Plan early when leveraging social media

As in ‘real world’ communication, users of web sites need to be protected from - or at least be able blow the whistle on - other users that ‘cross the line’.

But just what is acceptable behaviour within an online community? Who is to say when the proverbial line has been crossed?

Integrating social media capabilities into your website requires pre-emptive thought and detailed planning around the issues of user content, its moderation and the technology solution underpinning these functions.

What needs to be considered when integrating user generated content?

A good start would be to compile clear user guidelines on what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour. We recommend doing this very early on.

Internal legal or compliance teams will have firm views about an organisation’s potential liability and these views should influence approaches to moderation, technology and vendor selection.

It’s also important to think about volumes and types of user content likely to be submitted to social media enabled sites early, from both a scoping and budgetary standpoint. After all, high levels of user-submitted content is generally a measure of success, but that success can bring surprises, both operationally and financially.

How do I protect my users and my brand?

It’s vital that you choose a content moderation approach that’s appropriate for the demographics of your particular target audience.

A ‘light touch’ on the moderation of sites targeted at the over 50s is defensible. Teen girls, on the other hand, are vulnerable and a duty of care exists if sites target such audiences. A careful blend of compliance with the law, best practice and meeting the objectives of a particular campaign influence planning.

Moderation guidelines need to drive the front and back-end functionality of a website and not the other way round, so choose a user-generated content platform that is inherently flexible in its design. One that adheres to industry standards is likely to be easier and cheaper to customise if your needs are very specific or likely to change. Some platforms incorporate algorithmic techniques that assist moderators in their decision making, helping to reduce the cost of moderation.

Measuring success

Revenue generation doesn’t always provide a relevant metric of measurement when assessing the success of social media sites, so it’s important to devise KPIs that track performance at the planning stage.

Measuring volumes of content submitted or accessed by other users is informative, provided they are compared with realistic targets set out at the outset.

With measurement in mind, it’s vital that site owners select moderation service providers and process techniques that can ensure and measure the quality of the moderation process.

Too many organisations hoping to embrace user content fail to properly consider the issues relating to moderation early on in the project planning cycle. With this in mind, it’s vital that organisations seek professional advice early on to guarantee success.

(Article written by Julian Swallow, CEO of Mobrio, a Cimex business partner)

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