Throughout history, communication has changed drastically. From petroglyphs in caves telling the stories of ancient hunts and battles, to the pony express taking letters across the frontier, to the notification of “you’ve got mail” signaling an email has arrived, the barriers to communication have steadily dropped over time. That evolution has continued over the last 15 years with the rise of social media. Now, the barriers are virtually gone. But what does that mean for our community associations? Should community associations have a social media page/pages? And if yes, what are ways the page can be implemented?
The Stats
As of 2023, there are roughly 4.74 billion active social media users around the world.1 In North America alone, 76% of the population is active on at least one social media page.2 Translating that to our communities, it is safe to assume that over 3/4 of the homes in any community are on at least one social media platform.
While most are using social media to communicate with family and friends, people often use social media platforms to interact with companies, brands and organizations. Today, more than 40% of digital consumers are using social media to interact and research brands.3 There is almost an inherent expectation that all organizations should have a social media page. But where does this leave our community associations as organizations?
Should Community Associations Have Social Media Pages?
For many years, attorneys would advise their clients with a simple answer to this question – NO! There were concerns regarding the regulation of free speech. There were also concerns the pages would turn into platforms for board and neighbor bashing. Ultimately, it was believed social media pages caused more problems than they solved and increased the potential for liability, but as social media consumes more and more of our lives, homeowner expectations have risen on associations having a social media presence in order to share community updates, event information and emergency announcements.
If your association feels it is necessary to have a social media page, you should have a plan to implement the social media page to ensure it reaches the greatest level of success.
Strategy for Implementation
All successful social media pages have a plan behind their success and an association social media page should be no different.
The first steps to outlining your social media plan should be to define the purpose of the plan. For associations, that purpose should be to distribute/provide information to the members, receive information from the members and ultimately foster communication with the members and between the members.
The page content should be limited to the defined purpose of the page. If the purpose of the page is to provide updates on community related events, the content on the page should be community event related. Straying too far from the purpose of the page can lead to issues that open the page to controversy. A helpful tool to avoid this potential issue is to adopt a social media policy as a part of your plan.
Social Media Policy
Your social media policy should begin by defining the terms of use for the page. In your terms, identify the purpose of the page. If your page consists of community-related posts, identify the scope of those posts (lost pets, classifieds, social activities, etc.)
Along with defining the types of content your page will host, your social media policy should also identify the types of posts that will not be allowed, and the potential ramifications users can face for violating your terms of use policy.
The association should not allow obscene or unlawful posts, or posts and comments that are harassing or threatening in nature. An association should refrain from posting copyrighted material or images without proper consent. Posting this type of content can subject the page to being suspended or deleted by the social media network.
The policy should include language stating no advertising or junk messaging will be allowed on the page to prevent the page from becoming a marketplace that advertises homeowners’ addresses and subjecting the association to potential liability. In addition to not allowing a marketplace to develop, the policy should not allow for posting of personal information of the residents, such as addresses, images of their homes, or complaints regarding neighbor-to-neighbor disputes.
If there is a post that violates the terms of use, a strict set of consequences should be clearly defined. A violation allows for the post to be deleted without notice and continued or egregious violations will allow for the termination of access rights of the user.
Most importantly, the social media policy should determine who is the administrator of the social media page and, as a result, the arbiter of potential violations. This person could be a board member, a committee member, or a community manager, but there is a potential cost factor involved with the community manager.
Once all of these steps are defined and the plan is in place, the association is ready to launch the association’s new “official” social media page. But what do you do if an “unofficial” page that many of the residents use already exists?
Learn more at RMWBH’s upcoming social media webinar on July 18. Shareholder Paul Gaines will answer this question and others on social media policies. RSVP today at this link.
1 https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers/
2 https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers/
3 https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers/
