A Social/News Media Proposal of My Own

After learning more about the media this past semester, and being enrolled in a Public and Professional Writing course, I was very interested in doing a project that combined my two interests. With a template of a project already drafted up by my English professor, I decided to create my own social media policy in a fictional law firm scenario (of my own, of course!). This project entailed a process of drafting, feedback, and steps to ensure that my policy proposal and instructions I created to go along with the policy were real enough to be an actual policy for a law firm in today's day and age.

Step 1: Drafting the policy
Using my textbook for the course, previous knowledge from my experience in a law firm, and some in-depth research on different social media policies for firms around the nation, I came up with my own proposal. This original proposal was very basic; I did not include any headings/subheadings to separate sections, I was extremely specific in my description of social media platforms, and I did not put much emphasis on news media and marketing. Click here to view my original proposal. 

Step 2: Feedback from a professional
After completing my first draft, I wanted to gain some insight from a professional in the field. I contacted my resources at a corporate firm in Chicago, as well as my own father, to have them review my original proposal. The comments I received were extremely helpful and professional:

"You are very specific on some things (like naming many of the main stream social media outlets), but vague in others. The problem with naming specific things is that it ends updating the policy as new main stream options evolve and those that are currently relevant become less prevalent.  

You may want to want to mention that all employees of Clos, LLP adhere to a code of conduct and must annually sign NDA’s (Non-Disclosure Agreements) protecting the company, employees, clients, and vendors from unauthorized dissemination of information. We (Marmon) have several (I sign 4 different NDA’s every year)."

Click here to see the full review of the commentary on my original proposal. 

Step 3: Final draft 
From this feedback and comments, I revised my proposal accordingly, adding in subheadings, a paragraph describing the code of conduct and non-disclosure agreement, and I eliminated the specific social media sources while expanding the news media and marketing section. I am very pleased with my final draft, and feel that my policy could be applicable to an actual law firm (someday!). Click here to see my final proposal. 

Step 4: Instructions 
Part of my project also included creating a set of instructions to accompany my proposal, so I decided to focus on how to create a formal email for my fictional law firm. In this, I created instructions on how to address the email, what to put on the subject line, what to do for a proper greeting, how to format the body, and the proper way to close the email with a signature. I created these instructions based on what I have learned over the years, my personal preferences, and research from my English course textbook. Click here to few my set of instructions. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating a social/new media policy for a fake law firm, and I think this project will be beneficial to my future in law, writing, and policy work!

Lynds