Your social media policy will be one of the most important documents your company will have. It is a living document that can be updated regularly, since social media changes rapidly.
Time and again, we’ve seen many social media channels come to the fore one day, then quickly disappear in a short period of time. Even the survivors, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Flickr etc. – make changes that can affect your company’s social media communications.
As you sit down to create your social media policy, you will be asking yourself many questions, such as “What is the definition of social media?”, “Who will be using social media in my company?”, or “How can I fully control what is being communicated through social media?”
To help you create your own social media policy, here are some examples from Social Media Governance of what companies like adidas, Abbott, IBM and many other companies and organizations have done.
Like your company’s HR handbook, your social media policy will be presented to your new hire at the beginning of employment. Of course, if your current employees will have received the social media policy as soon as it is crafted and agreed upon by all the relevant departments involved – Marketing & Communications, HR, Legal and IT.
A social media policy will encourage responsible online behavior that will benefit both your brand and your customer, or anyone who reads any of your communications. The most common sense to use in social media is common sense.
As Dena Lorenzi said, “Beware of the global implications.”
