Insisting on a social media policy for your company

Increasing a company’s visibility on social media platforms may have both positive and negative effects. Positively, companies leverage social media to increase consumer awareness of their products and services, expand the client base, and deepen existing relationships. Misuse of the channels, however, may have a devastating effect on the company’s reputation and, by extension, its ability to do business.

This is why a business needs a thorough social media policy with clearly laid out principles and best practises to help safeguard and grow its brand. You face the danger of being humiliated by your employees’ social media posts if you don’t have a clear policy in place, and you also run the chance of being sued for libel if you don’t.

Constituents of an Effective Social Media Policy

A social media policy is a set of guidelines for how your company and its internal stakeholders (your workers) should behave when using social networking sites. It’s adaptable to the shifting conditions of society and provides clear, concise guidance.

You may be certain that your brand’s reputation and your social media marketing efforts will be safe under the guidelines of the policy.

Let’s analyse what makes a social media policy effective and thorough.

Establish Personal and Professional Boundaries

People’s internet sharing habits may have both positive and bad effects on a company’s public image. The policy you have in place for using social media should reflect this given.

Social media posts that hurt the company’s reputation should be listed as cause for dismissal in the company’s policy. Most organisations warn their workers to exercise caution before sharing company-related information on social media. Yet you should still make it clear what kinds of posts you won’t tolerate. Defamatory or racist material, or any other material likely to cause offence, is not permitted. Obviously, there are certain things that will be left out.

Retain the Secrecy of Sensitive Material

The policy has to make it clear that employees are prohibited from using social media to discuss sensitive topics including sales figures, profits, and compensation. Furthermore, using your company’s network to browse social media might leave your system vulnerable to viruses and malware.

Hackers may get access to sensitive data throughout your firm as a result of this security incident. Sensitive client information, such as payment and contact data, might be compromised in addition to login passwords. If customers stopped believing in the firm, it would suffer serious PR damage.

Your social media policy should inform workers not to fall for click-bait links, and your network security should block users from making direct downloads from social media. When it comes to social media management, prevention is always preferable to cure.

Assign A Spokesman

Who may and can’t use the company’s social media accounts is spelled out in detail in the company’s social media policy. While this list should remain concise, it should nevertheless include representatives from critical business functions like customer service, sales, and marketing.
Establishing a designated spokesman or “brand voice” is also recommended. Usually, this would be the company’s social media manager, however smaller businesses may choose to nominate an employee.

In any case, it’s crucial that the brand’s chosen spokesperson has a firm grasp of the brand’s identity and is conversant with the company’s stance on social media. Having them take a test can help you gauge how much they understand.

Nevertheless, you shouldn’t settle for simply asking them to list your brand’s tenets on social media. Check out their practical application of the concepts they’ve learned instead. Challenge them with real-world scenarios and discover how they would respond. See the following for some examples of questions:

• Someone on Facebook complains that we provide a subpar service and suggests that our customers go elsewhere. What course of action would you recommend?
• Someone on social media complained that they received a flawed product. Your advice, please.
• One of our marketing efforts gets criticised on social media. Describe your reaction.

The best way to determine if an applicant has the necessary level of social media expertise for the job is to ask them a series of situation-based questions.

Make a set of rules on how to talk politics on social media

Anybody engaging in business-related social media activity is required to identify themselves in accordance with the law. To ensure that all communications, whether spoken, written, or visual, are “on brand” in terms of content and style, it is important that the standards in your social media policy establish the company’s story and style explicitly.

Yet, depending on the nature of the discussion at hand, it may be necessary for employees to provide their thoughts and opinions on occasion. Each and every time, the worker is obligated to state, “this is my personal view,” before making any such remarks. If an employee’s personal viewpoint contradicts that of the brand, he or she should either refrain from talking or side with the brand.

As an extra precaution, you may want to have your staff members include a disclaimer in their online profiles. For instance, they may choose to include a disclaimer in their About section stating that all content presented on the site is the author’s own opinion. A simple disclaimer like “The views stated in this account are mine alone and do not in any way reflect the views of my employer” would do.

Instruct Your Workers

When employees are provided with the proper education and resources, they are better able to contribute to the company’s marketing initiatives. Boosting branded content and fostering relationships with customers and prospects are two ways in which staff members may utilise social media to increase brand visibility.

While instructing your staff, keep the following in mind.

One, include social media into your established practises. Get the word out about your policy, highlight any achievements, and inspire people to join in.

You should always think on the final result before you begin.   Do you want to recruit raving fans for your product? Maybe you’re looking to expand your customer base and promote your company’s name. Having well-defined objectives will aid in the creation of an effective training plan.