Netiquette for Today’s Business Environment Staci T. Childers BMIS 200 Table of Contents p. 3) Brief Summery p. 3) Introduction to Netiquette p. 3-4) Consideration p. 4) E-Mail Etiquette p. 4-5) Junk Email/Spam p. 5) Company Disclaimers p. 5-6) Social Media Outlets p. 6) Mobile Netiquette p. 6) Conclusion p. 7) References Netiquette for Today’s Business Environment Etiquette for the internet, or netiquette, has been around as long as social interaction on the internet has existed. As the name perceives, there are ways you should conduct yourself on the internet as you would if you were face to face with someone.
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It’s easy to forget that while staring at a computer screen that there is a person on the other end. For a business that in turn can be a huge customer service mistake. There are several things that a business that conducts itself through email or chat should consider. How will a customer perceive a chat response before you send it? How do they see your website? A basic rule for netiquette in any customer service situation is to have and to show consideration for the other party. You must consider how a person will perceive what you are about to say to them.
In any customer service situation where the customer is irate, they more than likely are not frustrated with you as an individual but with the product or service the business you work for. You must ask yourself: “How would I feel in this situation, if I received this message? ” If you simply ask yourself that, you will more than likely do a better job at communicating with someone. While typing out an email that is business or customer service related, there are a few simply things that need to be done. First always put something in the subject box.
Second, messages that arrive with no indication of source and no subject are more than likely going to be treated as junk mail. Third, do not send attachments, unless the person you are corresponding with is aware that there is a possibility of one. For a formal proposal, contract or offer, emails should have a letterhead. However, they should be used sparingly and kept short. There are also some other basic things that shouldn’t be done while conducting a business related email. Writing in CAPS or writing in a red color conveys the idea of yelling.
It’s better to use asterisks to emphasize your works. Always check your spelling and grammar before sending your email out. If the email software that you are using doesn’t have a spell check on it, type your email with a word processing software that does have spell check then copy and paste your email to where it needs to go. Even if you cannot answer an email right away, it’s good to let the person know that you have received it and will reply to them as soon as you are able. While personal emails can be lengthy, business emails should be short and to the point.
One big annoyance of using email is that some businesses use spam to try to gain customers. Nowadays, most software for emails contains a spam filter. Instead of sending a message, the best thing to do to market on the web is to get people to come to your website. One way to attract potential customers is to have free information for them, like pages of link related to your product of service. Some companies may not like the idea of giving away free information but in turn it the best form of advertising.
For example, finding giveaways that would attractive to the kind of people who would by your goods or services would be a great way to attract customers to your website. Junk email obviously has a bad reputation and honest business cannot benefit from effectively from the use of email marketing. Businesses can only offer to email tips, newsletters, or product updates to subscribers for those who sign up. They should also always have an option to discontinuing the messages if the subscriber chooses.
Many companies require their employees to insert a standard disclaimer in all their mail messages they send from their company address. Stating at the bottom of an email that the opinions are of the employees and do not reflect on the company itself is one way to separate the employee from the company. However companies still feel that the employees are representing the business out in cyberspace. Even if an employee posts to a newsgroup claiming that a certain product is wonderful, no one reading that newsgroup is going to associate the business stamped in the letterhead with the product.
Most employees’ internet access is limited to when they are at work, so at some point non-business related activities will occur. While most companies turn a blind eye to the situation, some due take small measures to impose restrictions on how their internet is used. Netiquette doesn’t forbid the use of work facilities for personal purposes nor does it require an adherence to company policy. However, netiquette does forbid the spreading of misinformation, personal or confidential information, or a damaging statement made about the company.
What is damaging is completely up to the employee to decide. In recent years, internet social hotspots such as Twitter and Facebook, have become a great way to advertise a business. Why not go to where the people are? There are definitely guidelines to using these social media outlets. While using a social media outlet, a company shouldn’t use the account for personal conversation. Instead an employee can direct message someone or email. Companies shouldn’t tweet too much or use long tweets. Messages in any forum should favor quality over quantity.
Profiles for these social media outlets should be user friendly, informative, honest, and professional. It’s basically a digital business card. When inviting people to join the group, only invite friends and acquaintances and not strangers. Getting a friend request turned down the first time should be the last. Don’t bombard someone with requests and don’t take it personally. Also, you do not have to accept friend requests or event invitations. Always think before you post. Anything from pictures, comments, and blog entries shouldn’t be posted without careful consideration to the business.
Do not post anything personal or unprofessional in a public medium as it may come back to bite you. Regardless of what social media outlet you choose, responsiveness is key. When potential customers have questions or concerns, they want a quick response and if that doesn’t happen, they feel as though nobody is listening and will seek business elsewhere. Another aspect of netiquette that most people would think about is mobile netiquette. Mobile devices are extremely popular these days. Mobile netiquette applies to cell phones, texting, instant messaging, and mobile applications of all kinds.
The golden rule for mobile netiquette is: Don’t interrupt face to face interactions, weather one on one discussions, group presentations or business meetings by putting everything on hold to answer a cell phone call or reply to a text or instant message. As to most rules there are exceptions from time to time, depending on the circumstances. Being continually pulled away from face to face interactions by your phone or other device, it makes you look easily distracted and impolite. Business netiquette is basically just etiquette used while over the internet.
There have always been set rules and guidelines that us humans abide by in the social world and now with the internet as an expanding way to advertise, etiquette must be applied there as well. Businesses know that if they do not conduct themselves as they should on the internet that they could potentially lose customers. It is always important for a company use netiquette since everything they do, regardless if it’s in person or over the web, it always will reflect back on them. References http://www. writeedge. com/articles/netiquette. sp http://www. bspage. com/1netiq/Netiq. html http://www. donnasbusinesstips. com/2009/03/as-our-society-becomes-more-and-more. html http://www. entrepreneur. com/article/14740-4 http://www. albion. com/netiquette/book/index. html http://www. information-age. com/channels/comms-and-networking/perspectives-and-trends/1612828/the-netiquette-of-business. thtml http://bitsythis. com/technology/10-rules-of-business-netiquette/ http://www. bluevolcanomedia. com/2011/10/03/the-importance-of-business-netiquette-and-etiquette/
