Official Discussion of New Fb Policy

[NooraK]

I know we've got a few threads announcing there is a new Facebook/Social Networking Policy, but I thought it'd be helpful to gather all opinions and interpretations in one place. The full policy can be read here:

https://www.pamperedchef.com/images/cc/us/pdf/consultant_policy_guide.pdf

The "Social Networking" section starts on page 40 of the document, and linkage of your PWS is also mentioned on page 39. According to the first page, the Marketing, Advertising and Publicity Policies have been updated starting on page 35, so there may be even more than just the Social Networking piece that has changed, but I'd like this thread to focus on just the FB/SN policy.

 

[NooraK]

First, there's a paragraph about linking your PWS:

You can list your Personal Page Not Found Web Site
address in your personal e-mail correspondence, e-newsletters,
on social networking websites or profiles such as Facebook,
Myspace, Twitter, etc., or on business cards, checks, stationery
and other similar materials. Your host may use your Personal
Web Site address to promote their Show through printed
invitations, e-mail invitations, or through their social networking
profile. You can also list your personal www.pamperedchef.biz site in print advertising as long as you act in accordance with all
other guidelines.

There are a lot of restrictions of online useage of your PWS address, but it's now in writing that you can put it on your profile.

 

[NooraK]

HO then defines what they consider Social Networking, and says:

You may use these sites
to share information about The Pampered Chef® business
opportunity and for prospecting and sponsoring; however,
these sites may not be used for retail purposes. You may
promote your Pampered Chef® business on such sites in the
following ways:
• You must disclose your full name on all social media
postings, and conspicuously identify yourself as an
Independent Consultant or Independent Sales Director (or
appropriate title) for The Pampered Chef®.
• You may include the Independent Consultant Logo, your
e-mail address, phone number, and link to your Personal
Web Site on your profile or page. See Linking to Your PWS
Through Social Networking Sites section for additional
policies on PWS linking.
• Anonymous postings are prohibited.

I like the idea of an Independent Consultant Logo, I saw there were several different colors available on previous pages of the Policy Guide. But the concept of making sure customers know we're not employees is the same as before.

HO goes on to remind us that we need to uphold PC's image, and not post anything negative, disparaging etc.

Consultants are personally responsible for their own postings
as well as all online activity conducted on behalf of their
business. Consultants will be held fully responsible for any
and all such activities.

 

[NooraK]

Next is a paragraph about the actual linking of your PWS:

Linking to Your Personal Web Site Through Social
Networking Sites
When directing readers to your Personal Web Site
through social networking sites it must be evident from a
combination of the link and the surrounding context that the
link will be landing at the site of an Independent Pampered
Chef® Consultant. Attempts to mislead web traffic into
believing they are going to The Pampered Chef® corporate
site, when in fact they are being directed to a Consultant’s
Personal Web Site will not be allowed. The determination
as to what is misleading will be at The Pampered Chef’s sole
discretion.
Please note: If you link directly to the Shop
Online pages of your Personal Web Site, the link will
expire after 2 hours and any orders placed using that link
will be directed to the Lead system through the corporate
website. You should instead link to one of the main pages
of your Personal Web Site since these links are static and
will not expire.

 

[NooraK]

The policy also addresses pages created solely for a PC purpose:

Groups or Group Pages on Social Networking Sites
If you create a group on a social networking site that is
primarily dedicated to your Pampered Chef® business, you
must privatize the group. For example, if a Director creates
a Facebook group for their downline or for their customers,
only individuals specifically invited by the group moderator
should have the ability to join the group and access the
group’s page/information.

It doesn't, however, say that if you post about PC on your everyday personal profile that you must make that private.

 

[NooraK]

The Policy also addresses the PC Corporate page and what is OK and not OK to do with the information there:

When engaging with the official Pampered Chef® Facebook
page, it is appropriate to:
• Republish content, updates and articles to your own Facebook wall.
• Express your enthusiasm for The Pampered Chef® and
its products — this reflects well on the company and all
Consultants.
It is not appropriate to:
• Publicize your business or Personal Web Site on the company
page — remember that this is a resource for everyone’s
customers.
• Post content on the corporate page or any other page that
offers negative opinions or complaints about The Pampered
Chef® – customers can see this and it will make it harder for
you and everyone else to do business. Instead, please contact
the Solution Center at 1-888-OUR-CHEF to resolve or discuss
any issues regarding your business, Pampered Chef® products,
policies or procedures.
Violation of these policies may result in the removal of your
post(s) and may lead to further action being taken. See also
policies on Social Networking.

