Time moves fast, and fads and trends appear to come and go in nanoseconds; with that, adhering to the myriad of regulations and guidelines for social media is no mean feat.
However, whether you are an experienced social media manager or are new to the scene, the underlying importance of social media compliance in social media management cannot be overstated.
Maintaining social media compliance safeguards your brand and customer trust in the long run.
This article will explore the different components of social media compliance, the risks associated with various social media violations, and ways to manage compliance.
Understanding Social Media Compliance
In essence, social media compliance is managing and posting social media sites according to law, regulation, and ethical responsibilities.
Social media compliance rules depend on the types of industries we work in, the country we belong to, and the specific social media platforms we use.
Some industries, such as finance and healthcare, are heavily regulated. Therefore, businesses operating in these areas must maintain a heightened awareness of their social media use.
The Importance of Compliance in Social Media
With social media, marketing, customer service, and brand-building all now part of the daily mix, the power to affect consumers comes with a heavy burden of responsibility. Failure to comply can carry hefty fines, liability, and a broken brand identity. Compliance is a legal must.
Key Compliance Risks in Social Media Management
Handling social media compliance risks requires identifying and mitigating compliance issues that could ‘sink’ your brand and expose you to fines and penalties, especially in health, financial services or pharma. The three most common social media risks are:
- Data Violations: the General Data Protection Regulation, inaugurated in Europe, makes institutions responsible for the proper treatment of data amassed by or for their social media channels, requiring affirmative consent for the collection of personal data and strict protection of your most sensitive information
- False Advertising and Misleading Claims: social media marketing should follow marketing ethics. Otherwise, social media marketing can be penalised and brand image damaged because of false content or misleading claims
- Inappropriate or Offensive Content: things posted on social media can become viral quickly and lead to public backlashes and loss of consumer trust
- Social Media Security Breach: unauthorised access to social media accounts can cause massive damage, like spreading harmful content and leaking data
Any company can be in serious trouble for its brand reputation if employees representing it do anything that violates its strict compliance guidelines, tarnishing the brand’s reputation and goodwill.
Crafting a Robust Social Media Policy
A company’s social media policy is the foundation of all compliance management. It helps companies and employees understand what’s allowed and not allowed on social media.
The Key Elements of a Social Media Policy
- Creating Content Guidelines: detail the kinds of content that are relevant and appropriate to your brand, and ensure that all content fits brand compliance criteria
- Rules: be clear on how employees can chat about the brand online and the boundaries they should be aware of
- Data Protection and Privacy: provide more detailed instructions on entrusting secure administration and access to personal data in line with GDPR and other data protection regulations
- Compliance: ensure your social media actions adhere to industry-specific regulations like finance or healthcare
- Crisis Management Protocols: describe what to do during a social media crisis, such as a data breach or harmful viral content
- Approval Processes: put social media posts through a compliance approval process before they go live
Implementing the Policy Across the Organisation
You can then maintain this standard by institutionalising it throughout your organisation to ensure that you operate your social channels under it. This means scheduling regular employee training sessions, clearly communicating the policy, and implementing checks to ensure adherence. You can easily automate much of this process using software.
Monitoring Social Media for Compliance
Suppose you are monitoring your business’s social media activity proactively. In that case, you might be able to spot a budding compliance failure – and nip it in the bud.
Best Practices for Social Media Monitoring
To effectively monitor your social media channels for compliance, consider the following best practices:
- Regular Audits: conduct frequent audits of your social media accounts to ensure that your followers or employees’ content, activities, and interactions with others on social media comply with your compliance policy
- Real-Time Monitors: real-time monitors of compliance issues are used to prevent them from becoming real problems
- Automated Alerts: set up automatic alerts, for example, use the free Google Alerts, for nominated keywords or phrases to detect compliance risks, such as disclosing sensitive information or inappropriate content
- Employee Training: conduct regular employee training on why they should take social media compliance seriously and how they should use tools for this purpose
Managing Compliance in a Regulated Industry
Social compliance stakes for regulated industries create an additional layer when an organisation emails a customer to alert them about a data breach, processes a payment on their behalf or fields a complaint about customer service. In particular, finance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals face the most detailed regulatory environment, making non-compliance costly.
Industry-Specific Compliance Challenges
Each regulated industry has its unique compliance challenges. For example:
- Finance: all marketing and communication done on social media has to be vetted by the firm to make sure it complies with regulations, including full disclosure of investment risks, truth in advertising, etc.
- Healthcare: for medical personnel, full compliance with professional ethics and online communication are required
- Pharmaceutical: national bodies carefully regulate these companies in terms of drug promotion and information sharing on product claims
Strategies for Ensuring Compliance in Regulated Industries
To navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance in these industries, consider the following strategies:
- Set up a dedicated compliance team responsible for all social media activity, including new activity, and verify that everything is being done within the parameters of applicable standards
- Ensure the legal department reviews all social media content, such as marketing campaigns, before posting it to ensure it complies with industry regulation
- Be sure what’s said by whom and on which social media platform is documented, along with other approvals, content and proofs of compliance issues. This will be critical if your company is audited or receives a regulatory visit
Navigating Compliance Issues with Influencer Partnerships
Influencer marketing is still a staple of social media strategies today, but compliance obstacles inhibit it. When collaborating with influencers, building compliance strategies should be subject to the exact requirements of your brand assets.
