How to Guide Social Media Policy

How to Guide Social Media Policy How-To GuideCreating a Social Media PolicyExecutive SummaryA social media policy, also known as a social networking policy, is a corporate guideline orcode of conduct designed for your employees to govern their online behavior. Socialmedia is represented by online networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ andPinterest. A policy can relate to employees who manage your corporate online presence, aswell as to employees personal use of social media. The purpose of setting forth onlinesocial policies is to set expectations and boundaries for your employees so they are awareof what appropriate behavior is and what actions will not be tolerated. These policies areimportant as to ensure your business does not encounter legal problems or publicembarrassment as a result of an employee’s online presence.Some social media policies can be very specific and lay out detailed rules for onlinenetworking, while others can be quite broad and give more flexibility. The choice isultimately yours, as the employer, to determine the best fit for your corporation’s needs.This How-To Guide will outline why you should have a social media policy, the differenttypes of policies and key components of a policy, followed by a detailed action plan onhow to create a clear, decisive and successful social media policy for your company.Why should you have a policy?As with anything in life, it is important to know what your boundaries are. So it goeswithout saying that your employees should be informed when and where the use of socialmedia and networking is deemed to be appropriate and acceptable. Contrarily, you needto communicate when the use of social media will not be tolerated. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To Guide  Identify Use Cases If you welcome the use of social networking sites during company time, it is important to be clear with your employees by identifying appropriate use cases. For example, if you allow access to a networking site such as Facebook, but use of the site is not required in an employee’s job description, you may consider it acceptable for your employee to browse the social site during coffee breaks and lunch hour. It is the responsibility of the employer to be clear about how and when social media and networking will be permitted on company property. You don’t want your employees spending hours a day chatting in the break room; similarly, you don’t want them wasting hours in their office pining away on Pinterest.  Control Messaging Another reason for creating a social media policy is to control messaging. As an employer, you want to ensure that any online discussions taking place between employees and the public are not negatively reflecting the public image of the company. Of course, you cannot monitor everything your employees say and do outside of the office, but you can monitor their online behavior. The issue here is transparency. You do not want your employees to view you as Big Brother, but subsequently, you do not want your employees expressing private corporate issues or airing the company’s “dirty laundry” online either. Ensuring that your employees are aware of their role in the corporate confidentiality agreement is a good place to start when developing your social media policy.Types of policiesThere are two basic types of social media policies: those that govern accessibility tocontent and employee use, and those that government employee behavior while online. Itis ultimately up to the employer to determine which type of policy - one, the other, orboth - to put in place. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To Guide  Identify Use Cases If you welcome the use of social networking sites during company time, it is important to be clear with your employees by identifying appropriate use cases. For example, if you allow access to a networking site such as Facebook, but use of the site is not required in an employee’s job description, you may consider it acceptable for your employee to browse the social site during coffee breaks and lunch hour. It is the responsibility of the employer to be clear about how and when social media and networking will be permitted on company property. You don’t want your employees spending hours a day chatting in the break room; similarly, you don’t want them wasting hours in their office pining away on Pinterest.  Control Messaging Another reason for creating a social media policy is to control messaging. As an employer, you want to ensure that any online discussions taking place between employees and the public are not negatively reflecting the public image of the company. Of course, you cannot monitor everything your employees say and do outside of the office, but you can monitor their online behavior. The issue here is transparency. You do not want your employees to view you as Big Brother, but subsequently, you do not want your employees expressing private corporate issues or airing the company’s “dirty laundry” online either. Ensuring that your employees are aware of their role in the corporate confidentiality agreement is a good place to start when developing your social media policy.Types of policiesThere are two basic types of social media policies: those that govern accessibility tocontent and employee use, and those that government employee behavior while online. Itis ultimately up to the employer to determine which type of policy - one, the other, orboth - to put in place. