How-To Guide

Creating a Social Media Policy

Executive Summary
A social media policy, also known as a social networking policy, is a corporate guideline or
code of conduct designed for your employees to govern their online behavior. Social
media is represented by online networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and
Pinterest. A policy can relate to employees who manage your corporate online presence, as
well as to employees personal use of social media. The purpose of setting forth online
social policies is to set expectations and boundaries for your employees so they are aware
of what appropriate behavior is and what actions will not be tolerated. These policies are
important as to ensure your business does not encounter legal problems or public
embarrassment as a result of an employees online presence.

Some social media policies can be very specific and lay out detailed rules for online
networking, while others can be quite broad and give more flexibility. The choice is
ultimately yours, as the employer, to determine the best fit for your corporations needs.

This How-To Guide will outline why you should have a social media policy, the different
types of policies and key components of a policy, followed by a detailed action plan on
how 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 goes
without saying that your employees should be informed when and where the use of social
media and networking is deemed to be appropriate and acceptable. Contrarily, you need
to communicate when the use of social media will not be tolerated.

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 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 employees 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 dont want your
employees spending hours a day chatting in the break room; similarly, you dont
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 companys 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 policies
There are two basic types of social media policies: those that govern accessibility to
content and employee use, and those that govern employee behavior while online. It is
ultimately up to the employer to determine which type of policy - one, the other, or both -
to put in place.

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 How-To Guide
For example, your company may permit access, however you want to govern when
employees may access social networking. Perhaps you only want employees to access sites
like Facebook during their down time, such as during regularly scheduled breaks or over
lunch.

On the flip side of this, you may also have employees that require access to social media
as part of their job descriptions, and at this point, you would also like to govern their
behavior online. It is important to establish guidelines about the use of the companys
social media. If you want to limit your employees use of social networking to strictly
maintaining the company profile, or allow personal access as well, it is up to you as the
employer to set the boundaries.

Ultimately, the goal is to make sure your employees are aware that their online behavior is
being monitored. Negative comments about the company, fellow colleagues, or customers
should not be tolerated, but it is important to have this laid out in your social media
policy. It will make everyones life easier when you can point to out the signed policy to
any 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 more
productive when they know they are being trusted and they are clear on what is expected
of them.

Action Plan: Creating a Successful Social Media Policy

When it comes time to put together your social media policy, you should involve all key
parties in your company. This can range from your IT team and the communications
department, to human resources. You should also include all of your senior managers as
not everyone may share the same views on what is acceptable online behavior. It will be a
balancing act to ensure everyones concerns are addressed, but if you are open minded
and work with your employees, you will be able to reach a policy that is clear, decisive, and
fair. Remember these important factors:

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 How-To Guide
1. 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 Guide
3. 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
employees 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.

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 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 way
to achieve this is to have your employee sign a copy of the policy when they are signing
their contract and confidentiality agreement. Giving a copy of the policy to all staff
members will ensure that everyone is clearly informed. It is also important to advise your
employees of the consequences for breaching any of the rules set forth in your social
media policy. If there are no repercussions, then there is no incentive to follow the
guidelines in the first place.

Now that you have a good understanding of why you need a social media policy, the
different types of policies and the key components of a policy, use our Social Media
Policy and Guidelines Template to help you create reasonable guidelines for online
behavior by employees and contractors who use social media on behalf of your company.

2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 How-To Guide

Bottom Line
A clear and decisive social media policy helps build employer and employee
confidence. When your employees know what is expected of them, they will be happier
and more productive. The flip side of this is true as well: as an employer, you can rest
assured that your team is aware of the limitations and guidelines set forth by your
company 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 and
their responsibilities, everybody wins.

2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.