Your Social Media Emergency Response Kit

The good news is that following three years of massive expense and effort real estate professionals across North America are now making effective use of various social media tools. The bad news is that, as is always the case, 10 percent of agents will go too far. And at least 3 percent of them will commit errors that will get their brokers in trouble.

This problem is certainly not limited to the real estate industry, quite the opposite, a number of high profile social media gaffs have occurred over past several months in several industries. Shoe mogul Kenneth Cole sent out a Tweet to thousands that suggested that the mobs in Egypt were responding to an announcement that his shoes were now available on the Internet. Last summer's famous Tweet regarding the Gulf oil spill set off an avalanche of protest. This past winter's posting of the GroupOn's super bowl commercial involving Tibet on YouTube.com was just the latest social media disaster.

A number of seminars, webinars and other industry knowledge and learning offerings have done an excellent job of advising real estate brokerage firms relative to their legal liability for their agents' social media blunders. The bottom line is that brokerage liability for the social media mistakes of their agents is extensive. This is a prime area for strengthening the brokerage risk management program.

As a starting point for this discussion it is critical that brokers appreciate the dynamic and nature of the risk. It isn't so much a legal risk, although that possibility exists. The real threat from an agent's social media mistake is the potential of a firestorm of online criticism that can spread across a wide audience and become a public relations nightmare. In considering this eventuality brokers might take a page from Charlene Li's book Groundswell where she teaches us that at any given time 25 percent of those involved in social media are in a "critic" mode versus 18 percent who are in a positive or contributory frame of mind. In other words, criticism is celebrated on the Internet and there are thousands of people just waiting to play.

There are actually three levels of risk management required to protect firms from agent originated social media problems and liability.

Raising the issue, incorporating a social media policy and monitor the traffic.

The basic best practice is to openly discuss the problem. Inform your agents that the abuse of social medias has become a critical problem, explain you are concerned enough to enact a policy and heretofore you will be monitoring all agent initiated social media based communications. Prepare for a torrent of complaints regarding the monitoring problem. In the confused world of independent contracting agents are easily confused about those matters that jump the liability fence. It is your business and it is your liability.

The next level of protection is for every brokerage to have a social media policy. The policy can be as simple or as detailed as the broker wants. NAR's Risk Management Committee recently drafted a model policy for brokers to use as an example in their own offices.

Most social media policies are general, reminding agents not to discriminate, not to make disparaging remarks, not to reveal client's personal information and what the consequences are in the event you don't abide by the policy.

Unfortunately, some agents will not take the time to read the company social media policy nor will they recognize the other dangers of misusing social media. It is this group that will, one way or another, ultimately get their broker in trouble.

Activating the common sense approach to risk management.

The next step is to resort to a common sense approach to your firms overall social media presence. Many if not most social media mistakes arise from using social medias for purposes that were unintended and unproductive. Accepting the risk of doing something wrong is never acceptable.

With due credit to Mr. Jay Baer consider the following common sense approaches:

• Twitter is a tool not a marketing script
• It is called social media but it should be called business communications media
• Get the top social media practitioners in your firm to create a set of social media best practices and use them as a monitoring guide. Social media and free speech belong in different columns
• Carefully monitor the Internet to discover what is being said about you and take it seriously
• Create content that delivers impact without liability
• Get on board "location based" social media; it is the up and coming thing
• Facebook should be part of your business social media arsenal
• Email is a social media not an easy letter

What to do when the firm discovers that a social media mistake has occurred?

It is really not a matter of if but rather when one of your agents will cross the line and incur the wrath. When it happens recognize the following seven steps. Keep in mind that when the mistake happens things will move quickly (measured in minutes!) and the brokerage team must be on its toes 24/7.

1. The mistake occurs. Hopefully the firm's monitoring system will pick it up. Immediately activate the social media team. Speed is everything here. In the Internet culture, failure to respond is a declaration of war.

2. While it may seem impossible that hundreds of persons were just waiting out on the Internet to jump on your back the fact is that this is exactly what will happen. Internet criticism doesn't develop, it explodes.

3. Prepare and issue an apology or sincere response. Beware of trying to explain yourself. Mobs are not given to logic and rational thinking (that's no fun) but neither is it fun to attack someone whose knee is on the ground. This is afterall "social" media.

4. The parody phase. If you aren't going to play, then someone will create (within minutes) a parody to continue the fun at your expense. There is no need to respond to this tactic. Internet insiders will immediately understand it for what it is.

5. You will see the Internet traffic begin to turn to humor. Humor is the 18th hole of an Internet mistake. These are, afterall, fairly bright people regardless of what you may be thinking. Keep in mind that there will be another social media screw up coming along in a little while.

6. Suddenly, even the humor will go away and quickly it will be, as it never happened. The only thing that holds an attention span in social media is someone who wants to defend their mistake or make a point. Everything else is just a lark.

7. Tighten your monitoring. You are now on the list of possible contributors to the growing sport of social media punking. Hundreds of people will be monitoring your online activities.

One last point. If you are over 55 years of age, reading this and thinking to yourself that this is just a bunch of children wasting your time, keep in mind that this game is not for you. When you decide to go after the riches of the Internet marketplace, you also decide to take the risk of being social media cannon fodder. Think fast, move quickly and get back to the battle. We can do this.

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