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To GuideFor example, your company may permit access, however you want to govern whenemployees may access social networking. Perhaps you only want employees to access siteslike Facebook during their down time, such as during regularly scheduled breaks or overlunch.On the flip side of this, you may also have employees that require access to social mediaas part of their job descriptions, and at this point, you would also like to govern theirbehavior online. It is important to establish guidelines about the use of the company’ssocial media. If you want to limit your employee’s use of social networking to strictlymaintain the company profile, or allow personal access as well, it is up to you as theemployer to set the boundaries.Ultimately, the goal is to make sure your employees are aware that their online behavior isbeing monitored. Negative comments about the company, fellow colleagues, or customersshould not be tolerated, but it is important to have this laid out in your social mediapolicy. It will make everyone’s life easier when you can point to out the signed policy toany employee who breaks the rules. And like in any relationship, when boundaries are set,people tend to stay and work within them. Your employees will be happier and moreproductive when they know they are being trusted and they are clear on what is expectedof them.Action Plan: Creating a Successful Social Media PolicyWhen it comes time to put together your social media policy, you should involve all keyparties in your company. This can range from your IT team and the communicationsdepartment, to human resources. You should also include all of your senior managers asnot everyone may share the same views on what is acceptable online behavior. It will be abalancing act to ensure everyone’s concerns are addressed, but if you are open mindedand work with your employees, you will be able to reach a policy that is clear, decisive, andfair. Remember these important factors: © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To GuideFor example, your company may permit access, however you want to govern whenemployees may access social networking. Perhaps you only want employees to access siteslike Facebook during their down time, such as during regularly scheduled breaks or overlunch.On the flip side of this, you may also have employees that require access to social mediaas part of their job descriptions, and at this point, you would also like to govern theirbehavior online. It is important to establish guidelines about the use of the company’ssocial media. If you want to limit your employee’s use of social networking to strictlymaintain the company profile, or allow personal access as well, it is up to you as theemployer to set the boundaries.Ultimately, the goal is to make sure your employees are aware that their online behavior isbeing monitored. Negative comments about the company, fellow colleagues, or customersshould not be tolerated, but it is important to have this laid out in your social mediapolicy. It will make everyone’s life easier when you can point to out the signed policy toany employee who breaks the rules. And like in any relationship, when boundaries are set,people tend to stay and work within them. Your employees will be happier and moreproductive when they know they are being trusted and they are clear on what is expectedof them.Action Plan: Creating a Successful Social Media PolicyWhen it comes time to put together your social media policy, you should involve all keyparties in your company. This can range from your IT team and the communicationsdepartment, to human resources. You should also include all of your senior managers asnot everyone may share the same views on what is acceptable online behavior. It will be abalancing act to ensure everyone’s concerns are addressed, but if you are open mindedand work with your employees, you will be able to reach a policy that is clear, decisive, andfair. Remember these important factors: © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To Guide1. Be Broad  Make sure your policy is wide enough to not only govern the actions of employees on your corporate pages, but also hold them responsible for their personal use as well.  Reference your confidentiality agreement when reminding the employee they are not to divulge private company matters as well as not to remark negatively about the company in an online public forum.  Ensure that your policy is broad enough so that it not only covers current social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) but that it includes any future developed websites that would fall under the social network umbrella.2. Know the Risks  Your employees should know the associated risks that come with the use of social media.  Remind employees not to disclose personal or corporate information should be included in your policy.  Inform your employees that senior management is also there for support - if an employee feels that an online situation has augmented to the point of needing intervention, make them feel comfortable in approaching a manager for assistance. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To Guide1. Be Broad  Make sure your policy is wide enough to not only govern the actions of employees on your corporate pages, but also hold them responsible for their personal use as well.  Reference your confidentiality agreement when reminding the employee they are not to divulge private company matters as well as not to remark negatively about the company in an online public forum.  Ensure that your policy is broad enough so that it not only covers current social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) but that it includes any future developed websites that would fall under the social network umbrella.2. Know the Risks  Your employees should know the associated risks that come with the use of social media.  Remind employees not to disclose personal or corporate information should be included in your policy.  Inform your employees that senior management is also there for support - if an employee feels that an online situation has augmented to the point of needing intervention, make them feel comfortable in approaching a manager for assistance. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To Guide3. Include Disclaimers  Along with knowing the risks, your employees should also know that that privilege comes with responsibility. Your employees are ultimately responsible for the content they post online.  