Social media accounts policy

Creating any social media accounts, whether branded or non-branded, for a Food store, area, region, department, depot or Funeralcare home without the Co-op Social Media Team’s express consent is prohibited. The only Social Media Accounts which are affiliated with Co-op that are permitted are ones which have been granted, or can be access, by the Co-op Social Media Team. All other accounts are in breach of this Social Media Policy.

Why are Social Media Accounts not permitted?

There are several reasons why independent Co-op accounts are not permitted, including:

• To ensure that all messages published by Co-op are ASA compliant and meet all legal marketing regulations
• To ensure all marketing and messages seen by consumers relating to Co-op are on brand and in line with our brand stance and messaging
• To ensure that all giveaways have the expressed consent and approval of the Co-op legal team
• To ensure Co-op as a brand is protected against all breaches of marketing legislation around HFSS
• To ensure all customer complaints are directed to our dedicated customer services team and abide by our SLA

In summary, we do not permit any accounts to exist which could cause Co-op to be prosecuted for incorrect messages being published.

We may ask you to remove online content that’s not in line with this Policy, and failure to proceed with the removal may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including summary dismissal. Failure to adhere to this policy may also been seen as a breach of your contract.

How can I engage with my community if I do not have a dedicated social media page/profile to do this?

People in your community are more likely to engage with you on social media if you’re a genuine person (yourself), not a brand/logo. In fact, they’re also 10x more likely to trust something that is posted by a person, not a brand.

Some colleagues do prefer to have a separate social media account as themselves to share updates about their work, including things they have done and news about Co-op. This is fine, as long as your work account is identifiable as a real person and has your real name as the Bio/handle!

You can also find some tips below on how to engage with communities on the different Social Media platforms below. Also below is a link to our Social Media Toolkit - it's a guide to using social media as a Co-op colleague.

If you have any questions or would like to ensure your profile is not breaching the social accounts policy, just drop us a DM on @coopukcolleague or email us at social@coop.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help you.

Please also remember that every time you post on social media you need to abide by the social media policy, which you can find here.

Have you heard about Social Hub?

Social Hub is a great place to access lots of amazing Co-op social media content, designed to be shared by colleagues straight to their social media profiles in exchange for points. And points = prizes. You can find out more and sign up to Social Hub here and access a step by step training guide (see below)

All the content is branded and approved by Co-op, meaning you can share approved Co-op messages, news and campaign as yourself to help shout about the amazing work Co-op and our colleagues are doing.

Things you should know

• Contact the Social Media team social@coop.co.uk if you have any questions
• Co-op social media principles
• Co-op colleague social media policy
• Co-op social media community policy