Social Media Guidance

INTRODUCTION

The Navy League of Canada is one of Canada’s largest and most prestigious youth organizations. While we serve as a development tool, we also represent a powerful nation building organization, attracting many dignitaries and officials from all provinces and territories and all levels of governments, as well as many leaders from the maritime and corporate sectors.

The Navy League of Canada recognizes the important role that these leaders play in contributing to the success of the Navy League of Canada and of our country. The Navy League of Canada also recognizes that its employees, members, volunteers, and cadets are likely to take part in social media interactions prior to, during, and after their involvement with the Navy League Cadets and Royal Canadian Sea Cadets.

The Navy League of Canada has therefore identified the need to establish guidelines with regards to its own social media presence.

STATEMENT

The Navy League of Canada will strive to establish that minimum protocol for the social media campaigns and activities are circulated, understood and encouraged for each Provincial Division and Branch/Corps. These guidelines describe the rightful uses of social media within the Navy League of Canada and provide guidance for stakeholders. These guidelines are subject to ongoing review and evaluation, and modifications may be made as deemed necessary to respond to circumstances and evolving needs of the organization and its members.

SCOPE

The following guidelines apply to all Navy League of Canada employees, members, volunteers, and participants. The guidelines apply to personal and professional use of social media, both during and outside of office and duty hours. Each stakeholder is asked to consider and respect these guidelines, as well as any other standards or instructions implemented by the local organizing committee. Due to the nature of social media, it is nearly impossible to create a clear distinction between personal and professional profiles.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Social media administrators have ultimate authority in the interpretation, supervision, monitoring and administration of these guidelines and Navy League of Canada social media activities. Social media administrators have the responsibility to represent the Navy League of Canada online and post on the organization’s behalf using a variety of social media accounts.

Only the selected members of the social media team(s) should speak on behalf of the Navy League of Canada using official Navy League of Canada social media accounts provided that they have received the necessary approvals from their supervisor(s).

Only designated employees may represent themselves as official Navy League of Canada spokespeople online. Employees, members, volunteers, and participants should not post negative or disparaging content, either real or perceived, about Canadian Cadet Organizations, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Navy League of Canada, the Government of Canada, and other stakeholders.

REQUIREMENTS

All Navy League of Canada employees, members, volunteers, and participants’ online conduct should be dictated by the following principles:

Be Respectful: No spam, untruthful, defamatory, or discriminatory comments and expletives. Remain polite and appropriate at all times.

Be Honest: Mention your affiliation to the Navy League of Canada when responding or posting a comment that is related to Canadian cadet organizations, the Royal Canadian Navy, Navy League of Canada, or the Government of Canada. Unless you have been assigned the task to represent the Navy League of Canada online as part of the social media team, also remember to indicate that you speak on your own behalf and not that of the Navy League of Canada. One way to express this would be to use the following statement: “I volunteer with the Navy League of Canada. However, the opinions expressed here are my own and the Navy League of Canada is in no way liable or responsible for this content.”

Be Responsible: before posting, ask yourself the following questions:

• Would I say this to a cadet? A journalist? My supervisor?
• Would I mind if this comment was published in a newspaper?
• Would I be comfortable with this content being attributed to me in five years’ time?

Do:

• Review the terms of engagement of each platform you wish to participate in;
•  Engage in social media personally using your own name and not on behalf of the Navy League of Canada;
• Remain truthful and accurate at all times;
• Act online as you would with colleagues or supervisors; and,
• Contact your superior(s) with any questions or to know how to handle a given situation.

Do not:

• Make disrespectful, defamatory or dishonest comments;
• Share sensitive information about Canadian cadet organizations, colleagues, or the Navy League of Canada online; and,
• Position yourself as a Navy League of Canada employee or volunteer unless you have expressly received the authorization to do so and have received access to the Navy League of Canada official platforms.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES

Each stakeholder organization involved with the Navy League of Canada is encouraged to:

• Better understand key messaging of the Navy League of Canada;
• Support the Navy League of Canada social media campaigns;
• Work to promote and use Canadian cadet organization-specific hash tags;
• Provide guidance in terms of social media efforts and presence on the following social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, blogs, and others; and,
• Better understand official Navy League of Canada social media administrators.

PROCEDURES

Each stakeholder is responsible for developing their own themes, initiatives, and campaigns as they relate to social media and the Navy League of Canada. In the development of social media campaigns, stakeholders are asked to not overlook the following key elements:

•  Bilingualism – Where possible, publish your messages/tweets/blogs in both official languages. It is not necessary to repeat every word in both languages, but if you are in a bilingual region, it would be advisable for messages to strike a good balance between English and French in order to meet the bilingual needs of fans/followers. Although the use of English or French varies depending on the region at the local level, the national office must use both languages when posting on social media.
• Engagement - We want to engage members, volunteers, participants, and families to share their enthusiasm, excitement and stories of Canada’s future leaders.
• Model - We encourage you to share raw photos and videos without any additions that may cover the image or video. This will enable the national office to use the material for promotional purposes at a later date.
• Partner Integration – Many industry partners, sponsors, donors, and special interest groups will be utilizing social media. If there is an occasion to promote an initiative undertaken by our partners and stakeholders, we encourage you to share those messages and ‘tag’ those user groups in your own social media messages.
• Social Media Monitoring – It is important to monitor what is being reported on/tweeted/posted about the Navy League of Canada in the media and on social networks. Track articles and content relevant to the Navy League of Canada on various networks and channels. If you receive a message or see a comment that raises a significant issue, it is important to inform the national office so that you can receive advice on how to proceed.

TIMING/FREQUENCY OF POSTS

Stakeholders are ideally engaging with users on a daily basis with unique content and respond quickly to questions/comments received via social media, whether positive or negative. If a stakeholder’s social media network dissolves, a plan should be in place to transfer likes/fans/followers of those of the Navy League of Canada. Before a stakeholder’s Facebook Page/Twitter Account/YouTube Channel is shut down, please encourage those who follow that page to now become a fan of other Navy League of Canada pages. Photos/Videos posted on channels can be provided/linked to the Navy League of Canada accounts.

CONFIDENTIALITY, PRIVACY AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Always remember that you are liable for your online actions and that organizational human resource policies apply at all times when using social media. Keeping that in mind, make sure to:

• Respect all copyright, fair use and disclosure laws;
• Always credit sources with citations or links;
• Never divulge personal/confidential information about Canadian cadet organization or the Navy League of Canada, your colleagues, affiliated organizations, consultants, sponsors, suppliers, or industry partners. If a conversation requires you to discuss sensitive information or request private details, make sure that you are authorized to do so and use the private communication methods provided by the social media platform to request the details or continue the conversation using a more direct method of communication such as email or telephone; and,
• Remember that all content posted online, even on private or personal accounts, is in the public domain.
• Any photos of cadets that are shared online should be checked to ensure that they only feature cadets whose parents have approved the Parental Media Waiver.