How I Established a Social Media Code of Ethics For My Small Business

Starting a small online based business has a long checklist of items to complete in order to get your shop up and running. Along with this, could potentially come establishing social media accounts to help grow your brand or to maintain a wider online presence. When putting your brand on social media, you should create a plan of action which includes your social media code of ethics.

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Establishing how you’ll share content, respond to comments (positive and negative), and ultimately how your brand will be represented professionally on social and mobile media is important to the success of your overall brand and will hold you accountable for being honest and transparent.

My Small Business Journey

When I created Soleil and Clay, I analyzed other online based businesses on how they interacted and reacted with their audience/costumers. Seeing what I appreciated and did not, I implemented those things along with my own moral codes to establish how Soleil and Clay would be represented online.

Screenshot from Soleil and Clay on Instagram

Soleil and Clay’s Code of Ethics for Social Media

Soleil and Clay, an online handmade clay earring boutique made in small batches, strives to be honest, transparent, and maintain a high standard of ethics in all aspects of business, including social media.

Intended Use

Soleil and Clay’s intended use for social media is for brand awareness, product information and advertisements, shopping information, engaging with our audience, and easy messaging to our audience about business updates.

Responsible Usage will include:

• not sharing, selling, or distributing audience’s personal information
• transparency in content about monthly charitable donations
• transparency in partnerships with other businesses or online based influencers
• honesty though advertisements, collection launch dates, restocks, and quantity of product
• Important updates pertaining to potential delays to the business that would impact customers receiving product
• responding to comments and messages in a timely manner
• not only sharing product advertisement but engaging and creating content pertaining to UGC, FAQs, Behind-the-scenes, etc.
• Responses to comments, both positive and critical will both be handled with respect and the utmost care

All social media postings from official Soleil and Clay accounts will be guided by the following:

• Is this content and copy necessary for the audience?
• What is the benefit of the consumer viewing this content? Is it beneficial or heavily focused on advertisement?
• Is the information in the content and copy accurate and reflect the best intentions from Soleil and Clay?

Staying on Track

If you’re a small business owner yourself and are looking to establish or enhance your social media code of ethics, now is the time do so now. Whether you’re working alone or have a small team, staying on track and having a common practice and mindset going into your social media strategy will only be beneficial and will overall build and maintain your audience’s trust.

References:

Social Media Ethics: Why You Should Have a Policy