A social media policy provides a framework for staffers’ online conversations
By Mark E Goodman
Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, and other social-sharing sites are ubiquitous. Heinz ketchup has a QR code on the bottle that links to its Facebook page. And an email that I received yesterday declares, “Facebook.com/AAdvantage has your insider tips!”
Obviously, the time to think about incorporating social media into your marketing is long overdue. But even the smallest business needs to have a social-media game plan. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though: How can (and should) a company manage employee interactions online?
I talked to Jennifer Ballard of Hinshaw & Culbertson about this very challenge. Jennifer is an attorney who helps clients develop social media policies. She notes that a social media policy provides the framework for the conversation. The policy should not be limited to just one forum, but defines your company’s overall communication process – the many ways in which you and your staffers want to be communicating with customers, vendors and the wider world.
We also talked about complementing your social media policy with a content creation plan. This kind of plan creates “authorized” content that employees can use and refer to for guidance. For more insights, check out this short video clip:
Mark E. Goodman is CEO of e-Conversation Solutions Inc., a company that aims to enhance clients’ selling process through video and social media. He’s also a volunteer at Score, a national, nonprofit resource partner of the SBA, staffed by former business owners and executives who offer free advice to entrepreneurs. For more information, go to www.scorechicago.org.
Score Chicago shares videos from its website with Crain’s every Thursday.
You can follow Score Chicago on Twitter: @ScoreChicago. Follow Mark on Twitter, too: @e_conversation.
Connect with Crain’s via Facebook and Twitter. Join Crain’s LinkedIn group for Chicago entrepreneurs. And stay on top of Chicago business with Crain’s free daily e-newsletters.
Crain’s small-business editor Ann Dwyer is on Google+.
A social media policy provides a framework for staffers’ online conversations
By Mark E Goodman
Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, and other social-sharing sites are ubiquitous. Heinz ketchup has a QR code on the bottle that links to its Facebook page. And an email that I received yesterday declares, “Facebook.com/AAdvantage has your insider tips!”
Obviously, the time to think about incorporating social media into your marketing is long overdue. But even the smallest business needs to have a social-media game plan. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though: How can (and should) a company manage employee interactions online?
I talked to Jennifer Ballard of Hinshaw & Culbertson about this very challenge. Jennifer is an attorney who helps clients develop social media policies. She notes that a social media policy provides the framework for the conversation. The policy should not be limited to just one forum, but defines your company’s overall communication process – the many ways in which you and your staffers want to be communicating with customers, vendors and the wider world.
We also talked about complementing your social media policy with a content creation plan. This kind of plan creates “authorized” content that employees can use and refer to for guidance. For more insights, check out this short video clip:
Mark E. Goodman is CEO of e-Conversation Solutions Inc., a company that aims to enhance clients’ selling process through video and social media. He’s also a volunteer at Score, a national, nonprofit resource partner of the SBA, staffed by former business owners and executives who offer free advice to entrepreneurs. For more information, go to www.scorechicago.org.
Score Chicago shares videos from its website with Crain’s every Thursday.
You can follow Score Chicago on Twitter: @ScoreChicago. Follow Mark on Twitter, too: @e_conversation.
Connect with Crain’s via Facebook and Twitter. Join Crain’s LinkedIn group for Chicago entrepreneurs. And stay on top of Chicago business with Crain’s free daily e-newsletters.
Crain’s small-business editor Ann Dwyer is on Google+.
Make your QR codes clickable
By Nick Harrison As you are probably well aware, QR codes are everywhere from clothing to sides of vehicles. They are also visible quite frequently on websites and in emails. What is the problem with that? It’s this: Oftentimes, people are viewing your website or email using the very tool they use to scan the code in the first place, their smart phone. Studies show that soon more people will be accessing the Internet via their smart phones than their own PCs. And that means that people are seeing your QR codes on the devices they need to scan them.
That is a problem that can significantly diminish the number of people accessing your content when you’re using a QR code as a marketing tool. How can we solve this? Simple; make the QR code clickable. A QR code, or Quick Response Code, is simply an image. All images both in emails or websites can be turned into links.
Example: Your regular QR code HTML coding probably looks something like this <img src=”http://yourwebsite.com/images/yourQRcode.jpg”>
To place in a link, all you have to do is place it in a link tag.
Example: <a href=”http://yourwebsite.com/qr”> <img src=”http://somewebsite.com/images/yourQRcode.jpg”> </a>
Super simple, and it allows me and everyone else viewing the QR code on our scanning devices to see your content by clicking on it.
If you are wondering how to create a QR code in the first place, just go to QRstuff.com, specify where you want it to go or what you want it to do, click a button and there you go. Piece of cake!
Nick Harrison is creative director for Chicago-based branding, web development and social media firm Dashal, whose client roster ranges from small businesses to best-selling authors to major consumer brands.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @HarrisonNick.
Join Crain’s LinkedIn group for Chicago entrepreneurs. And stay on top of Chicago business with Crain’s free daily e-newsletters.
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