What is a social media policy and why do you need one?

Social media has a huge impact on the way potential clients become aware of, perceive and interact with businesses, and in many ways, blurs the line between business and personal interest. A social media policy is necessary to set parameters for  employee use of social media (not only during, but also outside work hours), and (if relevant) to  set  benchmarks for any social media posts concerning your business, that positively engage the customer.

What is a social media policy?

A social media policy establishes expectations for  employee use of social media platforms on behalf of the business, as well their own personal use of social media during work hours or outside of work where that use is connected with the business in some way. The policy must be general enough to cover blogs and microblogs, social networks, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking sites, forums and discussion boards, and photo and video sharing. The policy should make clear that the organisation, and its employees as representatives of the organisation, are responsible and accountable for their actions on social media, and that any related online activity – either by  way of personal use or on behalf of the business – will reflect on the business and also on the employee.

Your social media policy should be compatible with your other policies regarding other business practices. It should clearly establish which employees have authority to create social media posts on behalf of the organisation and set the same high standard for quality communication with clients and business associates as your policies regarding email etiquette and use of information technology in general. Include templates, and design lay-outs if specific design detail is desired. Compliance with professional rules of conduct and ethics should inform your social media policy; insist your employees be professional, respectful and discreet and that posts be informative, direct, and add value to the business, and that any social media posts (whether made by the employee in the course of their employment or outside of work hours) should never bring the organisation into disrepute. Make it clear that a failure to comply with the social media policy may have disciplinary consequences for the employee.

It is advisable to make your social media policy short and succinct, so that employees actually read it.

Why you need a social media policy:

Productivity:

As a business owner, you must ensure employees’ online activities do not interfere with work commitments. It is important you are not paying someone a wage just so they can come to work and spend the whole day chatting with friends on Facebook, or scrolling Instagram for personal benefit. Your policy may state that unless the employee is a social media manager, social media must not affect job performance. A good social media policy should promote the use of social media during work hours only for marketing reasons, and allow you to keep track of what your and employees are tweeting and posting about. Employees should understand that your business can and will monitor their use of social media and social networking web sites, including when they are away from the office.

You may allow employees to associate themselves with your company when posting for personal use, but direct that posts must not be derogatory to the business and that they brand their online posts as personal and purely their own.

If employee use of social media is causing an unproductive workplace, or you think it is hindering creativity, you may perhaps consider banning employees from accessing their personal social media sites at work completely in your policy, and put blocking technology in place even if the blocks are lifted at certain times of the day, e.g. lunch hours.

Marketing and customer relations:

The policy needs to ensure posts bring necessary value to your business; either to frame the conversation around specific issues, to ensure the organisation’s position is heard and commented on, or to build buzz for upcoming products or services. Social media should be engaged to promote healthy and honest discourse with readers or viewers.Require that your employees verify any questionable content with credible sources before posting or tweeting about it. It’s important to be aware that complaints made about your business via social media are public and will reflect badly on your business if not dealt with efficiently, and so your social media strategy must include how complaints should be dealt with to preserve public relations, and use them to find and fix problems to create more satisfied customers.

The policy should also focus on what employees can do to leverage new media appropriately for your individual business. Require posts be authentic and trustworthy, and prohibit the inclusion of any confidential or proprietary information of the business such as client details, business associates or business intelligence without requisite approval. Include a reminder that your business privacy policy standards apply. Likely readers of your social media posts include current and potential future clients, business associates, and current, past and future employees, so your policy must ensure these groups are not at all alienated by your business’ social media.

Make clear that dishonourable content such as racial, ethnic, sexual, religious and physical disability slurs will not be tolerated and that breach of these standards will have disciplinary consequences.

Intellectual property rules:

Your policy must legally protect your business by bringing issues of Intellectual property and privacy to employees’ attention. In relation to copyrights and fair use, require that posts always give proper credit for copyright works, and that employees check they have the right to use something with attribution before publishing. Direct that trademark protection, trade practices, and advertising rules apply, and what this means for social media posts in relation to your business.

Alert employees they must not disclose confidential or proprietary information online. Content relating to sensitive company information, such as that found within internal business networks, should not be shared to the outside online community. Divulging information such as business research, designs, internal operations or financial or legal matters should be prohibited, as well as any information that pertains to clients and customers, strategies, forecasts, or future promotions. Your social media policy should state that employees who share confidential or proprietary information may risk losing their job, or becoming a defendant in a civil lawsuit, or in the very least cause question as to the employee’s capability together with potential disciplinary consequences under their employment agreement.

Your policy should give direction for what action is to be taken if a mistake is made online. Require that the particular employee responsible for the error  correct it immediately, and clearly communicates to management what has been done to fix it, and to inform the social media team (if there is one) if there is still a problem. Reserve your business’ right to edit or amend any misleading or inaccurate content depicted in blog posts, as well as the right to delete blog posts either personal or professional that violate your code of conduct.

If social networks are used by your business to a large extent, you should appoint site administrators to develop content, manage posts, monitor  social media policy compliance and respond to any external negative or inaccurate comments. Errors in content, spelling and grammar should be corrected quickly and consistency in style should be maintained to make sure your business maintains a highly professional image online at all times.   

This is general advice only. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. 

Published Oct 9, 2017

Clifton Hill Jessica Kerr Sinclair + May jessica@sinclairmay.com.au

Jessica Kerr is the Director of Sinclair + May, a female-led, boutique commercial law firm based in Melbourne’s inner north.  Sinclair + May work with small businesses to ensure their legals are in order. Book a free 15-min chat here to talk with one of our solicitors.

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