The December 4^th Wall Street Journal published a story on how Iranian security forces are using comments and information pasted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to identify and imprison “enemies of the state.”   As reported, they are listening and reacting to critical comments of the current regime,  posted by Iranian citizens abroad, and then taking action against their families who still reside in Iran.

In addition, several Iranians reported that they were ordered to log onto their Facebook accounts when going through Iranian passport control, sometimes resulting in the confiscation of their passports.  Others, living abroad, have reported receiving anonymous emails threatening them if they continue to post opposition comments on Facebook.

These activities and events are real-world extensions of the “reputational” effect that I posted last week, (Reputation and the CMO), and earlier this year, (Do You Know What They Are Saying About You?).  They also reinforce the need for the CMO to implement policies and procedures that help protect a company and to keep its reputation in a good light.  These include, but are not limited to:

1. Updating the corporate policy that details how social media comments will be addressed.  This should link to:
   1. An updated Acceptable Use Policy, (AUP) which covers all social media
   2. An updated Corporate Code of Conduct Policy
   3. The continuing training of all employees on AUP, the risks of social networking and data leakage
   4. The continuing communication plan to all employees, stating that the firm is monitoring social media as part of its investment in building and maintaining the brand and reputation.
2. Improving (establishing??) a monitoring system that examines all the social media; blogs, twitter, YouTube, etc. for mentions of your brands and employees.  This is much too important to be handled by the summer/winter intern; it should be someone’s fulltime responsibility.  A somewhat dated list of reputational tools is here.  A powerful inexpensive way to start is by using Google Alerts.
3. Acting as per the policy and procedure.  The key is to respond quickly to both positive and negative posts so that readers will know that you are aware and responsive.  Note how the lack of any response by Tiger Woods increased the interest surrounding his activity.

When reputational attacks can come from all sides, the CMO has to be prepared to addresses and rebut them as required.   As CMO are you prepared to deal in the social networking environment?  Is your management?  When the issue arises, will you be perceived as Tiger Woods or as someone who is control?

If you need help in constructing your Web 2.0 response system, give us a call.

RHM  12/8/2009