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How To Draft A Social Media Policy For Your Company

John Trader – Communications Specialist, Public Relations and Social Media,

M2SYS Technology

If tweeting during the presentation, please use hash tag #smpolicy

@John_Trader1 @m2sys john@m2sys.com

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Agenda

• Why Let Employees use Social Media?• Why Have a Social Media Policy?• Elements of an Effective Social Media Policy

o Policy and Platformso Imageo Etiquetteo Communityo Common Occuranceso Respect and Protecto Productivity and Valueo Monitoring

• Resources

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“With great power comes great responsibility.”

-- Uncle Ben, Spiderman

Why let Employees use Social Media?

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Why let Employees use Social Media?

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Why let Employees use Social Media?

What Does Social Media Mean?

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Why let Employees use Social Media?

• Leverage your brand

• More customers and prospects use social media

• Employee retention and hiring

• Engaged employees are more valuable

• Reinforces a strong, positive culture

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Why let Employees use Social Media?

• Trust employees to make the right decisions

• Accountability

• Millennials expectations

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Why have a Social Media Policy?

• Employees are digital footprint

• Allows you to spell out company’s beliefs

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Why have a Social Media Policy?

• Where are the opportunity and risks?

• Is it better to develop at the beginning or develop organically?

• What should the employee take away after reading the policy?

• Who should the policy be distributed to?

• How much information should we include?

Additional Questions to Answer

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Elements

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Policy Should Come Before Plan

I = Policy E = PlanC = If plan has already been developed

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyDefine Platforms and Channels Covered

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Image

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Company Specific or Personal Accounts?

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyCompany Specific or Personal Accounts?

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyConsistency

Coca-Cola Facebook Page Coca-Cola Twitter Page

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyTake Responsibility for What You Write

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Etiquette

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

• No personal attacks

• Don’t poke or goad crazy people

• Don’t use slurs, derogatory, inflammatory language

• Refrain from offensive jokes or comments

• Stay away from discussions on religion or politics

Using Common Sense

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Some Examples of What Not to Say

Kenneth Cole Disaster Red Cross Slip Up

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Reminders to Include on Etiquette

• Stress the permanency of the Internet – things do not disappear!

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep

• Be quick to correct mistakes and admit that you are wrong

• Consistency - stick to proper etiquette on company and personal accounts

• Remind what is acceptable and what is not

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Community

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Balance of Personal and Professional Information

• The 80/20 rule?

• Be real

• Be transparent

• Not a competition

• Stay away from pseudonyms and false screen names

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Common Occurrences

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Negativity & Complaints – How do You Handle?

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

Which Topics are Off Limits?

• Religion

• Politics

• Competition

• Jokes

• General rule – keep your emotions in check

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Respect & Protect

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyCopyrights, Trademarks, Fair Use & NDA’s

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

• Make employees aware of their obligations

• Set clear guidelines – define

• When in doubt, ask

• Policy on using personal accounts

Confidential and Proprietary Information

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Productivity & Value

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

• Execute core competencies

• Find the right balance

• Respect work committments

• Set priorities

Productivity

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Elements of a Good Social Media Policy

• Return on engagement

• Identifying opportunities

• Relevance

• Up-to-date (real time)

• Alignment

Value

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Monitoring

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Elements of a Good Social Media PolicyMonitoring

• Make privacy guidelines clear and understand the laws • Define platforms covered

• Set parameters for pre- employment screening

• Invest in monitoring software

• Involve legal

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Resources

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Books

The Social Media Management Handbook – Nick Smith, Robert Wollan, Catherine Zhou

Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Company – Steve Helland

Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization – Oliver Blanchard

Monitoring Software

http://employee-monitoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://monitoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

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Companies

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Web sites

http://www.techipedia.com/2008/social-media-etiquette-handbook/

Etiquette

Policy

http://www.compliancebuilding.com/about/publications/social-media-policies/

Monitoringhttp://www.natlawreview.com/article/employers-using-social-media-to-monitor-employees-risks-and-liability

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Q & A