Why You Need a Company Social Media Policy
If you have more than one person in your company who engages in social media, you need to have a social media policy. Social media has quickly become the easiest way to grown your online presence. Through all popular outlets, you can quickly and effectively develop your online reputation and extend the brand of your business.
But the lines between person and business social media are quite blurry. For example:
- If an employee uses Facebook to converse with friends and family, should they be using it to share information about your company?
- If Twitter is how they tell their buddies where they are and what they are doing, should the same account be used to spread marketing messages?
- And what if they are looking for another job, but their personal accounts are intertwined with your business accounts. How does that look for your marketing image?
A social media policy is critical for any business since your online reputation will be significantly impacted by what is said about your company. Unless you provide guidelines for employees, you cannot really be certain what sort of reputation is being developed.
Saying “Don’t do it!” is not a policy
Social media has become a mainstream way of connecting with customers. To tell your employees that social media is not allowed is not realistic in today’s business world. Chances are employees are already engaging in social media for private use, and your social media policy should at least discuss what can be done during work hours. Also, if employees are already using social media, a policy can help to define what private social media outlets may be used to extend the brand of the company.
What should a social media policy govern?
A company social media policy should answer the following questions:
- Who owns the social media accounts that are used by your company?
- If employees have personal accounts, can they use them to market your company?
- What is the policy for talking about the company on personal social media accounts?
- What confidentiality is required around your company information?
- What copyright issues should be considered?
- What social media arenas does the company participate in?
- What individuals in the company are responsible for social media, and for those who aren’t responsible, what is their input (if any)?
- Who is in charge of reviewing social media output?
- Who is responsible for responding to customer complaints that appear in social media arenas?
Here are some excellent articles we found that can help you craft a social media policy:
- How to Write a Social Media Policy
- 10 Must-Haves For Your Social Media Policy
- Secrets to Writing a Social Media Policy That Actually Means Something
Sample Social Media Policies
If you’re are in the process of creating a social media policy, Social Media Governance keeps a database of corporate social media policies. They have example from many companies, including FedEx, Cisco and Harvard Law School.
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