Apr 1, 2013
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SEC Changed The Rules For Social
A change was made this week in the rules for executives of publicly held companies. Up to this point, social media has been somewhat of a grey zone for public companies. The safety zone was within the official corporate accounts, but like many new companies, this wasn’t good enough. Those companies had taken advantage of the social channels to allow their executive team announce news, products, etc. This has been a problem in the eyes of the S.E.C. as they felt like news of that nature must be published to both the public and investors at the same time.
Netflix
Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, posted some information last year on his personal Facebook account and was swiftly investigated by the SEC. Mr. Hastings confirmed the investigation on his, wait for it, Facebook page. This has stretched the SEC to recognize that Social Media is how companies are communicating in this decade. The SEC is there to protect both the consumer AND the company. While Social Media has certainly caused headaches in the compliance department, they had to know that at some point they would have to recognize that this would happen more and more with the companies they are regulating.
Too Legit to Quit
From my perspective, this again legitimizes social media as the new PR. Even the largest companies have realized that today’s consumers want more than a grey matter corporate account. They want to know, feel, be part of the experience they are buying. Its more than just products. Many of us use brands solely because we are fans of someone on the executive team. Jony Ive is a personal hero of mine. I enjoy his design genius and yield to its influence each time I’m at the Apple store.
Get On The Bus
How is your organization doing with Social Media? Do your leaders position themselves as experts in their field? Are you competitors out socializing you? Chances are you have a Facebook page that was last updated over a year ago. If you’d like to learn how you can utilize social media in your marketing, give us a call. We’re social media experts.