August 16, 2010
Social Media Engagement for Regulated Industries
By: Teresa Basich
For all that people in the weeds of social media talk about how simple online engagement is — be authentic, intelligent, and responsive and everything will be fine — there are a number of industries that must double up their planning and strategy efforts to accommodate government regulations and guidelines. For verticals like banking, pharmaceuticals, and alcohol, social media engagement presents additional regulatory challenges to overcome.
While much of this engagement path is still being paved for regulated industries, as much as there are still some growing pains to get through, there are ways to make the most of social media while adhering to your industries outlined regulations. To make social media work in a regulated industry, though, takes awareness and education, creativity, and transparency.
Awareness and Education
Fact: It is impossible for regulated industries to make the most of social media if firms within those industries aren’t A) abundantly clear on the regulations and guidelines created by their governing bodies, and B) prepared to thoroughly – and I mean thoroughly – educate their teams on proper social media use for regulated business purposes and individual firm processes.
To that first point, any team within a regulated firm that’s preparing to use social media needs to work with their legal teams to get clear on major, relevant regulations, and to devise any necessary independent policies and/or procedures recommended or required by their industry’s governing body.
In the case of the financial industry, FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has detailed in its social media guidelines the need for its firms to adopt policies and procedures that dictate who can engage on behalf of the firm, and what those folks need to accomplish prior to engagement that makes them fit to do it on behalf of the business.
While FINRA provides suggestions within their policies for firms to adhere to, it’s up to the independent firm itself to create a properly tailored policy that caters specifically to its internal processes while remaining consistent with larger regulations.
Creativity
Because of the heavy and seemingly hard-to-overcome regulations certain industries face, social media use takes some real creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to be successful. Viewed from a positive perspective, regulations give businesses the chance to be truly innovative with their engagement strategies.
Pfizerpedia and Intellipedia, and internal wiki for Pfizer and a private wiki for the U.S. Intelligence Community, demonstrate the depth of possibilities social tools present for truly beneficial engagement and collaboration.
Transparency
One of the largest barriers for regulated industries to overcome in engaging in social media is the real-time, fast-paced nature of the social web. If you review the communications policies in these industries, you’ll find that all communications take approval. All of them. That necessary approval inevitably creates a delay in response that people tend to believe is unacceptable on social media channels. So how do you jump this hurdle? By being as clear as you can with your customers and greater audience about your processes for social media engagement.
Take Bank of America for example. Bank of America provides customer service support via Twitter (@BofA_help). If you click through to the company’s Twitter profile page, you’ll see that the @BofA_help team’s hours of service are openly stated in the company bio, and you’ll also see that the background image on the profile has been customized to include an “Important Notices” section on the lefthand side of the page.
By being honest about its engagement procedures on Twitter, Bank of America has set clear expectations for its community and is openly adhering to regulatory guidelines. No one is caught off guard.
These are just a few pieces of the social media engagement puzzle for the regulated business world. What else would you add to the mix? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Great post… I have worked with several clients in highly regulated industries… Generally these are clients that require a very tight partnership. They are a challenge however I have found they make me better at what I do. Since these accounts require so much foot work and planning they are a perfect place for some to cut their teeth.
Good point, Mike. The thoroughness it takes to get started in social media and cover regulatory bases will translate into all the other work you do, whether it continues to be in a regulated industry or not. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for helping to bring to light some of the challenges that regulated companies face when venturing into social media.
Ironically, however, that which would *seem* to slow regulated businesses down often helps to move progress along. In some cases, the regulating body will get pressure from the public for companies to be more open and accessible through social media channels. In some cases, these regulatory bodies will be well-versed in social media communications and in others, not so much. They may or may not know what to ask of their regulated organizations.
There would seem to be a whole set of opportunities awaiting social media advisers here — get a regulated body up to speed and develop a good relationship with them. Help them understand the benefits and hazards of their regulated organizations jumping in too quickly. Show them both sides. Maybe, just maybe, a referral to the regulated bodies would follow.
Even if this not the case, it may behoove regulated companies to ensure that they get the regulators educated quickly. If the a complaining public is the first voice to be heard, the regulators' tendency is most likely going to be to react quickly, which may not be in the best interest of those they regulate or those they serve.
There are conversations bubbling up regarding the loosening of regulations, and I think we'll start to see some more consideration around that. It seems to be a bit of a catch 22, though — who should educate whom? But then the question becomes: Does it matter?
You make a great point about the potential reactionary response from the regulating body itself, not necessarily the businesses that it regulates. How would that kind of response set the tone for future engagement and social media use from that industry down the line? Important to think about. Awesome comment, Jamie. Thanks!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Luis Hernandez, Damien Steiner Smith, SocialMedio, Michael VanDervort, Social Solutions and others. Social Solutions said: Social Media Engagement for Regulated Industries http://bit.ly/bWXXBE #radian6 [...]
Thank you for helping to bring to light some of the challenges that regulated companies face when venturing into social media.
Ironically, however, that which would *seem* to slow regulated businesses down often helps to move progress along. In some cases, the regulating body will get pressure from the public for companies to be more open and accessible through social media channels. In some cases, these regulatory bodies will be well-versed in social media communications and in others, not so much. They may or may not know what to ask of their regulated organizations.
There would seem to be a whole set of opportunities awaiting social media advisers here — get a regulated body up to speed and develop a good relationship with them. Help them understand the benefits and hazards of their regulated organizations jumping in too quickly. Show them both sides. Maybe, just maybe, a referral to the regulated bodies would follow.
Even if this not the case, it may behoove regulated companies to ensure that they get the regulators educated quickly. If the a complaining public is the first voice to be heard, the regulators' tendency is most likely going to be to react quickly, which may not be in the best interest of those they regulate or those they serve.
There are conversations bubbling up regarding the loosening of regulations, and I think we'll start to see some more consideration around that. It seems to be a bit of a catch 22, though — who should educate whom? But then the question becomes: Does it matter?
You make a great point about the potential reactionary response from the regulating body itself, not necessarily the businesses that it regulates. How would that kind of response set the tone for future engagement and social media use from that industry down the line? Important to think about. Awesome comment, Jamie. Thanks!
Hi Teresa,
Great post. Another industry to add to this list is Higher education. Communication between institutions and students are covered by FERPA ( a kind of HIPPA) for college students.
Hi Teresa,
Great post. Another industry to add to this list is Higher education. Communication between institutions and students are covered by FERPA ( a kind of HIPPA) for college students.
Even getting started in social media is a daunting task for regulated industries. Senior management is not too keen on this whole social thing. On one hand, I can definitely understand their hesitancy. On the other hand, community management is extremely important in a service industry, and social media as a means of community management is not going to just go away. There is a lot of grey area, but I think that key players in regulated areas need to be more proactive in trying to find solutions.
As was said, working with regulated businesses can be great for consultants. A consultant who knows the regulations involved would certainly be of interest to other companies looking to impliment a similar program. It seems like it could be a risky move, though. I wonder if many of these industries are hiring independent consultants, or if they are sticking with people in-house.
Even getting started in social media is a daunting task for regulated industries. Senior management is not too keen on this whole social thing. On one hand, I can definitely understand their hesitancy. On the other hand, community management is extremely important in a service industry, and social media as a means of community management is not going to just go away. There is a lot of grey area, but I think that key players in regulated areas need to be more proactive in trying to find solutions.
As was said, working with regulated businesses can be great for consultants. A consultant who knows the regulations involved would certainly be of interest to other companies looking to impliment a similar program. It seems like it could be a risky move, though. I wonder if many of these industries are hiring independent consultants, or if they are sticking with people in-house.
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