 

[leftymac]

They will also have an online training course, which I think is a great idea.

 

[NooraK]

The policy also addresses posting pictures and videos online, saying we can post them on SN sites, but not on public consumption sites like YouTube. I found this part very interesting:

You may not upload, submit or publish any content (video, audio,
presentations or any computer files) received from The Pampered
Chef® or captured at official Pampered Chef® events or in
buildings owned or operated by The Pampered Chef® without
prior written permission from Consultant Career Solutions.

It does state that we are responsible for protecting the Intellectual Property Rights of PC by making sure we include trademarks and all that.

 

[NooraK]

This is a really important part that everyone needs to be aware of. This is what happens if you break the rules:

POLICY ENFORCEMENT
The Home Office will randomly audit social networking and
other websites and links to Personal Web Sites to ensure these
guidelines are being followed. If you wish to report a violation,
please e-mail Consultant Career Solutions at career_solutions@
pamperedchef.com.
• For a Consultant’s first internet policy violation, they will be
notified that their Personal Web Site individual ordering option
will be suspended for a period of 5 business days in which they
must remove the violation. If they comply, they will be allowed
the privilege of individual online ordering. If the Consultant
does not comply within 5 business days, their Personal Web
Site individual ordering option will be suspended for a total of
60 days. If they are still in violation after 60 days, their Personal
Web Site individual online ordering option will be permanently
disabled.
• For a second violation, the Consultant will be notified that their
Personal Web Site individual ordering option will be disabled
for a period of 5 business days in which they must remove
the violation. If they comply, they will be allowed the Personal
Web Site individual ordering option. If the Consultant does
not comply within 5 days, the Personal Web Site individual
ordering option will be suspended for a total of 90 days. If they
are still in violation after 90 days, their PWS individual online
ordering option will be permanently disabled.
• For a third violation, the Consultant’s Personal Web Site
subscription will be immediately and permanently cancelled.
Failure to adhere to policy may also result in further actions
including the termination of your Consultant Agreement.

I think it's extremely important, and a very good thing for HO to spell out the consequences of not following the rules.

 

[NooraK]

They will also have an online training course, which I think is a great idea.

Yes, it's hard to sometimes grasp everything when you are reading it like this. I'm sure the course will especially be helpful to those who are a bit less web savvy.

 

[trps]

So can I put PC as an employer and that I am a Director?

 

[NooraK]

So can I put PC as an employer and that I am a Director?

You just have to make it clear that you are an Independent Director, not an employee.

 

[kam]

I searched for Pampered Chef on FB (to see the official page) and I couldn't find it. So many other Pampered Chef pages came up. I finally had to find the official link that someone had posted here on CS.

So how does that work? The one that comes up right away certainly "looks" official. Anyone could have signed up for a FB page and called it Pampered Chef??

 

[pamperedharriet]

Thanks Nora for all of the time and effort you have put into this! I for one truly appreciate it!

 

[NooraK]

I searched for Pampered Chef on FB (to see the official page) and I couldn't find it. So many other Pampered Chef pages came up. I finally had to find the official link that someone had posted here on CS.

So how does that work? The one that comes up right away certainly "looks" official. Anyone could have signed up for a FB page and called it Pampered Chef??

I would think that as PC gains more fans, it'll come up higher in search results. There is a "Community Page" that FB has created that comes up that's something new FB is doing. It's not really a page per se, it's a feature of FB that links together any mentions of PC on FB.

 

[kam]

I would think that as PC gains more fans, it'll come up higher in search results. There is a "Community Page" that FB has created that comes up that's something new FB is doing. It's not really a page per se, it's a feature of FB that links together any mentions of PC on FB.

