NAB Ubank Social Media Mess

AUSTRALIA: Which of you guys are advising NAB Bank on social media? Cos whoever you are, you are making a real friggin’ mess of it, and you make it worse for all of us!

First there was the spam comments on blog fiasco – read Duncan Riley’s take on it all. Then there’s the faux community on UBank saying how great UBank (NAB funded) is. Pulling negative comments, promoting their own fake positive ones. Then there’s FRANK who comes in from a NAB address and denies he is a bank employee while trolling Cheryl’s blog.

So, here’s the guidelines that NAB may want to put in place before overzealous yet courageously loyal employees run amok:

Topics or guidelines for discussion
* Standards of Integrity and Conduct
* Personal responsibility
* Confidential information
* Personal information
* Copyright and trademarks
* Conflicts of interest
* Be yourself
* Respect your colleagues and audience
* Be accurate
* Converse and give feedback
* Priority of regular work commitments
* Media inquiries

They are made up from a number of corporate social media policies. Certainly the headings for discussion. Take the last one – what is media? Who should be defending the brand online? Is it right/legal/wanted to stop staff from defending the brand online?

…but again I ask – if you are the PR agency or social media marketing ‘expert’ advising on these strategies, please please take control. Or else you become the whip for all our backs. (as in: oh no, we don’t want to work with social media, look at the mess NAB made!)