Understand the power social media has in our society is critical and even more so for businesses. You can either be in front of it and use it to your advantage or wait until the shoe drops and pick up the pieces. Employees are the face of and represent your company, how do you want them to do that? Do you want a united front or shooting in the dark and hope it hits the right target. Control social media or it will control you, in a sense. Determine your needs, put a policy in place, and use it for positive growth, online branding, keeping up with your customers and vendors, and stay ahead of your competition.

1. The Social
Media
Bandwagon
Why HR should jump

2. Tammy LaPoint-O’Brien: Social Media Maven
MT|SHRM Social Media Pit Crew
#TNSHRM13 Conference
Opryland Hotel: September 15, 2013

3. Welcome
• What is a bandwagon? And why does my
company need to jump on it?
• What is this thing called social media?
• Should I be worried? How much?
• Social Media Policy: you mean I need to
have one?
• What should it cover/entail?
• Questions/ Comments

4. What is a Bandwagon?
Join a growing movement in support of someone or
something, often in an opportunist way, when that
movement is seen to have become successful.
The word bandwagon was coined in the USA in the
mid 19th century, simply as the name for the wagon
that carried a circus band. Phineas T. Barnum, the
great showman and circus owner, used the term in
1855 in his unambiguously named autobiography
The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself, 1855…
- http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/jump-on-the-bandwagon.html

5. Why Jump?
Reason
• FREE advertising on various
platforms
• Keep up-to-date with
trends, customers, and the
competition
• Employees are the face of
and represent your
company.
Need
• Save money on marketing/
advertising
• What is being said about
your company, who says
it, and track competitors
• Gulp! Employees are the
face of and represent our
company.

6. What is this thing
called Social Media?

7. Social Media is…
As defined by Google:
websites and applications used for social networking
Defined by GSA's Office of Citizen Services &
Innovative Technologies and Out: Think:
Blogs (e.g., WordPress, Blogger)
Social Networks
(e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram)
Microblogs (e.g., Twitter)
Wikis (e.g., Wikipedia)
Video
Podcasts
Discussion Forums
Media/Photo Sharing (e.g., YouTube, Flickr)
-http://www.howto.gov/social-media/social-media-types
-http://outthinkgroup.com/tips/the-6-types-of-social-media

8. The top 3 easiest
answers are:
Yes
No
Maybe

9. Yes, you should be worried
Why?
Social media is here to stay
and your employees are using it 24/7.
How are they projecting the view
of your company?
Are they hurting, hindering, or advancing
your company’s image?
What are your customer’s impressions?
How does it impact your online brand?
What affect does it have internally on
your organization, i.e.
employee morale?

10. No, we have it covered
We’re sure none of our
employees would say or do
anything improper.
We have a policy in place.
– Is it enforced?
– Is social media monitored
to ensure compliance?

11. Maybe, what do you mean?
Well, we kinda
have a policy. It is an un-
spoken rule or half-heartedly
mentioned in the Employee
Handbook, does that count?
- how is that working for you?
-what effects have you noticed?
-do you have it under control?
-do you have metrics on how it
has hurt or complimented
your company?

12. How much should I worry?
That will depend solely on your company and
which category you fall into: Yes, No, Depends.
Social media is here to stay: therefore, you can
choose to ignore it or get ahead of it.
It is a powerful tool. As in Spiderman, great power
comes great responsibility.

13. Oops, Boo
Boos, and Never
saw that
coming…

14. Ashley Payne, a school teacher, while on vacation in
Europe posted pictures of herself on Faceebook
with alcoholic
beverages and using an
expletive. While her profile
was private, the principal
became aware and she was fired in
2009. She sued because she was not
made aware of her rights as an employee.
In 2011 , the courts ruled against her on several
grounds.

15. The selfie — which showed Rivera shirtless in
f mirror with a towel around his waist — created
an uproar when he tweeted it in
July. In a statement to the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette over the
weekend, Duquesne University said that
the photo was "inappropriate and
inconsistent" with the Catholic school's values.
Brendan O'Connor, a former employee of Milk Truck, a mobile grilled
cheese and milkshake vendor in New York City, was incensed when
employees of investment research Glass Lewis & Co. placed a $170
order but failed to tip. O'Connor, who also happens to be a
journalist, tweeted out his frustration.
Glass Lewis & Co. caught wind of the tweet and an upset representative
reached out to Milk Truck. O'Connor was promptly fired, reportedly told
by the owner that he "had embarrassed him and the company and that
was that." Milk Truck offered its apologies via Twitter to Glass Lewis &
Co., which accepted them.
Nicole Crowther was a recurring
extra on Glee until she tweeted some
plot spoilers she had heard on set.
She was more or less fired via Twitter
by the show's producer, Brad
Falchuk, who tweeted in response:
"Hope you're qualified to do
something besides work in
entertainment."
A British woman serving jury
duty posted details of the case
she was serving on. The she
wrote, "I don't know which way
to go, so I'm holding a poll."
An anonymous tip resulted in
the woman being immediately
dismissed from the jury.
Sister Maria Jesus Galan was asked to
leave the Santo Domingo el Real convent
in Toledo, Spain, because she was
spending too much time on Facebook.
Fellow nuns said that her Facebook
activity “made life impossible.”
This all after she used the computer to
digitize the convent's archives and help
handle banking over the Internet.

16. Social Media
Policies

17. What are the basics?
• What should it cover?
• How in-depth should it be?
• Will employees embrace it?
• Should I reach out to the legal
department or seek
representation?
• What consequences should be
included?
• How can it be monitored?

19. 6 Basic Steps
• How official do you
want your Social Media
policy to be?
• Define what Social
Media is to your
company
• Cover protected
information, i.e., leaked
• Don’t speak on behalf
of the company clause
• Don’t post
anonymously on
comments
• Outline enforcement
guidelines

20. Questions/
Comments

21. Tammy LaPoint-O’Brien
Tammy crafts and facilitates seminars for
career transition groups, HR professionals and
one-on-one coaching, instructing numerous
people on how to begin using
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Most
recently, she had become an aficionado of
Instagram and Pinterest.
Website: linkedin.com/in/tammylapointobrien
Twitter: @TammyLPOB