Understanding the Value of Social Media at Airports for Customer Engagement (2014)

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19 chapter five SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES AND POLICIES Social media guidelines and policies are in the initial stages of development at many airports and businesses and vary depending on the activity of an organization. This chapter summarizes the cur- rent use of guidelines for employees and social media users based on the interviews conducted for this report. Examples of social media guidelines and policies are presented in Appendix C. EMPLOYEE GUIDELINES The following summarizes the status of social media guidelines for employees of the 14 airport operators interviewed for this Synthesis: • Four have documented guidelines, • Four indicated that social media guidelines were in process, • Two have internal guidelines, • Two indicated guidelines would likely be prepared in the future, and • Two did not see a need for guidelines at this time. Only one of the three non-aviation businesses has documented guidelines; the remaining two have internal guidelines. SOCIAL MEDIA USER GUIDELINES The following sections summarize guidelines for general conduct posted by social media page owners and the guidelines posted by social media platforms regarding the terms of use such as contests and promotional guidelines. Social Media Page Owners Four of the 14 airports and two of the non-aviation businesses interviewed for this Synthesis posted guidelines on their Facebook “About” page. Appendix C presents excerpts from the Facebook “About” pages that outline basic social media guidelines and policies. In summary, the posted guidelines on the Facebook “About” page for the selected airports and non-aviation businesses • Encourage respectful dialogue and constructive feedback, and • Reserve the right to remove posts advertising commercial products, as well as those that violate Facebook’s terms of service, or are inaccurate or otherwise objectionable. Social Media Platforms Facebook and Twitter have guidelines for creating and administering contests and promotions, includ- ing, but not limited to, posting the official rules, the terms and eligibility requirements, and compli- ance with the rules and regulations governing the promotion and the prizes offered. It is advisable to check the rules for conducting contests and promotions on social media platforms in advance since they are subject to change.