5 Tips to Creating a Great Social Media Policy

Creating a social media policy is an important part of your overall social media strategy. Take a look at these 5 tips for writing a social media policy.

So you’ve (finally) decided to unleash your employees into the crazy world of social media. While we applaud you for taking a step towards embracing social media for your business, it’s also important to have a policy in place to help prevent mishaps from occurring. Take a look at the NYPD’s new social media rules for its police force.

know the rules of your social media policyHere are 5 important things to consider when creating your company’s social media policy:

1. Be specific

The better you can explain what social media practices are acceptable and unacceptable, the less room for error you create for your employees. Give detailed examples and pictures to help get everyone at your company on the same page.

2. Personal account conduct

Remind your employees that unless they have it set otherwise, their social media profiles are completely visible to the online world. Any remarks they make against people at work or the company can be seen by the public. These posts could lead to severe consequences if the material is disrespectful or hateful.

To remind people that your employee’s personal thoughts and posts are their own, encourage them to add a disclaimer to their profile. This helps the public easily distinguish the difference between work and personal accounts.

3. Employee authorization

Make an outline of who will represent your company’s social media profiles and their specific responsibilities on each account. Those in charge of your social media accounts should have a separate manual they can access that goes into more detail about the process of talking with customers and dealing with online disasters.

4. Coordination is key

Be sure to talk with other departments when drafting your social media policy. It should be a no brainer that your legal team will have to review your social media policy, but don’t forget to include other departments such as IT or Human Resources in the conversation – they could have some valuable input that you’ve forgotten all about.

5. Update frequently

Social media by its nature changes frequently, so expect to visit and revise your policy often. Even if nothing remarkable has happened in the news, try to set aside time every couple months to make sure your policy isn’t missing an important update.

Does your company have a social media policy? What are other important things to consider?

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