I don't do too much on FB - so the Community Page is new to me. But, I just thought it was interesting that anyone can start a FB account/page with a company's name.

 

[DebbieJ]

At conference, Jean also made it very clear to use FB wisely. Don't make every post on your personal page about PC or people will start to de-friend you. LOL. They had a cute video about it. They emphasized that the main purpose is to continue to create and cultivate RELATIONSHIPS

 

[chefmoseley]

So an additional cool feature on the PC FB page is 'send a virtual gift'. You can send gifts to your friends for their bdays and then when they click it back to the PC FB page they get a cool recipe How cool is that?

 

[chefheidi2003]

So an additional cool feature on the PC FB page is 'send a virtual gift'. You can send gifts to your friends for their bdays and then when they click it back to the PC FB page they get a cool recipe How cool is that?

That is cool..I guess I will start sending gifts rather than just posting Happy Birthday on everyone's pages..LOL.

 

[pamperedharriet]

I read the new marketing, advertising and publicity policies and printed pages 35-40 so I can read them over and over again. I went to CC and cannot find the logos anywhere to download. Help!!!!!!! Thanks.

 

[PampChefJoy]

They're here Harriet: https://www.pamperedchef.com/repsonly/pyb_overview.jsp

Scroll down a little bit...

 

[pamperedharriet]

They're here Harriet: https://www.pamperedchef.com/repsonly/pyb_overview.jsp

Scroll down a little bit...

Thanks, Joy. The page I was on didn't look like that completely. I know have the logos I want! Thanks again!!!!!!:chef:

 

[NooraK]

I think it's quite interesting that the only logos available to us now include "Independent Consultant" on them, and the other logos aren't available anymore. The rules specifically state we can't alter the Independent Consultant Logo, and we can't use another logo if we're creating our own flyer. I'm sure it's because HO wants to ensure we're not representing ourselves as HO, though.

 

[cindylpal]

I'm new to this whole facebook....can we put the PC logos on our site? If so, how do we do that? Those of you that use facebook...whats the best way to also promote our business on there? What are you thinking of doing? Thanks....

 

[DebbieJ]

I'm new to this whole facebook....can we put the PC logos on our site? If so, how do we do that? Those of you that use facebook...whats the best way to also promote our business on there? What are you thinking of doing?

Thanks....

Cindy, this is a new policy and there will be THREE Online Training Courses about using Facebook for your business available to take starting Monday.

 

[NooraK]

I'm new to this whole facebook....can we put the PC logos on our site? If so, how do we do that? Those of you that use facebook...whats the best way to also promote our business on there? What are you thinking of doing?

Thanks....

I would recommend reading the Advertising section of the Consultant Policy Guide. That will answer your questions about which photos you can and cannot use.

As for how, it depends on whether you would like it to be your profile picture, or you want to put it in an album.

I haven't yet decided exactly what I'm going to do. I started a thread on whether or not to start a separate, PC-only profile (if I do, there's rules on that, too), or just keep going with my current set up. I haven't found much luck in just posting about specials or sales or even "I'm having so much fun at my show" kind of posts. I have had some luck with sending personal messages, but even then, nothing beats getting on the phone.

 

[cindylpal]

Cindy, this is a new policy and there will be THREE Online Training Courses about using Facebook for your business available to take starting Monday.

I will be checking those out on Monday for sure! Was just wondering what those of you that already were on facebook thought! I guess I'm just missing the big picture...I'm sure the training will be a big help for folks like me.

 

[pampered2007]

I read the new marketing, advertising and publicity policies and printed pages 35-40 so I can read them over and over again. I went to CC and cannot find the logos anywhere to download. Help!!!!!!! Thanks.

If you're looking for the colorful Independent Consultant Logos...Go to Consultant's Corner and you'll find them under "Promoting Your Business"

 

[pampered2007]

The Logos are under "Promoting Your Business" in Consultants Corner I love all the colors!!!

 

[NooraK]

OK, so here's my question on the interpretation of the policy regarding pages primarily for ones business (see this post for the text):

If I create a separate FB profile, must I make my wall private? The policy says "only individuals specifically invited by the group moderator should have the ability to join the group and access the group's page/information." Since it won't be a "group" does this even apply? Are Wall postings considered "information"?

