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What You Need to Cover on Your Social Media Policy

How to Write a Social Media Policy

Keep your brand’s integrity safe on social media with a strong social media policy.

Writing a Social Media Policy

It’s a good practice for companies to have a social media policy. By documenting your expectations you make it easier for yourself, your social media manager and your employees, to promote your brand on social media while avoiding behaviors that could damage your brand. But how much detail should a social media policy have?

Ideally, your social media policy should address two segments: your employees and the company’s official accounts. Here’s a guideline of what you should include in your social media policy.

How to Behave on Social MediaOnline Behavior

This section should specify how you expect your company’s accounts and your employees to behave online when posting about your company. Things like the tone and personality that should be used, or the way to talk about your services or products, how to respond to comments whether they’re good or bad, and what should and should not be shared on social media.

Social Media Governance

You should clearly define the responsibilities around social media and the person responsible for each task. Here are some responsibilities you can include:

  • Staff training
  • Customer service
  • Post approval
  • Legal Concerns

If you have a social media manager, some of these responsibilities would be assigned to that person.

Engage Through Facebook with a Great Business PageLegal Risks or Concerns

Anything that you consider a risk for your company on social media should be addressed in this section. It’s a good idea to have legal guidance when working on this part. Here are some topic ideas you could cover in this section:

  • Managing Privacy: Determine what type of information is considered confidential or restricted for use on social media.
  • Use of employee disclaimers: Using disclaimers can prevent negative impressions online. You can request your employees to add a disclaimer to their posts when they’re publicly commenting on things that are related to your company, to make it clear that their opinions don’t necessarily reflect your own.
  • Crediting sources: Define the correct way to use content from other sources. Image copyright could be a topic to tackle.

 

Your social media policy is a guideline for your employees and your official accounts, to best represent your brand on social media. Keep in mind that this document doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages long. A couple of pages with specific directions is much easier to digest and easier to follow. Remember that the idea of this is to make it easier for your employees to promote your brand on social media while keeping your integrity online. Avoid turning this document into a What Not to Do on Social Media type of document, as this can discourage use of social media.

Is your business in need of a social media manager that can increase your online presence and give your business a boost? Impressions Agency can help. Contact us today for more information.

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