Whether we like it or not, social media is now part of our everyday, and increasingly our business, lives. Having recognised this more businesses are choosing to embrace social media and integrate it into their engagement activities.

Be warned! This is not without risk. In addition to the wasted time spent by employees on social media channels, social media can have an instantaneous and detrimental effect on your business’s reputation. This can be both direct, through your business’s social media channels, but also indirectly through your employees’ personal social media accounts.

You can mitigate this risk however, by setting a few ground rules in the form of a clear and well-communicated social media policy.

What are social media policies?

Essentially social media policies can help protect your business’s reputation by placing boundaries around social media usage by employees both at work and at home. A social media policy should be clear, easy to find and well-communicated; detailing exactly what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

What is their purpose?

Your social media policy should spell out to all employees the boundaries around social media usage both in the office and in their homes. It should outline the business guidelines or principles for communicating in the online world.

Employees need to understand that even on their personal sites, their affiliation with their workplace is easily traceable and reflects directly on their place of employment.  

Your social media policy should be placed alongside your email and internet policy.

What should be in them? 

Some key points to consider when writing your social media policy are outlined below.Ensure your employees know where to find the policy and are familiar with its content.

• It is important to define within your social media policy exactly what you mean by social media given the number of platforms that exist. It is also important to reinforce that the policy applies to both professional and personal use.


• Throughout the policy try and focus on what you can do, as opposed to what you can’t.


• Clearly explain any consequences of breaking the policy.


• Include a policy explaining that if an employee comments on the business they must identify themselves as an employee and include a disclaimer such as “the views expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of [your business].”


• Explain that social media postings should not include trademarks or logos unless permission is sought and granted and that all postings must respect copyright, privacy, financial disclosure and other applicable laws.


• Be sure to stipulate that postings must not disclose information that is private or confidential either to your business or to any third party that has disclosed private information to you.

The upshot

Social media is now a part of our lives, personally and professionally, so embrace it!

Just make sure you mitigate the risks associated with this new paradigm as much as possible through setting strong ground rules in the form of a formal social media policy. Be positive, focussing on what employees CAN do, but clearly define the boundaries and consequences should the policy be broken.