Social Media Guidelines

1. Be professional. Remember, you are acting as an ambassador for our association.

2. Be responsive. Check online feeds and spaces where the association has a presence, and respond positively and promptly to conversations.

3. Be aware. Your comments are available to an almost unlimited audience when you are online. They represent us, and can be republished and used to represent the association by other media.

4. Keep safe. Although we encourage conversations and communication, never give out personal details e.g. Addresses, numbers.

5. Keep focused. Make sure your online activities do not interfere or cause you to neglect your primary role in the organisation, or your commitments to staff and service users.

6. Do not express personal opinions through the associations Twitter account. When expressing yourself, do it on your own personal account and use a disclaimer such as ‘These views are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the organisation’. Do not speak on behalf of the association unless given authority to do so.

7. Respect your audience. Do not engage in behaviour that would not be acceptable in the workplace. Be respectful to all you communicate with through social media and show consideration for privacy and for topics that may be objectionable and inflammatory e.g. Politics, religion, etc.

8. Follow relevant organisations and people when representing the association, such as other non-profit organisations and those who openly support and converse about charities, social care and safety with their tweets.

9. Avoid promoting businesses and people on behalf of the association. We only promote organisations that we are officially working, for example, at our events, whilst using our official account.

10. Tweet about subjects relevant to the association; do not focus on followers, focus on quality, health and safety, informative tweets, best practice and making
connections with other non-profit and associated people.