Creating a Social Media Policy will define a straightforward path for your organization. Why is this important? As you know, policies help people in your organization understand your expectations – the simplest policy defines the workday. What time they are to arrive, take lunch and depart.
A Social Media Policy can be simple or comprehensive. Having one in place will make apparent whether its use is acceptable and, if so, what is appropriate.
Here are 10 items to consider when developing such a policy:
1. Your organization’s philosophy
Your company philosophy should translate well into your policies. If you pride yourself on flexibility, it should be reflected in the policy; the same would hold true for a company that holds its privacy close. The BBC Policy does a good job of stating their philosophy of engagement and flexibility.
2. The definition of social or emerging media
Define the scope of social media tools, what they are, and what they mean. Blogging, while not essentially “new” is still considered emerging media. Your definition should extend into all areas, from networking (LinkedIn, Facebook) to reviews (Yelp) to social bookmarking (Digg, StumbleUpon). Be detailed enough that executives and employees alike understand the various areas, yet broad enough to encompass new items that will arise in the future. In their introduction, Intel defines emerging media as “creating or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off intel.com.” Concluding with that open-ended sentence and spanning to include both Intel-based media outlets as well as personal ones keeps the definition broad and all-inclusive.
3. The definition of representative
Who do your employees represent online: your business or themselves? This can be a gray area. For example, many people include their employer on their Facebook profile. If an employee is allowed to represent the business in online discussions, have guidelines in place as how to best represent the company. Twitter is a tool where the individual’s name is often identified yet the message may be the company’s. Having a clear policy regarding messaging is very important in this case, as is a path to follow when this employee is no longer in your employ. Dell’s Online Communication Policy provides employees with guidelines to use when explicitly representing the company.
4. Discussion of/with clients or customers
Address talking about clients and customers online, what is appropriate and what is not. You should also include information about communicating with clients and customers through social media. For example, do you want your employees to befriend clients, customers or even vendors on Facebook? If not, what is your policy if a client or vendor adds the employee as a friend? CBC has a good policy surrounding this concept.
5. Sharing company information
Create parameters as to what is appropriate to share and what is not. If an employee is considering writing something about the company, they’ll likely have questions. Having a policy in place that defines suitable topics and topics to avoid will help guide the employee in their writing. Sun Microsystems keeps it simple with the headline “Don’t Tell Secrets.”
6. Appropriate language
Insist in your policy that employees be respectful, that they define their tone, and they always re-read to ensure their messages (especially sensitive responses) are conveyed sincerely and appropriately. Since conversing online lacks the nuances of inâ€person conversations, responses, posts and other forms of social interaction can, at times, be deceiving. What may be an honest response to negative criticism might come across as sarcastic or even rude if tone isn’t taken into consideration. The BBC Policy section on tone of voice addresses the sensitive nature of responding.
7. Personal use at work
What are employees allowed to do during the workday and during breaks? You may see no issue with them using their personal computer or cell phone to blog, check e-mail or monitor their social networks during lunch. What about monitoring throughout the day? You’ll want something in place to address this. It is also an appropriate area to communicate your position on the use of company equipment for personal social interaction when it does not relate to the organization.
8. Following the guidelines
Communicating your process is ideal. Having your guidelines accessible so your employees can refer to them at will is important. You may wish to post them online, on a company wiki, or as a downloadable PDF on your intranet. Or you may simply want to store them in a PDF on the company server. The advantage to having them online is that it gives your employees the ability to reference them easily from home if they have a question while engaging in social media on personal time.
9. A point person
Your employees will likely continue to have questions about whether an item is or isn’t acceptable according to your policy. This should be expected as emerging media and its use is new. Select a point person who can help employees with gray areas that will inevitably arise. This person should have a solid understanding of the company philosophy, a grasp of social media, and its impact. The point person could be the same person who manages and moderates your business blog. If you have a PR department or person who manages PR within your organization, they would also be a perfect choice.
10. Disciplinary action
Consequences should be stated clearly. Many companies include a scope, from limited disciplinary action to termination of employment with possible legal action (for strict breaches). IBM leaves this open with “there are always consequences to what you publish” in the policy section titled Use Your Best Judgment.
Final note - transparency is important. Maintain oversight and utilize available tools for monitoring. And, like your company, the new should evolve over time.