What should a social media policy contain?
Social media behavior policy is an official legal document or set of rules (in smaller companies) that defines the rights and obligations of employees in social media. It not only shows what is allowed and what absolutely cannot be written on the Internet, but also what goals the company has for its presence in it. It defines the extent to which employees use access to social media during working hours and more. Creating such a document or even a set of rules for a smaller organization is absolutely necessary to maintain a consistent corporate brand strategy on social media and secure all risk factors associated with the presence of employees in this place. In business practice, I meet two extremes related to this topic. When I ask if there is such a document in the company, I receive information that there is although, no one has read it. I fully understand why this is happening. It is several dozen pages, often in English, and in addition the text is full of legal jargon (also in English). I don’t want to be rude, because I really value the work of lawyers, but volunteers to read it are unlikely to be found. Not to mention the application. For this reason, very often people in the company are not active, because they are afraid that there is definitely a paragraph on them in this document. It is therefore better not to lean out. The other extreme is free American and spontaneous action. There are no rules and regulations. Everyone does what they want. An excellent base for the crisis, and not only for the image. For this reason, when working with clients, work out a solution that will allow you to implement policies, but at the same time will be easy to enforce.
#WaznePytania – 10 points that any social media policy should have:
- Why do you need a social media policy?
- What does the company use social media for?
- What are the official social media channels and accounts?
- Who can speak on behalf of the company?
- What guidelines apply to employees on social media?
- What are the best „Do’s” and „Dont’s” for social media?
- Do you encourage you to be a company ambassador?
- How to deal with (positive or negative) comments, hate?
- Do you write openly about who you work for?
- Are there any topics covered by trade secrets?
Source: „Authentic personal branding”; Author: Angelika Chimkowska
