the original author or artist.
2. Be Transparent — Don’t be afraid to explain to your customers why you are doing something. Explain why a decision has been made if you are seeing some conversations about why you have chosen to do something. For example: If you have chosen to stop selling a specific product, or are discontinuing a certain color, explain why you are making that decision. Customers will have questions, and it’s better to answer those questions rather than leaving them unanswered.
3. Be Polite — When responding to comments, emails and direct messages, keep a happy, positive and polite tone. Always offer assistance and ask the customer how you are able to help them.
4. Know Your Audience — Knowing who your audience is, who your target market is, and how to market to them is one of the most important aspect of any business. For your company, you will want to make sure the information you are providing to them is relevant and important. You will want to make sure you understand your customers and have a plan to best meet their needs.
5. Response Time — Respond to crisis situations quickly! However, don’t post without thinking! Always take some time to develop a well thought out response, but remember to respond in a timely matter. Do not wait too long to make a statement because silence can be seen as avoiding the subject matter at large.
6. Do not spam — Send appropriate messages that are relevant to the audience. Do not send too many emails that would cause the customer to unsubscribe from your contact list. You will want to ensure that the content being sent out to your customers has relevant and important information, and isn’t overwhelming their inbox.
7. Never intentionally post slander, defamation, or harm to another person or brand’s reputation. It is very important that your company, employees, or products never intentionally cause damage to another company or person’s image. You must always showcase everyone in a positive light. If there is negative press about someone circulating, do not join in on the conversation on social media.
8. Ensure privacy of all customer information — The privacy of your customers is very important. You do not want your customers’ information to be used or sold without their consent.

References:

1. Blitch, K. (Director). (2021, April 15). MMC5636 Live Lecture Week 14: Crisis Situations & Ethics [Video file]. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://ufl.zoom.us/rec/play/udb9H4uD2Jk__IzHTrZ5NB0J0LS8U_IbBAtV9j4zvDdtXt7QuVGXfMD_zdw6VipbVVVcf0u42FaH2F6w.IkkSWe4lQIXISF_4?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=TrazUjonQySkaoBGPumB-Q.1618576795862.e00df491285c0dfd8ca1bbd7268e903d&_x_zm_rhtaid=980
2. Code of ethics. (2017, November 28). Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://nppa.org/code-ethics
3. Cohn, C. (2011, April 12). Social media ethics and etiquette. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://www.compukol.com/social-media-ethics-and-etiquette/
4. Public Relations Society of America. (2015, September). ETHICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://www.prsa.org/docs/default-source/about/ethics/eas/ethical-standards-advisory-ethics-and-social-media.pdf?sfvrsn=be47b4cb_2
5. Romano, A. (2019, December 30). Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained-history-debate
6. Van der Ende, D. (2018, November 12). 4 layers of ethics in social media marketing. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/4-layers-of-ethics-in-social-media-marketing/