Coming up with creative content can be a daunting task especially if you’ve been doing it for a while, but now that you’ve got the social media content checklist I posted last week it should be a breeze. If not a breeze, you should have some basic ideas to start from.

So let’s assume that your new content is great and you’re very excited about the concept, it’s in production now, time to kick your feet up. Or is it?

Many content producers, marketers and community managers alike are restricted by the guidelines and rules governing what they can or can’t say to the public if representing the brand. There are many things you must consider before making your content public and it’s best that you familiarise yourself with them before, or at least consider them while creating the content to save you from doubling up on your work. It’s one thing to create great content, but if you can’t use it, or it backlashes and gets you into deep water, then is it worth it? Decide that for yourself.

But apart from guidelines you want to also be sure that your target audience takes some sort of action and remembers you right?

So without further ado, here is a checklist of the administrative, but essential things you must consider:

1. Be sure you adhere to platform guidelines

This is simple. Most people sign up to a social platform without any consideration to the guidelines but as a brand you need to be sure of what you can or can’t do. I’ve provided links to the most common platforms here:

Facebook | Google+ | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube

2. Facebook promotions are strict

Many competitions & promotions are run on Facebook and if your creative idea is going to succeed then this is definitely the platform to run it on. With over 1 billion people claimed to be on the social network your chances of success are a lot higher if you do the right things. Facebook have guidelines specific to running promotions that are different to their general page guidelines so make sure that you know all about them too! We’ve summarised it in a post before, otherwise you can access the official guidelines here and scroll down to section E.

3. Company policies are a must

Social media usage & policies within a company must be taken into consideration with today’s social environment. It was some time ago that many companies were still undecided but due to the many cases arising from lack of governance, it’s to your own detriment if you don’t have one. Social media is a tool that can be used by your employees for business purposes, so along with any other tool for business use there should be policies around what is acceptable and what isn’t. You can take some guidance from the many examples available on the internet here & here.

4. Don’t forget about local laws

Social media is in abundance so it only makes sense that your local & federal governments have some rules and regulations around it too. One of the most recent cases saw the ACCC rule that brands had the obligation to remove false and misleading statements from their social platforms, even if it’s a comment by one of their fans or followers. The rationale here was that social media is an advertising channel, thus it should be subject to the same rules as other advertising channels. This is just one example of a local law that you must be aware of. Other things such as TPL licenses for competitions also apply.

5. Use a call to action

In all types of advertising you want your audience to take some form of action so don’t be afraid to ask! Whether the action is to watch a video, click on a link, download a white paper, buy a drink, enter a competition or share some content with their friends (Tweet this post!) you need to ask. In asking you are giving the audience a slight push and you’ll also be surprised that most are more willing that you think.

6. Promote your brand

Another simple and easy one to do – make sure you let others know who is creating the awesome content, running the promotion or giving away the prizes! Don’t forget to label it all because when your work really takes off you want people to remember where it came from or who made it! If you forget this simple task then you are really shooting yourself in the foot! Use anything that fits in well with your creative material, such as a jingle if your content is an audio piece, your logo for printed material, or even a specific scent that relates to your brand if you can factor that in!

Armed with two checklists you now have everything you need to create the valuable content your consumers will love, without any splash backs or thoughts of having to do damage control! Don’t forget to Tweet this post if you found it useful and share it with your networks!