Does your company have a policy on use of social media?

As we develop social media campaigns for our clients, we often ask them to encourage their employees to support the campaign by sharing it with their friends, adding comments and just generally getting involved.

But sometimes that brings up a hairy question: Do we want our employees on social media saying they work for us? What if Sally’s wild night out reflects badly on the company? What if she publicly says something negative about a client on Facebook or Twitter?

So we sometimes help companies draft an internal social media policy. But before I go into the meat of those policies, let me first and foremost say I am a big proponent of the more people participating in social media on your behalf, the better. I believe in openness in social media, and that means taking a risk sometimes that someone will do or say something negative. And believe me, they will! But to me, the positives of being on social media and the goodwill and customer service and awareness it fosters are way worth the couple of negatives.

Now, that being said, I still can’t convince some companies of my views, soooo … we help them craft a policy to help them feel more secure that they’re protected in the event that negative post happens.

What should you put in an employee social media policy?

What information shouldn’t an employee share on social media? Company financial data, trade information, internal documents?

Can your employees mention that they are employed by you? If they do mention that, do they need to share that account with you?

If they do mention an affiliation, provide some guidelines for good social media etiquette. They might include:

• Remember that whatever you do or say is in some way representing your company for good or bad.

• Never post any information about the company unless you have seen it released publicly by the PR/marketing department or on the company Twitter account or company blog.
  

• Post the following disclaimer: “The opinions listed here don’t reflect those of my employer.”

• Speak in first person to indicate you are speaking your opinions and not those of the company.

• Avoid insults or inappropriate language.

• Remember that everything you post is publicly indexed online; don’t post anything you wouldn’t want the world, including your boss, your clients and your mom, to see.

• Contribute intelligent, thoughtful material and be professional!

• Be authentic, transparent and truthful.

• Social media, unless it is furthering your work, should not interfere with your work time and should be done on personal time.

I think we can find a happy medium here to satisfy employers without majorly restricting employees, and then you can give your employees the chance to support the company’s social media efforts. And if they support you, by gosh, reward them!

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