Your Company’s Social Media Policy – Not Just Another Policy

Oh no! Not another company policy. That’s the whispers we hear when we sit with a new client and start talking about their Social Media policy.  We brought you guys in to develop and execute our Social Media strategy not bog us down with another policy document.  That is how the conversation usually goes as we stay the course and discuss policy before strategy and execution.

Why are we persistent on having our clients establish a Social Media policy?

Unlike other media campaigns a successful Social Media strategy and execution can involve the company’s personnel from the CEO to the Janitor so there should be clear guidelines on how employees engage in Social Media on behalf of the company. The downside to not having clear guidelines is having employees making detrimental comments on behalf of the company, slandering people and spending unnecessary time on non relevant Social Media sites.  Having clear guidelines on Social Media activities among employees is having proactive solutions that will protect your organization from reactive actions.

Good Social Media policies are designed to protect and enable your company by clearly outlining:

• What the company will and will not do online.
• What employees can and cannot do online.
• What members of the public can and cannot do on company property.
• Protects your organization by establishing boundaries around what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

A good Social Media policy will empower your employees by letting them know what the limits are so they can use Social Media without fear of repercussion.

The Different Aspects of a Social Media Policy

There are two different parts to a company’s Social Media policy, the first is internal and is directed toward employees and the other is external and is directed toward prospects and consumers.

The internal portion of  a company’s Social Media policy should cover the general guidelines of engagement through Social Media, employee blogging and clear examples of what employees can and cannot do online.  Some parts of the general guideline may be covered by standard personnel policies.  Some additional general guidelines to consider are:

• Are employees encouraged to engage in conversations regarding the organization. The correct answer may depend on the organizational culture.
• Are employees required to identify themselves as employees when discussing the organization. In all cases employees should identify themselves.
• May employees discuss confidential and fiscal information. The answer to those question may already exist in the company’s personnel policy.

Also the consequences of actions that is in direct violation of your Social Media guidelines should be clearly spelled out.

The policy should state who in the company can engage in the company’s  social Media activities and ensure that those employees understand the mission and internal Social Media strategy of the company.

The external part of your Social Media policy should set the the expectations and boundaries for behavior of people outside of the company.  The policy should be posted publicly on your corporate website and other online properties and it should outline comment moderation and online interaction on the company’s online properties.

Be clear about what you will allow and not allow on the company’s online properties.  Describe what actions the company will take against abusive language, spam commenter, personal attacks, defamation and misinformation. Will the company provide have 24/7 coverage for online conversations? State it.  Companies have been criticized for not responding to issues during the weekend, for example.

Also consider adding these points to your external policy:

• Consider stating that you will take all possible steps to ensure that what you post is complete and accurate.
• Make it clear that if you post something that you discover is inaccurate, you will work to correct it immediately.
• Publicly state that you will not discuss confidential information.
• State that when employees engage in public conversations about the organization, they will disclose their affiliation.

These are several of the things we consider when we draft Social Media policies for our clients. We also use this website for guidance, the Online Database of Social Media Policies. This website has over 80 policies of  corporations, education institutions and military forces.

Once we hand the client our template we ask that they have their corporate counsel review the template and design the final policy based on the company’s standing policies.  Always have an attorney review your Social Media policy for compliance.  Failure to do so can result in legal action against your company.

Once the Social Media policy is in place we then move on to implementing a multi-tiered media campaign which we will discuss at a later date.