Friday 4 July 2014

Developing a social media policy - what to include

10 issues to cover when developing a social media policy

 
1.  Stress that the policy is there to protect the reputation of the individual, as well as the organisation.

 

2.  Be clear on who is responsible for setting up and managing social media accounts on behalf of the business.

 

3.  Outline the scope of the policy – does it cover work social media accounts or personal social media accounts too? Specify that the policy covers posts made during working hours as well as those made out of hours.

 

4.  Offer examples of how individuals might be identified as an employee of your organisation, for example, via personal details posted on a range of websites.

 

5.  Be clear on what individuals should do, to avoid conflicts of interest, when commenting on work related topics via their personal accounts -  for example, by being explicit that ‘all views are my own’ in posts.

 

6.  Outline whether it is acceptable for individuals to use their work email address to manage their personal accounts.

 

7.  Be clear on what individuals should do if customers or other stakeholders offer to ‘friend’ them via their personal social media accounts.

 

8. Tell individuals what steps they should take if they feel uncomfortable about discussions taking place on social media.

 

9.  Offer safety advice about opening links and attachments sent via social media that are not from trusted sources.

 

10.  Align the social media policy with others related to code of conduct to ensure continuity of message. Make the rules easy to understand - If you wouldn’t do it offline, don’t do it on social media.

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