In an effort to establish industry standards for social media professionals, Social Media Club, our Professional members and
chapter leaders have collaborated & drafted the first iteration of our Social Media Club Code of Ethics.
This Code of Ethics is meant to help further the indsutry by protecting both social media professionals and digital citizens. We understand with the constant changes in new media platforms, this Code of Ethics needs to remain fluid to meet the demands of the industry, and continue progress.
SOCIAL MEDIA CLUB CODE OF ETHICS
Preamble
The Internet is everywhere. Communication and privileged information comes with that access. The Social Media Club recognizes it has a responsibility to help our industry by establishing a Code of Ethics, to ensure the integrity of the profession is respected and a level of standard is maintained among social media professionals. To maintain membership, Social Media Club members must agree to adhere to this code to protect clients, the community and industry professionals.
Social Media Club Professionals shall;
- Act in the best interest of client and employers.
- Be honest and authentic in all communications.
- Respect confidential information by clients, citizens and employers.
- Disclose any commissions or consideration provided by third party vendors when writing about said parties.
- Disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
- Decline clients or work that require action that goes against the Code.
- Professionals shall make sure all parties understand the language used in the contract including the understanding of “buzzwords” and industry related terms.
- Encourage the organic growth of your follower and/or fan count through real engagement in your community in lieu of machine assisted programs
Social Media Club Professionals shall not;
- Provide false information, misleading statements, or other dishonest information to clients, employers and citizens.
- Engage in predatory Internet practices.
- Engage in illegal or spam social media and/or email campaigns, (e.g. Spam Twitter DM’s, not disclosing affiliate products, not receiving permission to use an email address, and/or not allowing users to easily opt-out of emails).
- Knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements about competitors, their businesses, or their business practices.
- Exaggerate, misrepresent, or conceal pertinent facts relating to the contracting of clients and education of social media.
Our hope with establishing this Code of Ethics, is to identify issues that negatively impact the social media industry, which include:
- Spam campaigns
- Non-disclosure of payments received from brands and/or influencers
- Malicious campaigns that go after brands’ competition