 

[raebates]

From what I understand, that's for if you set up a group for your team. There you'd be sharing inside info. A regular page shouldn't be an issue as I read it.

 

[Zsu]

can someone point me to the post where i can find the official PC facebook site?
Or is it the one with the mini cat, and the Cool and serve tray on it?

what happens if i friend it?

 

[cookingwith_tara]

From what I understand, that's for if you set up a group for your team. There you'd be sharing inside info. A regular page shouldn't be an issue as I read it.

Okay, good .. b/c I was a little confused about that, too. There are 3 options for creating a group - open, closed, and secret.

~ Open allows anyone to join and invite others to join. Group info and content can be viewed by anyone and may be indexed by search engines.
~ Closed - only Admin can approve requests for new members to join. Anyone can see the group description, but only members can see the Wall, discussion board, and photos.
~ Secret - The group will not appear in search results or in the profiles of its members. Membership is by invitation only, and only members can see the group information and content.

Following the guidelines in the new PC policy I would see us only able to have a group if it's SECRET. But, I understand that a 'GROUP for your Cluster" should be secret.

So we ARE allowed to have an OPEN FB page where anyone can search our name and find us, friends can suggest their friends to 'befriend' us??

Wouldn't that cause competition? If Susie goes to facebook to look up a PC consultant and she see's 20 of them listed and decides to look at each profile to see the content on each one before she decides which one she wants to 'befriend' (or she just befriends all of them)

these are just thoughts that have crossed my mind .. am I thinking too much in to it??

 

[pampchefsarah]

can someone point me to the post where i can find the official PC facebook site?
Or is it the one with the mini cat, and the Cool and serve tray on it?

what happens if i friend it?

Yes, that's it! If you "Like" it, a blurb shows on your wall, and then you get updates on your wall, as well, I believe.

Zsu, did John ever find you at NC? He mentioned at the Meet & Greet he was looking for you.

 

[NooraK]

From what I understand, that's for if you set up a group for your team. There you'd be sharing inside info. A regular page shouldn't be an issue as I read it.

OK, that makes sense. I didn't read it that way. That would make it OK to have a Fan page, then too, if it's only for customers.

 

[NooraK]

I decided to send an email to Career Solutions. It's killing me that it's Friday, and I won't be able to get an answer until Monday at the earliest. I'm not a patient person. But I also don't want to do something, only to have to change it. I would really want to set up a Fan page, but a secondary profile is my alternate plan. I don't want to set up the Fan page and invite all my contacts to "like" it, only to find out I can't do that and have to go with plan B.

Here's what I wrote:

Hello,

I wanted to get a bit of clarification on a piece of the Policy regarding Social Networking sites such as Facebook. A portion of the policy reads:

"Groups or Group Pages on Social Networking Sites
If you create a group on a social networking site that is primarily dedicated to your Pampered Chef® business, you must privatize the group. For example, if a Director creates a Facebook group for their downline or for their customers, only individuals specifically invited by the group moderator should have the ability to join the group and access the group’s page/information."

Does this apply to just pages used for communication with other consultants, or to a profile I would have for customers to view as well? How does this apply to creating a "Fan" page? I would like to keep my personal Facebook profile separate from a more Pampered Chef centered one (I don't think my customers need to read about my son's potty training progress). A fan page would be a great option, since things I post would show up in the news feed. But that cannot be made "private" as it's kind of counterproductive to its purpose.

Thank you for any insight you might be able to provide.

 

[raebates]

I unliked the official PC fb profile from my personal profile. I'll refer to it and share things from it on my PC profile. I figure that way I'm not in danger of overloading friends and family who don't love PC.

 

[lfg8764]

I unliked the official PC fb profile from my personal profile. I'll refer to it and share things from it on my PC profile. I figure that way I'm not in danger of overloading friends and family who don't love PC.

u shouldnt really overload ur family and friends by "liking" the official profile. PC will post on ur wall, but not theirs.

