Social Media Policies: Promoting v Regulating Use

Business leaders want guidelines in place for regulating employee use of social media outlets on personal and company accounts alike. But while regulation-focused policies protect an organization against any potential social media blunders, they cast a shadow over the shoulder of every employee who uses the internet on a daily basis (shudder). This approach often prevents the company from seeing any benefits whatsoever from employee use of social media. My suggestion: If your employees are already using social media while at work, why not make the most of it?

Though there's certainly more than one way to skin this cat - there isn’t one universal social media policy that works for all, right? - there are a few things to consider when creating a more forward-thinking policy:

You, your leaders, and your people need to know what you want to accomplish through social media. For many, the first step in creating a social media policy is to define the who, what, when and where of social media usage in the company. But according to Maren Hogan, Chief Marketing Brain of Red Branch Media, “that’s doing it a little backwards.” With a clear purpose informing your policy, people will have an easier time understanding and following your guidelines.

Get proactive, and establish a hierarchy of ownership – that way, your people will know when to talk to whom about what. “When social media issues arise,” says Hogan, “who do you go to for help?” Assign responsibility to the most sensible parties and provide a course of action for addressing mishaps and escalating issues when necessary.

Bottom line: Your policies should be driven by what to do, rather than what not do. Structure is certainly important, and defining who is authorized to access various platforms makes sense... but “Our brains don’t work with don’ts--they work in a positive way,” says Rob Garcia, VP of Product at UpMo. “Policies that limit and regulate are bound to be unsuccessful.”

Hands-down, the hardest part when creating, implementing and supporting an official social media policy is building a company culture that embraces a social mindset, one driven by the sharing of ideas and information. With that in mind, leadership should lead the charge in adopting your social media policy, paving the way for the rest of the organization.

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice – a website that reviews talent management and human resources software.

Further Reading - An HRD's view over at Annette Hill's Blog