Having a social media policy is important for small business owners, especially those with young employee bases or those that rely on social media for promotion of their business. Though you may be wondering if a social media policy is necessary, having boundaries on using social media on company time, and clarifying what is and what’s not considered appropriate to post (whether as a representative of the company or as an individual) are policies that will only help you in the long run, especially when any incidents occur.
First, let’s provide our 2 social media policy examples. The first one is more formal and reflective of a business that does not require or expect employees to post about their brand. Please note that this article contains general information, and we suggest consulting your own legal professional to review your company’s social media policy.
Free Social Media Policy Template – Formal
Below is a formal social media policy template that is appropriate for companies who do not want employees posting in inappropriate ways as affiliated with the company, and for those who want grounds to include inappropriate postings NOT on company time in their progressive discipline (i.e. an employee posting a photo of narcotics). We also include a clause about using social media on company time, which is important to consider.
ABC Company recognizes blogs, networking sites, and other social media (collectively referred to as “social media”, defined below) as possible tools to support the Company’s operational goals. This policy applies to employees when they participate in social media as part of their job duties. It also applies to staff employees’ participation in social media at any time that they give the appearance of speaking on behalf of the Company or its affiliates; identify themselves as Company employees or as affiliated with the Company; or discuss the Company or its affiliates. Employees are responsible for the content they publish on social media and should use good judgment. Employees should be mindful that the things they say or do on social media are publically available and searchable and may be forever accessible, which can be then associated to ABC Company. Comments, expressions, and other postings on social media must be honest and respectful of others; respect confidential, personal, and proprietary information; and comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws and ABC Company policies.
Social media definition: Online, electronic, or Internet media, tools, communities, and spaces for social interaction, sharing user generated content, or public or semi-public communication. Social media typically uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues. Social media can take many different forms, including internet forums, blogs & microblogs, online profiles, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video, email, text, instant messaging, music- sharing, and chat, to name just a few. Examples of social media include but are not limited to the following: Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, and blogs.
Being on social media on your cell phone or computer while on company time, including but not limited to Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, is also akin to being on a personal call while at work. Please do your best to focus during your work hours and check these applications during personal time like lunch breaks or at the end of the day.
Violation(s) of the social media policy will be subjective to progressive discipline, up to and including termination.
Let’s now look at a more informal social media policy, where it’s clear that the business may expect or support employees posting to social media as a way to garner more business.
Free Social Media Policy Template – Casual
If your business is a bar, restaurant, or retail store where you perhaps want employees to tell their social networks about company events or sales, you will still want a social media policy in order to protect yourself as a small business owner. Below is a more casual social media policy where the business acknowledges that employees will post on behalf of the company and drawing boundaries around that.
Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and other social media sites are a great way to share your employment with ABC Company and to help us advertise our events and encourage clientele to come in.
As we work together at ABC Company to build our brand, here are a few tips to keep in mind while we navigate the ins and outs of the online world:
You’re amongst friends—sometimes. As much as your blog, Twitter stream, Facebook page, etc… might feel like your cozy home on the Internet where friends stop by to catch up, it’s really a public space. People can land on your page from a Google search and read just one post completely out of any other context. And that content? It lives on forever in Google, long after you’ve forgotten about it. So, think of your web space less like a family room and more like your front yard.
Spread news, don’t break it. It’s great (and helpful!) when we can use our personal web spaces to share the great things we are doing at ABC Company. However, make sure what you talk about is ready for public consumption. If we’ve talked about it in a public forum or have started advertising it, then you are good to go. When in doubt- ask!
Be smart. From a legal perspective, you’re responsible for what’s on your personal web space, so make sure you follow copyright rules and any other relevant laws. When it comes to ABC Company’s content, a good rule of thumb is “point, don’t post,” meaning that it’s better to link to the content on our established communication channels rather than posting it on your own personal blog or site.
Disclaimers or not, you represent. If you’re posting something that might be at-odds with the mission of our business, including a disclaimer is advisable — e.g. “these views are mine alone, they do not reflect the views of my employer.” But even with that, what you say in your tweets, on your blog, and on your Facebook page (or anywhere else) is just as much of a reflection of ABC Company as what you do in your personal life (to some extent). Remember to not speak or post on behalf of ABC Company, and leave that to our marketing team and our company channels, and remember that you need to comply with our other company policies when posting.
Being on social media on your cell phone or computer while on company time, including but not limited to Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, is also akin to being on a personal call while at work. Please do your best to focus during your work hours and check these applications during personal time like lunch breaks or at the end of the day.
Violation(s) of the social media policy will be subjective to progressive discipline, up to and including termination.
So why do you need a social media policy? Let’s look into that in more detail.