 

[NooraK]

OK, so my impatience got the better of me, and since I had not received a reply to my email, I called Career Solutions. As far as the Fan Page goes, that's out, because the policy does state that if it is primarily for PC, it needs to be privatized, and I don't believe a Fan Page can be privatized (it would defeat its purpose).

I then asked, if I were to create a separate profile just for my PC customers, would I have to hide my Wall Posts so that only Friends can see them. She was not able to answer that one, as she wasn't 100% sure and her supervisor wasn't available. She said I would be receiving a response to my email, and it would be easier for them to answer those types of things in writing.

It does get me started though. I know I won't be able to create a fan page, so I'll create a separate profile, and keep its settings private, for now. If they respond and say I can make some things visible to Everyone, I can always adjust that later.

 

[raebates]

The online courses addressed some of these issues. I'd suggest that everyone take them. They're pretty clear about what you can/can't and should/shouldn't do.

 

[babywings76]

The online courses addressed some of these issues. I'd suggest that everyone take them. They're pretty clear about what you can/can't and should/shouldn't do.

I was just coming on here to say the same thing. I knew I should've waited till I took the courses to take the jump into saying anything on FB. Earlier today, I couldn't take the courses and got impatient. I went ahead and created a separate FB account for my business so I can keep it separate. But just now I was able to take the first course and I've started the 2nd one. She discourages people from doing what I just did. It's against FB policy for someone to have 2 profiles and they can shut you down. I'm going to finish the course and figure out what to do now.

 

[raebates]

I'm not worried about having 2 profiles. They're both in my name with my contact info, so I'm not misrepresenting myself.

 

[NooraK]

The online courses addressed some of these issues. I'd suggest that everyone take them. They're pretty clear about what you can/can't and should/shouldn't do.

I'm planning to take those. I was at work earlier, so I couldn't, but will do so now.

 

[lfg8764]

I'm not worried about having 2 profiles. They're both in my name with my contact info, so I'm not misrepresenting myself.

Just know that facebook can and has deleted the profiles of people that have duplicate profiles.

 

[NooraK]

Just know that facebook can and has deleted the profiles of people that have duplicate profiles.

Although they can, it's a totally different thing of whether they will. I've seen plenty of news articles that talk about people having a "personal" and "work" FB profile, and I've never heard that the secondary profiles of those people have been deleted after this was made public. As long as someone isn't doing something illegal or trying to misrepresent themselves, I don't think FB is really going to bother with policing it that tightly.

 

[lfg8764]

Although they can, it's a totally different thing of whether they will. I've seen plenty of news articles that talk about people having a "personal" and "work" FB profile, and I've never heard that the secondary profiles of those people have been deleted after this was made public. As long as someone isn't doing something illegal or trying to misrepresent themselves, I don't think FB is really going to bother with policing it that tightly.

they have deleted both my profiles a couple years ago, then sent me an email explaining the policy i violated and "welcoming" me to create a single profile

 

[pampered2007]

I was just coming on here to say the same thing. I knew I should've waited till I took the courses to take the jump into saying anything on FB. Earlier today, I couldn't take the courses and got impatient. I went ahead and created a separate FB account for my business so I can keep it separate. But just now I was able to take the first course and I've started the 2nd one. She discourages people from doing what I just did. It's against FB policy for someone to have 2 profiles and they can shut you down. I'm going to finish the course and figure out what to do now.

I was also going to do the same thing...create a separate Facebook page for my business but I didn't know that I couldn't have a 2nd account. I don't want to use my personal account for my business! I want it separate! Ugh! So what do we do????

 

[dannyzmom]

I was also going to do the same thing...create a separate Facebook page for my business but I didn't know that I couldn't have a 2nd account. I don't want to use my personal account for my business! I want it separate! Ugh! So what do we do????

You don't need a second account to create a business page. My husband has one for his business as well as his personal page - all under one account.

