Going on vacation? Follow this checklist before you leave

Today, it’s impossible to get an “out of office” from a tweet, Facebook post, or blog comment. At best, you’ll look as though you’re ignoring your community. At worse, your reputation (or that of your client’s) could be on the line while you’re sipping margaritas on the beach.

So, I offer you the following considerations:

Share access

Vacation or not, no one person should be the keeper of all logins and passwords for your agency or client’s social properties. Keep a spreadsheet of all of the pertinent information, and make sure others in the office know where it is, and how to access it. (This should already be part of your crisis communications plan.)

Set expectations

We operate in a transparent world. If you’re planning to go on vacation, it’s not unheard of to say so. You don’t need to share pertinent details of your family trip, but a message on your agency accounts telling people specifically when they can expect to hear from you can work well for you. Consider something like: