Social media marketing is the fastest growing medium to connect to customers, but being socially immersed creates challenging compliance issues for marketing professionals at credit unions and other financial institutions.

Here are some Do’s and Don’t’s for those who are hoping to extinguish any concerns as we nudge into this new medium and communicate effectively, efficiently and within regulatory boundaries:

Don’t: Violate Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines For Contests

If you love running contests on Facebook, listen up: You may be losing at your own game. It’s alarming to discover the number of financial institutions that are violating Facebook contest rules and regulations, especially in industries where compliance risks have historically been of the utmost concern.

Violation No. 1 Example: Like us to be entered to win a prize from 123 Bank!

Violation No. 2 Example: All you have to do is post, “I want to win big,” on our Facebook wall and you’ll be automatically entered to win big. Or, upload your photo to enter and the photo with the most likes will win a prize.

Violation No. 3 Example: Laura Willis, you are our winner! Look in your Facebook Messages to redeem your prize!

The simple act of liking a Facebook page or commenting on a wall cannot automatically enter fans into a contest or drawing. These actions are against the Facebook rule that states, “You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism.” Facebook rules strictly forbid running contests on the Facebook wall, and that includes entering, commenting, liking or uploading photos as ways to administer contests. These are all considered Facebook features and functionality.

According to Facebook, you also cannot notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or pages. This does not mean that you can’t tell your fans who won the contest. It simply means that you have to find an alternative way to notify the winner and award the prize, such as via email or phone.

Do: Run Contests Within Facebook’s Regulations

The best alternative to running contests on Facebook is to direct your fans to a Custom Contest Tab on your Facebook page to enter into a contest administered by a third-party app. There are many of these apps on the market today. For a small premium, you can create a contest that is compliant with Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines. Templated page design, public voting and custom notification tools are standard features with most third-party apps.

If you’re worried about teetering on the line of what is appropriate and what is not, be sure to read the complete list of Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines at www.facebook.com/promotions_ guidelines.php.

Don’t: Only Post Your Rates, Services Or Products

The last thing you want to do is pester your fans by hammering them with product-related content all the time. Updating your fans with your rates every single day is the fastest way to get your updates “hidden” on a newsfeed. Unless fans see the value of your page, you also run the risk of a fan un-liking your page altogether.

Do: Provide A Good Balance Of Industry-Related Content

In order to provide value to your fans, only 20 percent of the content you post should be directly related to your company or services. The remaining 80 percent of your content should be about financial services in general, such as industry facts, related articles, statistics and newsworthy events/discussions. For example, instead of posting about your new fixed-rate mortgage, use social media as a soft-sell tool by posting an article with tips for first-time homebuyers to establish subject matter expertise and trust.

Don’t: Spread Yourself Too Thin

Credit unions and banks may see the value in establishing multiple online communities as a way to reach a broader audience. However, being present on too many social networking sites at one time can cause marketers to spread themselves too thin, which will ultimately result in diluted campaign messages. Many times, social media plans become too complex to execute day-to-day, leaving community pages static for too long.

Do: Have A Plan

Create a robust social media policy and have it approved by your compliance department. The act of creating this document will allow you to research and brainstorm realistic ways of utilizing social media as a marketing tool within your existing plan and budget.

Your social media policy should identify a community page manager for each social network; include an action plan for engaging with your online communities; provide a list of “canned” responses for quickly addressing questions/comments from fans; name a centralized place to store content to quickly generate a response upon request during an audit; communicate employee usage of the social networks; and establish keyword filtering and notification tools for dealing with derogatory comments.

Utilizing a third-party platform will help you organize your impact. At the beginning of a social media campaign, think about why you want to be on social media in the first place and what your desired return on investment (ROI) is. Is it to increase awareness of your brand, test products, solicit feedback and engage, or to generate leads? Once you determine your desired ROI, you can administer different social media tactics, such as a “like us” campaign, to reach your goals.