 

[babywings76]

We can create a "group" for all our hosts/customers/contacts. The key is that they first have to be on our friend list in order to invite them to it. I guess this is the ideal way. But...I like keeping my facebook account private. I don't know if I want my hosts and strangers knowing all my personal life stuff. I don't want to stop posting my everyday things. Not that I do anything bad, but it's not super professional. And if I end up finding out that a host or guest is a crazy flake, I don't want to find that out too late. They don't need to know everything about me. I guess one way to get around that could be to put them all on a newly created "list" called "business" or something and then with each post I make I could change the lock button to exclude that list. But that's a pain.To me, having this second business profile is easier. I can just friend request someone one time and have them at the right spot to get all the content I'm intending. What I've done is under my regular profile, send friend suggestions to those people I think would want to be included in this new profile. That way they aren't confused as to which Amanda is the right one (friend vs business) because they see the different profile picture for my business one. And that way they don't think, "Hey, I thought I already had Amanda as a friend.."If it turns out that this is totally against FB policy and I can't continue it, I'll have to announce it to my friends and then set it up as a group.

 

[NooraK]

OK, I took the courses last night, and now my head is overflowing with information and indecision. So I did a little bit of searching on FB itself, and this is what I found.

I first put "two profiles" in the search box, and got a search result of previously submitted questions. Here's the one that caught my eye:

I need to report a fake profile.
You can report a profile that violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities by clicking the "Report/Block this Person" link in the bottom left column of the profile, selecting "Fake profile" as the reason, and adding the appropriate information. The following categories of profiles are prohibited on the site:


Profiles that impersonate you or someone else
Profiles that use your photos
Profiles that list a fake name
Profiles that do not represent a real person
Profiles that have been hacked

Be sure to choose the correct report type to help us verify the information. Facebook reviews every report we receive in order to determine whether or not the content violates our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and will take appropriate action. Rest assured that these reports will be kept confidential.

If I were to create a second profile, I would not be doing any of the above things. I would not be impersonating anyone, using a fake name, or not representing a real person.

Just to be a bit more clear, I went to the Statement of Rights & Responsibilities, and found this:

4. Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
2. You will not create more than one personal profile.
3. If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.
4. You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
5. You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.
6. You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.
7. You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.
8. You will not share your password, (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.
9. You will not transfer your account (including any page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.
10. If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).

Now, it does say "you will not create more than one personal profile. This can be interpreted in several ways. I could say that my second profile is not personal, it's business.

I also found a lot of other articles about having two profiles and discussions on a FB group about the pros and cons of doing so. The conclusion I've come to is that FB doesn't police it very strictly, unless someone reports you or you use the profiles for something shady.

Now, what I have to decide is whether I want to juggle two profiles, or whether I want to focus on using the tools FB provides to keep my contacts separate. I can (and already have) create a "List" for my customers, and make sure I pay attention to who my posts are visible to and so on. The dilemma I have with that is this: I often update from my phone, especially when I'm uploading pictures, and don't have access to those controls.

 

[NooraK]

You don't need a second account to create a business page. My husband has one for his business as well as his personal page - all under one account.

I spoke to HO yesterday, and they told me we cannot set up a business "Fan" page like this, because we can't control who sees the information, and it's not private.

 

[Bren706]

As for how, it depends on whether you would like it to be your profile picture, or you want to put it in an album.

I believe the online training course states that you need to use a photo of yourself and not the logo as your profile picture.

Makes sense, so that your customers can easily find you instead of looking through thousands of "logo" profiles.

The online courses addressed some of these issues. I'd suggest that everyone take them. They're pretty clear about what you can/can't and should/shouldn't do.

:thumbup:I agree Rae. Even those that are familiar with Facebook and how it works really should make themselves aware of how The Pampered Chef wants us all to market ourselves.

That is why I have waited to complete the courses (I am getting ready to do the 3rd one now) before doing anything The Pampered Chef related on my profile.

 

[NooraK]

OK, so I got a reply to my email from over the weekend (from a person):

Thank you for contacting The Pampered Chef. This policy applies to any group you create that will be used for discussing your Pampered Chef business. It does not apply to Facebook profile pages.

How's that for a non-answer? It didn't address my question regarding the "Fan" page portion, so I replied:

So to clarify, since a "Fan" page isn't a group, that portion does not apply?

Surprisingly, I got a reply quite quickly:

Yes, policy states that only groups must be private.

I am printing, laminating and saving this!