5 to 9 Branding

 

Intel used just 11 guidelines to sum up its social media rules of engagement and unleash an army of social media practitioners.

Intel is famous for training more than 1,000 “social media practitioners” on how to be social media spokespeople for the company.

They did it utilizing online “rules of engagement” numbering fewer than 1,000 words.

Using these guidelines and an aggressive promotional strategy, the company has attracted a quarter of a million Facebook fans, 90% of whom are organic follows.

The best way to teach you the Intel way is to use Intel’s own words.

8 rules of engagement from the Intel social media guidebook:

1. Be transparent. Your honesty—or dishonesty—will be quickly noticed in the social media environment.

If you are blogging about your work at Intel, use your real name, identify that you work for Intel, and be clear about your role.

2. Write what you know. Make sure you write and post about your areas of expertise, especially as related to Intel and our technology.

If you are writing about a topic that Intel is involved with but you are not the Intel expert on the topic, you should make this clear to your readers. And write in the first person.

3. Perception is reality. In online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by identifying yourself as an Intel employee, you are creating perceptions about your expertise.

Do us all proud. Be sure that all content associated with you is consistent with your work and with Intel’s values and professional standards.

4. Add value. Social communication from Intel…should be thought-provoking and build a sense of community.

If it helps people improve knowledge or skills, build their businesses, do their jobs, solve problems, or understand Intel better—then it’s adding value.

5. Create some excitement. As a business and as a corporate citizen, Intel is making important contributions to the world.

Let’s share with the world the exciting things we’re learning and doing—and open up the channels to learn from others.

6. Be a Leader. There can be a fine line between healthy debate and incendiary reaction. Do not denigrate our competitors or Intel. Nor do you need to respond to every criticism or barb.

Try to frame what you write to invite differing points of view without inflaming others. So be careful and considerate.

7. Admit screw ups. If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your correction. If you’re posting to a blog, you may choose to modify an earlier post—just make it clear that you have done so.

8. If it gives you pause, pause. If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don’t shrug it off and hit ‘send.’

Take a minute to review these guidelines and try to figure out what’s bothering you, then fix it. If you’re still unsure, you might want to discuss it with your manager or legal representative.

That’s how Intel sums up the heart of its social media policy.  How do they compare with your rules of engagement?

You’ll find the complete wording to all 11 of Intel’s rules of engagement here at their Social Media Guidelines page.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Leisure Services, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.