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Social Media Policy Guide + Practical Examples
From a single dashboard you can publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage the audience, measure results, and more. Like many other post-secondary institutions, the University of Northern Georgia notes that its social media guidelines apply both to employees and to students. On the flip side, it’s important to define your policy for dealing with trolls or bullies. In any case, clarify whether and how employees can respond to negative feedback about your brand on social media. Whether or not you use social media at the corporate level, your employees are certainly using social in their private lives. Measure how many employees are sharing company content or contributing to advocacy campaigns.
In addition, there are sections for contractors or anyone else who is paid to contribute to Intel’s social media activity. The sixth point, social media account ownership, it really important. There have been legal disputes over who owns a social account and the followers of a company account in the past. Showcase the diversity and inclusion in your company culture through your workforce. Encourage the usage of their individual pronouns (she or her, he or him, they or their, etc.), tell them to avoid gender- or race-specific emojis and slang. These rules act as a handbook to train your employees to identify cybersecurity and privacy risks and protect your brand.
Exceptions to this rule would be information that is shared through the PR or corporate marketing teams. Any external communications related to the company’s finances should be managed through the investor relations department. Internal company information and communications are considered confidential unless explicitly noted and must not be shared, discussed or published in any way outside the company.
Legal Questions
For some businesses, the best option will be to direct the situation toward the staff trained to manage PR matters and conflict resolution. You may have members of your team responsible for crisis response, message approval, customer service, public relations management and social engagement. If someone leaves a negative comment about your brand online, make sure your employees know how to respond. Note how this section also provides the brand’s definitions of company-related information and social media. These clear distinctions ensure everyone within the organization is on the same page. Social media presents complicated considerations such as privacy law and copyright law.
If the ideal social media policy clarifies expectations while encouraging employees to participate online, then this policy is much closer to the other end of the spectrum. With nearly half a million employees worldwide affiliated with its brand, FedEx’s scale poses a challenge and an opportunity for its social media policy. Intel’s social media policy distills its policy into three rules of social media engagement. Employees should be made aware of the potential repercussions they face for violating the social media policy, which could include disciplinary actions as severe as termination. Clarify who can speak for your brand on social media, as well as what types of information cannot be shared, etiquette for interacting with commenters and how to handle customer complaints.
The policy requires employees to disclose their affiliation with Dell when posting about company-related topics and highlights the importance of safeguarding confidential data. Dell empowers its employees to be brand advocates while maintaining legal and ethical boundaries. Social media policy is a set of guidelines and rules established by an organization to govern the use of social media platforms by its employees, representatives, or members. This is another short policy that clearly specifies what people can and cannot do. Even though employees are free to use their social media accounts, they cannot share official Dell company positions. With a clear policy in place, the company protects itself while providing helpful information that its employees can use when deciding what they should or should not share.
I’ve seen agency employees post on behalf of a client and not disclose it. While other companies have disclosure guidelines in their policies, Intel takes it step further and makes sure its team knows exactly what Intel expects when it comes to FTC disclosures. There are three sections for disclosure, protect trade secrets, and use common sense.
To prevent these situations and help employees always feel confident on social media, provide a list of specific “dos” and “don’ts.” Planable’s collaboration-centric design is the right fit for teams that want to streamline communication and collaboration. Sign up to Planable, connect your social page, create your posts, and invite your team to leave feedback. Everybody can leave their thoughts in the comments right next to the post.
The scope of your policy tells the employees to whom the policy refers. Usually, a social media policy will cover all employees, from C-suite executives to regular employees. However, sometimes, it can also include freelancers and part-time employees. With a social media policy, you can prepare employees to respond appropriately and help your company avoid an unnecessary PR disaster. Although activities like commenting or posting online might seem harmless, irresponsible online behavior from your employees’ end can hurt your company’s image.
Most employees don’t act inappropriately intentionally on social media, but there may be challenging situations that they simply don’t know how to manage. Depending on your industry, there may be some topics that employees can’t legally provide advice on. There’s a fine line between a constructive debate and argumentative content. Clearly define the differences between the two so that employees feel confident engaging in discussions online. Many employees love friendly shout-outs from their co-workers, but there are also situations where a co-worker’s well-intended post makes team members feel uncomfortable. It’s also a good idea to have cybersecurity training for employees when you onboard them.
The goal of this policy is to prevent employees from posting something that would embarrass the company, disclose confidential information or land the company in legal trouble. As part of every employee’s onboarding, a member of the social team should discuss the company’s social media policies and guidelines and help any new hires set up their channels in a brand-relevant way. Share your brand’s official social media handles and specific hashtags with your employees.
This code of conduct protects your brand by giving employees a clear framework on how to behave on social media without damaging the company’s reputation. In the end, having a clear social media policy is about creating a healthy balance between personal expression and professional responsibility. It helps everyone understand the boundaries of acceptable behavior online, protecting both the company’s reputation and the individual’s personal freedom.
Even though social media has its dangers, it can also be beneficial. With a strong social media policy, you can ensure employees share information on social media that is positively related to the company. For example, you might want your employees to share information related to products, services, deals, and company updates across the company’s social media accounts. A social media policy allows you to control what is shared and how it is shared on the internet. A Social Media Policy is a crucial set of guidelines for companies to ensure safe and productive use of social media by employees.
Clear communication about monitoring practices fosters a culture of trust and accountability, where employees feel respected while also understanding the importance of maintaining professionalism online. An employee might use company-issued devices or internet access to browse social media during work hours. This is often a gray area for many businesses, but a solid social media policy would specify how company resources should be used. For example, if you’re discussing a product or service offered by your company, be sure to provide accurate information and avoid exaggeration. Always double-check facts before posting, and when in doubt, refer to your company’s marketing materials, press releases, or your manager for confirmation. Remember, anything you post online that could be perceived as an official company statement should be reviewed for accuracy.