How to Write a Social Media Policy
Every employee knows that the company that they work for has a number of policies and procedures that they are going to have to follow if they want to keep their job. These policies exist to make sure that there is stability and order within the workplace and it helps move the business forward to success.
So when it comes to social media, there are a lot of businesses that have to make sure that important business information doesn’t leak online for their competition to see. So to make sure that this doesn’t happen, different companies create their own social media policies to make sure that they are protected.
Social Media Policy
Social Media Policy Templates for Restaurant
What is a social media policy?
Since social media is continuing to grow in influence, businesses have to make sure that they implement policies that will protect their information from leaking all over platforms like Facebook or Twitter. So a social media policy is a comprehensive document that should address how employees behave online. It’s used to show employees how they should use social media in both a professional and personal manner. It helps prevent the company’s image from going down by making sure that everyone knows what is accepted and what is not.
What you should include in your social media policy
When you’re making your social media policy, be sure that you include the following information:
Rules and regulations. This section should outline the company’s expectations when it comes to employee behavior and conduct when using social media. A good example of a rule is one that prevents employees from using any sort of profanity or controversial opinions when making posts about the company. This is also a good place for where you want to tell employees how they should share the company’s products and services and what information can and should not be shared on their social media page.
Roles and responsibilities. This section should show who is responsible for specific social media governance tasks. It’s best that you separate columns. The first column should contain specific social media responsibilities and the second column should contain the name of the person that’s responsible for governing that responsibility, such as the branch manager. So examples of the roles and responsibilities include message approval, social engagement, security and legal concerns, staff training, and much more.
Potential legal risks. This is to help your company steer clear from any sort of legal blunders. You have to make sure that your social media policy has clear guidelines for handling any areas of potential concern. Make sure that you do your research and you may even consult with a legal counsel if you want to be extra careful. A few topics that this section should cover are the following:
- Crediting sources. You should specify how your employees credit any original sources in the event that they decide to re-post or borrow content from an external source.
- Privacy and disclosure procedures. You have to be careful when you define what information is confidential and non-shareable. You might just end up with an employee announcing your company’s rebranding since you did not state that this sort of information is confidential within the policy.
- Employee disclaimers. This requires the employee to place a disclaimer whenever he or she decides to make any public comments regarding your business that identifies him or her as an employee. You may also suggest that employee place disclaimers in any public bio that’s accessible such as Twitter or LinkedIn.
Security risks. Social media sites always comes with some sort of risk. It can be anything from a phishing scam to ransomware attacks, which is why it’s really important that one has to be careful. So companies have to be very vigilant when it comes to protecting their online presence. By making employees know the presence of these threats, how to avoid them, and what to do if something happens, companies can guarantee that they have at least some sort of protection from such problems. This policy has to cover things such as :
- How to create safe and secure passwords
- Avoiding any sort of phishing, spam emails, scams, and any other malicious threats to the company
- How the employee should respond in the event of a security breach of the company’s information
Accountability. Every employee should be held responsible for whatever they post online. You have to remind them to exercise caution as well as common sense when it comes to posting about your company on their personal channels.
Benefits of social media policy
- It will help protect your company’s reputation. If you can explain to your employees how to best represent your company online, then you can be sure that these employees understand how to prevent your company’s image from being ruined. A good social media policy should also contain an explanation on what to do in the event that a mistake is made.
- It can create consistency across channels. With the use of your company’s social media policy, you can outline the expectations of both the brand voice and tone. Having a strong brand voice benefits your business as it can increase awareness, showcase your business’ personality, and help your customers connect with your business.
- It can help defend against any legal problems or risks. A well-written social media policy can help prevent legal problems as well as security risks by outlining all of the potential threats to the employees as well as ways on how to avoid them. So make sure that you properly write these out so that your employee will know what to do.
Social media is a really important part of just about everyone’s lives nowadays, so businesses have to make sure that they’re well protected from people who might post information they would rather not make public. So if you would like to know more about social media policies and how to make them, then you can go through our articles that can provide you with the information that you need, as well as the social media policy templates for when you want to make one.