Digital Dealer - January 2019 - 9

social media policy review
is you can examine each
account, figure out if you're
set up correctly, and make a
course correction if necessary.
There are specific best
practices to setting up and
maintaining social media
accounts. First order of
business is to only allow
company domain emails to
be designated Admins on
your accounts.
Always provide your
social media manager (or
really any employee) with
a work email, one that you
have control over, such as
xx@companyname.com.
It's fine to use something like, "socialmediamanager@companyname.com,"
as long as the email is
hosted on your own server
and your IT department
controls it.
Any designated Admin
should only be able to use
their work email address to
access your social media
accounts. If they ever leave,
you'll have control over it
and change the password
immediately.

tively when a crisis begins.
Instead of wasting time debating how to handle things
on social media, you'll be
prepared to take action
and prevent the crisis from
growing out of control.

We've seen enough
social media debacles in
the last ten years to know
that it's not a matter of if,
but when it could happen to
anyone. Are you prepared
should it happen to you?
The first step is to
determine and document
what a social media crisis
is. Having a company-wide
plan in place will empower
you to act quickly and effec-

5. MINIMIZES LEAKS
OF CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION

3. PROVIDES AN
INSURANCE POLICY
IN THE EVENT OF A
SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS

4. HELPS AVOID LEGAL
TROUBLE AND EXPOSED
LIABILITIES

There's a lot of pressure
for dealers to communicate
online today. The use of
social media brings about
certain responsibilities to
mitigate liability.
Some areas where a
dealer could get into trouble
are:
Using work without

permission
Defaming competitors
Promises not kept
User privacy
Contest violations
Pro Tip: The use of social
media increases the risk
of accidentally committing
libel, slander, copyright
infringement, and privacy
invasion increases. All
those tweets and posts
can lead to lawsuits, but a
General Liability Insurance
policy can help. It includes
protection for "advertising
injury," which can cover
claims from your competitors or the public.

Social media is a growing
security risk as a source of
data leaks and misinformation. Vigilance and training
are crucial to minimizing
risks for individuals and the
company.
Employees using personal electronic devices
discuss all sorts of work-re-

lated topics on social media
- both during and outside
of work hours and locations.
As a result, confidential
data can leak directly.
Another security concern
about social media - which
continues to make headlines - is that criminals
can exploit social media to
rapidly disseminate "fake
news" and other forms
of misinformation. Such
devious tricks impact more
than just politics: they can
be used to manipulate stock
prices, harm personal or
business reputations, or
even cause people to take
actions that harm innocent parties while helping
criminals.

6. PROTECTS YOUR
DIGITAL REPUTATION

Businesses around the
world ranked 'damage to
their reputation or brand',
magnified by social media,
as their top risk management concern, according
to the Aon Global Risk
Management Survey.
"It takes 20 years to
build a reputation and five
minutes to ruin it." - Warren
Buffett
This can be especially
true today, as high-profile
crises including cyberattacks, product recalls, and
damaging social media
posts become more prevalent. In this environment,
protecting reputation and
actively managing risk can
take on strategic importance. Yet for many organizations, managing reputation presents challenges.
Many companies do not
have a written process
exclusively for reputation
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

management. Truthfully, until social media showed up,
it wasn't a priority. Reputation management was once
handled by the marketing
and PR people. Today, every employee is a marketer.
A review of social media
policy will support ongoing
efforts to build and protect
your store's digital reputation by spotlighting internal
practices and process.
7. KEEPS HR IN THE
LOOP ON MARKETING

More and more, dealers
are using social media as
a recruiting tool. With the
addition of social selling
into the sales process, it's
easy to see that HR is fast
becoming a necessary participant in the social media
marketing process.
There's a growing trend
of hiring employees who already have a current social
media following because
they are influencers and are
often seen as subject matter
experts, especially if they're
in sales positions.
A considered review of
social media policies and
procedures should include
an update on how HR
folds into social media and
outlines their stake in the
decision making around
social media.
KATHI KRUSE is an automotive
social media marketing expert,
blogger, speaker, coach, author
and founder of Kruse Control Inc.
Born in the heart of Los Angeles
to a family of "car people," Kathi's
passion for the car business
spans a 30-year career managing
successful dealerships in Southern
California. Kathi is the author of
"Automotive Social Business -
How to Captivate Your Customers,
Sell More Cars & Be Generally
Remarkable on Social Media."
EMAIL: kk@krusecontrolinc.com

JANUARY 2019

http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM

Digital Dealer - January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - January 2019