Social Media Toolkit Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility May 12, 2011

1. Social Media ToolkitVermont Businesses for Social Responsibility May 12, 2011

2. Agenda • Overview of Social Media and Business Benefits • Employment Practices • Legal and Reputational Risks

3. What’s on your mind?

4. Success in Social Media Social media is • Public Relations • Customer Service • Loyalty-building • Collaboration • Networking And it changes, quickly. Success in social media takes commitment to generate the desired results.

5. Social Media Strategic Plan • Research the Marketplace • Analyze your Competition • Decide where to concentrate your efforts • Identify Goals & Objectives • Measurements of Success • Social Media Design • Identify Content • Ownership of Social Media

6. Social Media Audit: Research the Marketplace What’s being said about your company Where do your customers play in social media? How your competitors are using social media • Google Alerts www.google.com/alerts • Google Blog Search http://blogsearch.google.com • Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com • SiteVolume http://www.sitevolume.com • SocialMention http://www.socialmention.com • Socialcast http://www.socialcast.com

7. Social Media Audit: Research the Marketplace What’s being said about your company How your competitors are using social media? Where do your customers play in social media? • How they present themselves • Who their fans or followers are • How they interact with those users/customers • How their users respond • What are the conversations taking place about your competition • Use the same tools mentioned above In addition: Competitiouswww.competitious.com

8. Social Media Planning: Identify Goals & Objectives Decide Where to Concentrate Your Efforts • Focus on a select number of sites • Diversify as you are able or recognize the need Most frequented social media sites are: • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • LinkedIn • Wikipedia • Flickr • blogs. Facebook leads the way with the most users and the most time spent on the site, according to Nielsen Online. B2B might benefit from connections on business networking sites like LinkedIn. Use your customer-listening research to determine where to concentrate your efforts.

9. Identify Goals & Objectives What are you looking to get out of this investment today and in the future? What steps do you need to take to make it happen?

10. Identify Goals & Objectives What are you looking to get out of this investment today and in the future? What steps do you need to take to make it happen? • Expand brand or product awareness • Build community • Qualify fans and convert them to customers • Improve customer satisfaction

11. Social Media: Measures of Success • Number of fans, followers, readers • Number of video or other content views • Volume of user comments • Retweet or peer-sharing statistics • Comment or retweet resonation • Engagement • Media coverage • Media impressions • Advertising click-through rates • Company website traffic statistics • Quantity of new qualified leads or sales • Volume of customer service issues handled • Google Analytics • www.google.com/analytics • Twinfluence • www.twinfluence.com • Twitalyzer • www.twitalyzer.com • Klout • http://klout.com

12. Social Media: Costs to your business • Dedication of staff time and other company resources • Initial and ongoing social media education and training • Involved in promoting your social media presence and generating a following (e.g., ads, contests, “cool” content, etc.) Research from HubSpot finds that companies that blog welcome an average of 55% more visitors to their sites than companies that don’t. And they may generate 97% more external website links and 434% more indexed pages, both of which influence a company’s search rank.

13. Ownership of Social Media Internal Policies • Dedicate the Appropriate Resources • Decide Who Should Represent the Organization • Weigh Whether to Allow Employee Participation

14. Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace 74% of employees surveyed agreed that it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation through social media 55% of employees visited social networking sites at least once per week 10% of employees access social networking sites during work hours for personal and business reasons 52% did not access such sites during work hours 26% of employees worked for companies that blocked access to such sites • Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results

15. Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace 53% of employees surveyed said their social networking pages are none of their employers’ business 40% of business executives disagree with that, and 30% said they informally monitor employees’ social networking sites 27% of employees surveyed don’t consider the ethical consequences of posting comments, photos or videos online, and more than one-third don’t consider what their boss, colleagues or clients would think about their postings • Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results

16. Attracting and Leveraging Talent How to get top talent and retain it by utilizing social media tools

17. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media • 45% of Employers use social media to screen candidates • Facebook – 29% • LinkedIn – 26% • MySpace – 21% • Blogs – 11% • Twitter – 7% • 11% of Employers plan to start using Social Media to screen candidates Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

18. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media • Reasons Employers rejected candidates: • Candidate lied about their background (24%) • Candidate revealed confidential information from previous employer (20%) • Candidate sent a message using an emoticon such as a smiley face (14%) • Candidate used text language in an email or job application (LOL! gr8!) (16%) Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

19. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media Reasons Employers hired candidates: • Profile provided good information as to candidate’s personality and fit (50%) • Profile supported candidate’s qualifications (39%) • Profile showed candidate was creative (38%) • Candidate showed good communications skills (35%) • Profile showed candidate was well-rounded (33%) • Other people posted good references about candidate (19%) • Profile showed that candidate has won awards and accolades (15%) Source: CareerBuilder.com survey

20. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media (an unconventional approach) • Talent attracts talent – energy is contagious • Brand attracts talent – make it relevant • Employees like to be trusted • The pro’s of encouraging employees to build robust social media profiles • Feature people who love their job • Training opportunity (a must)

21. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media • LinkedIn – build a company profile that effectively represents your organization • make people want to connect with you • join/create relevant groups • keep it fresh/accurate

22. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media • Facebook - build an irresistible fan page • ooze the best parts of your culture • engage fans • link back to your organization’s website/career pg

23. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media • Risks: • Discrimination Claims • Medical Issues, Sexual Orientation, Religious Beliefs, Political Beliefs, etc. • Invasion of Privacy Claims (unlikely)? • Unreasonable intrusion on seclusion? • Unreasonable publicity given to another’s private life? • Fair Credit Reporting Act issues if searched by third party • Are social media sources reliable?