Compliance Guidelines for Influencers
Once you’ve confirmed that your influencer does not persuade followers to engage in inappropriate behaviour, provide them with your guidelines and enforce their compliance with reviewed writing. Make sure your list covers:
- Ensure that the influencer is disclosing their sponsored content per national guidelines. The bodies have stated that there should be conspicuous and real-sounding language to let consumers know they are looking at an advertisement
- Review influencer content for brand compliance before the content is live
- Ethical marketing practices: ask influencers to clarify to their audience that they have been paid or offered free merchandise to promote your product or service and to avoid making false or misleading comments
Managing Influencer Compliance Risks
To manage compliance risks associated with influencer partnerships:
- Work with influencers with a track record by following compliance guidelines and maintaining an excellent online reputation
- Let influencers know upfront what you expect from them and provide clear instructions on how they can maintain compliance with your brand
- Regularly monitor the content posted by influencers on behalf of your organisation to ensure compliance
Protecting Data Privacy on Social Media
Protecting data privacy – such as laws on the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) govern how to collect, store and use personal data – plays a huge part in social media management.
Ensuring Data Protection Compliance
To comply with data protection regulations on social media:
- Ask Permission: ask for explicit consent before storing users’ data from the actions behind likes through marketing campaigns
- Limiting Your Collection: an organisation can reduce its compliance risk by collecting only the necessary information
- Secure Data Storage: any personal data collected from you through social media needs to be appropriately protected so it’s stored correctly and in compliance with your country’s data protection laws
- Granting control: allow users to decide whether their data will appear in a public list or be used in your system. Be clear about how you will utilise their data and give them the tools to manage their privacy settings
Managing Compliance in Marketing Practices
Remembering the examples here isn’t about being a slave to compliance but instead for what is, in fact, a longer-term and sustainable interest in social media marketing. It’s about ensuring you’re doing the right thing by your followers and using ethics and compliance to build your authority.
Ethical Marketing Practices
To ensure that your marketing practices on social media are both compliant and ethical:
- Ensure your marketing messages are always honest and transparent. Never make misleading or false claims regarding the benefits of your goods and services
- Ensure your marketing content is inclusive and respectful towards all target groups. Words, phrases and visuals that might be considered offensive should be avoided
- Any sponsored content or partnerships should be disclosed and follow industry regulations
Managing Sponsored Content
While sponsored content is standard fare on social media, it faces different compliance challenges. Ensure all sponsored content is labelled as such under guidelines and other relevant regulations. Check sponsored content before it goes live to verify that it does not include spammy language, exaggerated claims, or false claims and that it aligns with your compliance standards.
Building a Culture of Compliance
Building compliance cultures throughout the organisation is the only way to achieve real success in ensuring social media compliance.
Training and Education
It’s impossible to prevent employees or social media managers from getting carried away and posting content that breaches the abovementioned points. To remain compliant, it’s necessary to hold regular training sessions. Here is what these sessions should encompass:
- Communicate any changes in regulatory situations for your pages that might affect your social networking activities
- Emphasise best practices for maintaining control of compliance items. For instance: ‘You will not tweet, retweet, message, like or subscribe content that is not compliant, or pretend it does not exist when you see it. Remember: What you see on social media is what you get
- Cite real-life accounts of corporate compliance wins – and losses – to underscore the significance of sticking to the rules
Encouraging Ethical Behaviour
Aside from training, foster a culture that encourages workers to do the right thing:
- Create an open communication channel with the workforce about compliance matters and regularly outline company efforts to prevent and remedy compliance violations
- Employees are frequently the first to become aware of violations, so they must have a forum to share information. Provide a method for anonymous whistleblowing when necessary
- Ensure leadership is visibly committed and actively sets an example for the rest of the organisation
Leveraging Technology for Compliance Management
To date, with the digital world’s compliance regulations focused on social media, technology has proved invaluable for managing and, more importantly, ensuring compliance across your business.
Social Media Management Platforms
Platforms can offer comprehensive tools for managing social media compliance, including:
- Track real-time activity on social media and flag any indications of compliance issues before they reach a disruptive level
- Make sure all posts that go out have been approved
- Track compliance metrics and corrective actions using analytics and reporting tools
Compliance Management Systems
Companies that need compliance checks across many social media channels can benefit from a specialised compliance management system that can be integrated with your existing social media tools and functions.
Regular Audits and Reviews
While the right means and mediators can be implemented, even the most appropriate tools and policies must be periodically audited and reviewed. Periodically review your social media activity, policies, and procedures to ascertain their continued relevance while considering current regulations and recommended practices.
Final Thoughts
Social media management compliance is not a one-and-done process. It must continually remain a priority and will require sustained energy and effort.
Knowing the risks, establishing clear policies, using technology, and creating a culture of compliance should enable organisations to effectively navigate the new world of work and social media on the job.
Ultimately, following social media compliance isn’t only about not getting fined or sued; it’s about using a tool that’s become essential to marketing to help you preserve your brand. When your audience trusts you, they reward you with their loyalty. Your reputation is valuable, and you can’t risk damaging it over ham-fisted compliant posts.
Your marketing practices must be rooted in ethical concerns, enabling you to champion your authentic social media voice while maintaining integrity. With these best practices, you can confidently promote your brand, knowing you’ve all your compliance bases covered and are set on growing your social media presence for the long term.
