What is the compliance message inside of a corporation, and how is it distributed? In a compliance program, the largest portion of your consumers/customers are your employees. Social media presents some excellent mechanisms to communicate the message of compliance in the future. Many of the applications we use in our communications are free or available at very low cost. Why not take advantage of them and use those same communication tools in your internal compliance marketing efforts going forward?
Louis Sapirman, Vice President and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer for Panasonic Corporation of North America – Panasonic USA, often discuss integrating social media into compliance. It would be best if you started with the tech-savvy nature of today’s workforce. It is not simply about having a younger workforce but a workforce whose primary tool for communication is social media. If your company is in the services business, it probably means your employee base is using technological tools to deliver business solutions. Finally, consider the data-driven nature of business today, so using technological tools to deliver products and solutions is something your company probably does now. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even TikTok can all be utilized.
Finally, never forget the social part of social media. Social media is a more holistic, multiple-sided communication. Not only are you setting out expectations, but also, these tools allow you to receive back communications from your employees. The D&B experience around the name change for its Code of Conduct is but one example. You can also see that if you have several concerns expressed, it could alert you earlier to begin some detection and move toward prevention in your compliance program.
Another approach is to use audio as a part of your compliance communications. Podcasts are a great way to tell a long-form story about your compliance successes and challenges. Ronnie Feldman, the founder of L&E Entertainment, continually reminds us that the engagement of your compliance audience is through the entertainment of your compliance communications. But the key is that the audio format can be a powerful tool for you and a way to reach your employee base that you need to take advantage of. It can be as simple as interviewing employees on the importance of culture and how they use it to guide their decision-making in their daily work. Your imagination only limits you.
Three key takeaways:
1. Incorporating social media into your compliance communications can pay big dividends.
2. Focus on the ‘social’ part of social media.
3. Consider incorporating podcasts and audio clips into your compliance communications and training.
For more information, check The Compliance Handbook, 3rd Edition available here.
