Social media rules adopted by AANA

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has released a guide on how businesses should monitor their social media campaigns.

The top advertising body says that any company that displays its product on social media should monitor its online strategy two hours after its release, and once a day during the week as well as on weekends.

But the Australian Standards Board (ASB) has said the public should expect the same standards from advertisers in the digital world as in traditional forms of media.

The ASB has deemed advertisers responsible for what the public says when commenting on their product or service.

AANA acting CEO Alina Bain said of the issue: "Brand owners who do not exercise reasonable care over what is posted and allowed to remain on their social media pages are hostage to fortune and such behaviour is simply anathema to sound brand management and good corporate governance.

"[These new guidelines] simply reaffirm our intention that the spirit of the codes should apply equally in both digital and traditional media."

The remarks come after radio host Alan Jones cost his station over $1 million as a result of an advertising boycott, spurred on by Facebook campaigns.

His comments that Julia Gillard's father died of shame saw an exodus of big name sponsors including Harvey Norman, McDonald's, Woolworths and more.

In addition to this, the Macquarie Radio Network was forced to abandon advertising altogether for a whole week in Jones' 5:30 AM – 9:00 AM time slot to protect remaining advertisers from backlash as a result of their loyalty. 

The Facebook campaign was titled 'Destroy the Joint' and was originally established in August for previous offensive comments the broadcaster made, but it received much more support after his remarks about John Gillard at a Liberal Party function.

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