I’ve already been asked about this, so I thought I would try to document how I feel that we can involve and support local business, whilst still building a community (and not an advertising site).
Please feel free to review the draft below - I’d be interested in your comments. Is this maybe too restrictive, or not limited enough? It is hard to say (and therefore I guess, it might be somewhere in-between).
I’d certainly appreciate your thoughts on this.
Organisation profiles
SE23.rocks is for all those who live, work and visit Forest Hill, Perry Vale, Honor Oak Park, Kirkdale and all places in between. As such we would love to have input and knowledge from business owners, and for this site to support vibrant local retail, charitable, artistic and commercial communities.
BUT … and there had to be one, this is NOT just a free sales and marketing channel. Indiscriminate promotions and pushy sales discourage participation, and can make people leave. It would be counterproductive, so we will actively stop it.
We ask that if you run a retail, charitable, artistic or commercial organisation, that you follow some basic house rules.
If you want to post on behalf of your business:
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Create a separate profile!
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Use a dedicated account for your business. The business name must be the username, and your logo as the profile photo. We want it to be VERY clear who is posting. We will also act to close accounts that claim names that are not their own.
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Include a link to your website in your bio, but not in every post! These links are useful references and will save people asking or searching, but repeating it all the time just creates noise.
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Rules and requests for posting:
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Topics you start that are business / organisation related should be posted in The Exchange, a dedicated space for such content.
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You can post as the business to share news that is relevant to the community that uses this site. It is not a place for generic advertising, but you can let people know about events, products, changes, etc.
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At launch there is no fixed limit on the number of times you can start a new post each month as the business, but we ask you (kindly) to limit this to no more than 2 or 3 posts per month. How “noisy” this will feel will depend on the general level of activity. However, as we grow and more businesses join, we may look to be stricter in future.
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Please avoid using replies to others’ topics as a means to promote your business. If a user specifically asks a question that you can answer or mentions your business, you are welcome to reply, but if we feel that this is being abused, we will consider removing these posting privileges.
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Some best practice for your posts
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Include images to maximise their impact (but please make sure you are allowed to use these)
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Encourage discussion, feedback and engagement rather than push sales. This is a space that is built to create connections between us. We want to help and see the area improve. Find ways to involve the community rather than treat us as targets.
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Do not overreact to negative feedback, but allow the community to speak. You may find others will respond on your behalf (which is often more effective), and there may also be value in listening to this. Think of it as free consultancy from those who care and will actually spend money if you get it right.
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You can always participate in a personal capacity
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If you want to participate in general discussions, you are welcome to create a separate, personal account.
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This should be quite separate from your business profile, and not include either the business name or imagery.
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You can reference the connection to your business profile in your bio, but please avoid using your personal account to promote the business activity. We will remove such content.
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Do not use these for “sock puppetry” to artificially promote or attack other accounts. This content will be deleted and all the associated accounts will be deleted for breaking the community trust
For the avoidance of doubt, we do hope that this site grows into an active and well respected local community and as we grow we may have to find ways to fund the cost of this. We reserve the right to change or update these rules at any point, and may ask business users to contribute in some way.
If you have an idea for an activity that would support the community as well as your business, then please get in touch as we would be happy to discuss any mutually beneficial plans.
Additional Note: we will also consider creating a specific section for this content in future, and also include opportunities for products and services wanted / offered. The specific rules for these will be posted at that time, but let us know if this is something you are keen to see launched