24. Pre-Employment Use of Social Media Q: Could negligent hiring claims be based on alleged “failure” to search applicants’ social media sites? A: Probably not, at least at this time.

25. How Social Media Can Help You Retain Top Talent • Employees value professional challenges and mentoring opportunities which can come from colleagues • They want to know that you are constantly looking to add more talent to make their employment experience richer • Employees want to be proud to work for you so fully leverage your brand

26. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers Anti-Discrimination Laws Discrimination based on membership in protected class (employer learns information it did not know (or want to know)) Discrimination based on association • Risk gaining knowledge that the employee associates with or is related to members of a protected class

27. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers • Invasion of Privacy Theories • Employees may sue for invasion of privacy (e.g., “serious unwarranted intrusion into private areas”) • Question: Does employee have reasonable expectation of privacy in social networking activities? • Case law is not developed in social networking area • Many courts have addressed the issue in the email context • Courts have found that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in email as long as company makes that clear in policy • Courts have found that even in cases where the emails were stored in personal, password-protected folders • Garrity v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 2002 WL 974676 (D. Mass. 2002)

28. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers Stored Communications Act • Prohibits accessing “without authorization” a network through which an electronic communication service is provided, thereby obtaining access to electronic communication stored electronically. • Example case: Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002) • Example case: Pietrylo v. Hillstone, 2009 WL 3128420 (D. New Jersey 2009) • Jury found that the employee who provided manager with her password to MySpace employee “venting” group felt coerced, and that she therefore did not “authorize” the employer’s access to the group; $17,000 in compensatory and punitive damages awarded • Lesson: Do not use surreptitious means to monitor limited-access employee social networking sites.

29. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers The NLRA is implicated where employees are engaging in “concerted activity.” This could be present whether your workforce is unionized or not. NLRA prohibits employer “surveillance”. The NLRA may apply where: i. An employee notifies other employees about a social networking site that discusses, e.g., wages, benefits, working conditions; ii. An employee discusses the work environment/terms of employment; or iii. An employee allows, or the social networking site provides the opportunity for, other employees to post responses and comments.

30. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers NLRA Discussion, continued: NLRB v. American Medical Response of CT, Inc. (NLRB alleged and employer agreed in settlement that policy prohibiting employees from making “disparaging, discriminatory, or defamatory comments” about supervisors on line is too broad and, in that case, violated right to engage in protected concerted activity) Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002) (court held that management’s accessing web site that complained about working conditions and threatening defamation claim could violate employee’s right to engage in concerted activities) Bottom line: Traditional employee “concerted activity”/ communications rules apply in social media context.

31. Parameters on Use of Social Media by Employers Take care not to retaliate on basis of legally protected activities you learn about through any monitoring (For example, protected “whistleblowing”, complaints of harassment or statements in support of such complaints, etc.) Consult with HR re any such issues Seek guidance from HR if considering sanctioning employees for off-duty online conduct that is NOT connected with the job

32. Employer Obligations Related to Social Media • If employer has knowledge, it could be liable for un-remedied harassment law violations perpetrated through social media • Particularly troublesome if site maintained by employer, but: • Contact HR/counsel for guidance re non-employer-maintained sites, particularly if potential harassment or bullying may be occurring • Defamation Liability? • Obligations to act on other information on social networking sites of which employer has notice

33. Social Media-Related Employment Policies • The Hiring Process (if the employer ever chooses to screen applicants’ social media sites), supervisors should be trained to follow policies that: • Standardize the process • Require consideration of job-related information only • Govern documentation/recordkeeping

34. Social Media-Related Employment Policies In managing current employees, be aware of any policies that address the following issues: • If access to social media is permitted at work – it may not interfere with work • Prohibitions on employees’ revealing confidential or proprietary information • Follow policies re expectations of privacy and/or monitoring

35. Social Media-Related Employment Policies • Apply general employer policies in social media context, such as those that: • Require compliance with employer non-discrimination/non-harassment policies • Prohibition on unauthorized use of employer logos, brands, etc. • Prohibition on postings that create a conflict of interest or harm employer • Also, employees should indicate that views expressed are personal, and not views of employer, unless authorized otherwise

36. Social Media-Related Employment Policies • If posting endorses employer generally or an employer’s product or service, employee should provide clear disclaimer stating his/her affiliation with employer • due to Federal Trade Commission fair advertising rules • Any employer-related postings should be approved by employer, or by employees who have been trained and given specific permission to issue posts

37. If your organization uses social media • How to identify dedicated resources • What training is required? • What is HR’s role? • What is a consultant is managing SM plan?

38. Great brands/Great SM usage • Zappos • AT&T • etc

39. If you DON’T use social media • Identify how your culture views SM use at work • Do you set clear boundaries? Block SM? • Handling potential performance issues • time drain • distraction • harassment • brand risk