Remind your staff to use proper judgment before posting in an open forum and encourage staff to use disclaimers if and when they are posting using the company name.4. Define Acceptable Use  Define when and how social media is to be accessed.  State that the online activity should not interfere with daily responsibilities and if social networking is found to be causing an interruption, then an employee’s access may be limited or removed entirely.  Remind your employees that acceptable use of social media means that all activity should remain legal and time is not to be spent downloading pirated software or videos, or harassing other people online.5. Define Business vs. Personal Use  If you want to use the same social media policy for your entire company, chances are the policy will affect employees who are required to use social media as part of their job description and those who do not. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To Guide3. Include Disclaimers  Along with knowing the risks, your employees should also know that that privilege comes with responsibility. Your employees are ultimately responsible for the content they post online.  Remind your staff to use proper judgment before posting in an open forum and encourage staff to use disclaimers if and when they are posting using the company name.4. Define Acceptable Use  Define when and how social media is to be accessed.  State that the online activity should not interfere with daily responsibilities and if social networking is found to be causing an interruption, then an employee’s access may be limited or removed entirely.  Remind your employees that acceptable use of social media means that all activity should remain legal and time is not to be spent downloading pirated software or videos, or harassing other people online.5. Define Business vs. Personal Use  If you want to use the same social media policy for your entire company, chances are the policy will affect employees who are required to use social media as part of their job description and those who do not. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To Guide For example, the same policy can be used in the marketing department (common access) as well as used in the accounting department (minimal access).  Define when approvals are required for posting and the disclaimers mentioned above.  Define who the owner of the account is - when posting on the corporate Facebook page, the owner is clearly the company, when posting personally, the owner is the employee themselves.Your policy should be clear, concise, and easily accessible to all employees. The best wayto achieve this is to have your employee sign a copy of the policy when they are signingtheir contract and confidentiality agreement. Giving a copy of the policy to all staffmembers will ensure that everyone is clearly informed. It is also important to advise youremployees of the consequences for breaching any of the rules set forth in your socialmedia policy. If there are no repercussions, then there is no incentive to follow theguidelines in the first place.Now that you have a good understanding of why you need a social media policy, thedifferent types of policies and the key components of a policy, use our Social MediaPolicy and Guidelines Template to help you create reasonable guidelines for onlinebehavior by employees and contractors who use social media on behalf of your company. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To Guide For example, the same policy can be used in the marketing department (common access) as well as used in the accounting department (minimal access).  Define when approvals are required for posting and the disclaimers mentioned above.  Define who the owner of the account is - when posting on the corporate Facebook page, the owner is clearly the company, when posting personally, the owner is the employee themselves.Your policy should be clear, concise, and easily accessible to all employees. The best wayto achieve this is to have your employee sign a copy of the policy when they are signingtheir contract and confidentiality agreement. Giving a copy of the policy to all staffmembers will ensure that everyone is clearly informed. It is also important to advise youremployees of the consequences for breaching any of the rules set forth in your socialmedia policy. If there are no repercussions, then there is no incentive to follow theguidelines in the first place.Now that you have a good understanding of why you need a social media policy, thedifferent types of policies and the key components of a policy, use our Social MediaPolicy and Guidelines Template to help you create reasonable guidelines for onlinebehavior by employees and contractors who use social media on behalf of your company. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How-To GuideBottom LineA clear and decisive social media policy helps build employer and employeeconfidence. When your employees know what is expected of them, they will be happierand more productive. The flip side of this is true as well: as an employer, you can restassured that your team is aware of the limitations and guidelines set forth by yourcompany regarding the use of social media. No one has ever benefited from lack of clarity,so when you are honest and upfront with your employees about your expectations andtheir responsibilities, everybody wins. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How-To GuideBottom LineA clear and decisive social media policy helps build employer and employeeconfidence. When your employees know what is expected of them, they will be happierand more productive. The flip side of this is true as well: as an employer, you can restassured that your team is aware of the limitations and guidelines set forth by yourcompany regarding the use of social media. No one has ever benefited from lack of clarity,so when you are honest and upfront with your employees about your expectations andtheir responsibilities, everybody wins. © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How to Guide Social Media Policy