One of the biggest challenges facing companies in respect to social media is employee misuse, abuse, and overuse. The question of the moment is, Should Employees Access Social Media at the Office?
These issues may come in a variety of forms to include an employee:
- Posting something that is a negative reflection on the company and damages the brand
- Posting confidential information (perhaps unintentionally)
- Spending/wasting too much time on Twitter or Facebook and cutting into productivity
- Unwittingly downloading an application that endangers the business’s IT environment (or just clicking on a bad link in a direct message)
These are all legitimate cause for concern. But does this mean your company should steer clear of social media?
Not necessarily. Customers and prospects have a growing expectation that a business will not only have presence on the social web, but also, be present. Just saying no and blocking access to social networking destinations may do significantly more harm than you realize.
Here are 7 tips for creating a corporate social media policy to help you address areas of concern in a sensible manner and reduce the overall risk for your company.
1. Extend existing policies
Your company may have a non-disclosure policy about confidential and proprietary information. Be sure to inform employees that these rules also apply to their social media activities. The same is true if your company has a policy forbidding employees from publicly disparaging competitors.
Simply consider that you don’t necessarily need to come up with a whole new list of policies and procedures. Evaluate your existing employee handbook and make amendments there first. These rules are already understood and followed, so wrapping social media into the mix makes things that much easier to enforce.
2. Set rules for when an employee can act as a representative of the company
If an employee has a personal blog separate from what’s sanctioned by corporate communications, but which concerns the industry in which your business operates, ask the employee to post a disclaimer stating the contents of his/her blog are personal opinions and do not reflect those of current or former employers.
Of course, if there is no logical connection to be made between the two — say your company develops software and the employee’s blog is about cooking — there’s likely no need for this request.
Meanwhile, if employee activity on social media is intended to represent the voice of the company, it’s OK for the employee to identify a work title (e.g. Marketing Manager for ABC Corp.). If the comment is strictly personal, then omit the company connection.
3. Nix a ban: establish guidelines for personal use of social media
While it may be tempting to ban personal use while on the company clock it’s impossible to enforce this edict, especially when you consider the prevalence of smartphones.
Also, some people now use social media instead of making personal phone calls or personal emails — unless you prohibit those at work, you should allow leeway for social media. It’s suggested that you set reasonable restrictions in alignment with your existing personal usage computer policy, but avoid banning it all together.
4. Let everyone know if you’re monitoring
If you monitor employee use of social media let everyone know about it. Any disciplinary actions that may be taken due to breach of company protocol should be clearly spelled out.
5. Make social media an extension of your corporate culture
Social media may be relatively new, but it is a tremendously powerful tool now available to you in your communications arsenal. Your policy should be written in a way that reflects your current branding, corporate culture, and communications strategy.
6. Ensure employees are aware of guidelines
Policies are for naught if no one knows they exist. Be sure to adequately communicate your social media code of conduct. Send an email to current employees about the policy and prominently post it on the company intranet. Include these same details in new employee information packages.
7. Be flexible
Stay on top of developing industry best practices and adjust policies, as necessary.
Additional resources for ideas and information on social media policies:
Social Media Governance Policy Database
Social Media Policies gathered by The Altimeter Group
40 Social Media Staff Guidelines (from blog by Laurel Papworth)
How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive
About the B2Bblogger
Deni Kasrel is a seasoned (slightly spicy) strategic communications specialist. She helps companies build their brands and engage with communities so they can sell more stuff. Having enjoyed a fruitful eclectic career, Deni is versed in both traditional and digital communications, with special emphasis on content strategy, website development and social media marketing. You may contact Deni via LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter @dkasrel, or visit her blog: The Communications Strategist.