4 Reasons Why You Need A Social Media Policy
Let’s face it, social media isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s growing by the minute and being utilized by businesses to drum up new customers, get their brand on the market, and interact with long-time customers. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest all grew in penetration of the online adult market in 2016, according to data from Statista and Pew Research. Facebook is still by far the dominant platform, and has become a popular place for businesses to hold events and more.
You might know all of that. What you don’t know is how social media can impact you as an employer, and why you would need a social media policy for your employees.
Here are the top 4 reasons your small business needs a social media policy:
1. You might need to fire someone over what they post.
Imagine you learned your right-hand man, your General Manager, posted on Facebook that they thought people from a particular race were all stupid. While that is deplorable alone, you also know that that same class of people is a major customer base for your business. You want to fire him, even though he posted as a private citizen, not tagging the company.
Unless you have a social media policy, you might not be able to. If your General Manager posted as a private citizen, not on company time and from his computer, and you happened to see it because you are “friends” through the site with them, you are treading in murky waters of freedom of speech and potentially a wrongful termination.
However, this leads into our next point:
2. You need to protect your brand image and business reputation.
Many small businesses rely on their online and in-person reputations for business. Personally, as a small consulting firm owner, referrals are the ONLY way I’ve ever gotten business, which means I know I need to be absolutely sure of what people are posting about myself and my team online and in social media forums.
If your small business is the same way, you need a social media policy. We also might recommend some reputation management software to monitor it for you, especially if you have a lot of employees or a lot of repeat business like a fitness studio, restaurant, or hair salon.
3. You want to let your marketing team do their work, not your general staff.
A former client of mine had an online business that offered subscription deals where— every month, they deliver some products and some new samples to try. As their business grew, so did their social presence, especially since viral videos were a huge reason for their success.
Somehow in all of this excitement, every person at the company wanted to post on social media about the company and what they were up to, as opposed to leaving this up to the videography and marketing teams, which were being paid to do so and to drive traffic (as well as utilizing paid campaigns). Moreover, some of the employees were posting things not in alignment with the brand, like about hobnobbing with celebrities and drinking at clubs and bars (while still tagging the business).
This is a perfect example of good intentions gone awry, and also a perfect example of a business that needs a social media policy to draw boundaries with employees and to let their marketing team do what they are paid to do, as well as to protect the brand’s reputation.
4. You simply want to prevent issues, period.
As a small business owner, you need to pick your battles and mitigate potential issues as much as possible. Having a social media policy helps to prevent any “grey” areas and gives you the right to make decisions as you see fit in alignment with your social media policy. Remember, one of the keys to managing people is to create boundaries and set expectations of them, be it from a paid time off policy to a performance review. A social media policy is a modern boundary that businesses need to have.
So how would you go about implementing a social media policy? Let’s talk about that next.
How To Implement a Social Media Policy
First, we recommend that you use one of our free templates above, and modify it accordingly to align with your business needs and the social media channels you use. We also suggest that you review your policy with your management team to make sure that it makes sense for your business, and you may consider consulting with your attorney to check it over.
Then, once you have the final social media policy, you’ll want to ensure all employees get a copy and have it explained to them. This should be a company-wide meeting or video conference call since this policy impacts people’s employment as well as it may change behaviors that they have been doing.
Next, you should also have every employee sign and date a copy of the policy and document this in their personnel files (electronic or paper is fine). If you have an employee handbook, the social media policy should also be added into that.
Make sure to give enough time in your meeting to answer questions and to explain why you are implementing this policy. You also should explain some examples of what is and is not appropriate, especially if you still expect your employees to interact with your brand on social media. And, if you are going to install monitoring software, like we cover in the next section, you need to tell your employees about it.
Finally, if your policy includes usage of social media on company time, like rest breaks, you’ll want to lay out what is and is not acceptable (i.e. being on their cell phones while at their desk versus on the desktop). You can also remind employees that anything on a company computer is company property and subject to monitoring; if you do not have that policy in your handbook already, you will want to add in something about that, which we include in our handbook sample.
3 Tips on How To Monitor Social Media at the Office
In this section, we are talking about how to monitor your employees using social media at the office (versus what’s being posted about you, which you can monitor with reputation management software).
In the end, whenever anything is done on company property, like a company-owned and provided cell phone, laptop, or desktop, you have every right to view what has been done. This includes when your employees login to personal email or social media accounts, even if it’s not during the work day.
While we do not condone spying on your employees, reading their emails for no reason, or being a snoop in general, you still need to protect yourself from unproductive employees who are logging in and playing on social media when they should be working.
Here are 3 tips to make sure you aren’t being had by your team:
Tip 1: Stay Present (and Have Your Managers Be Present Too)
If you hide in your office, your employees will most likely notice that and start to take advantage of the free reign you are giving them. Especially if you have a young employee base, you will want to make sure you keep some eyes and ears about the floor, and so do your managers, to make sure that they are focused on their work and not on posting selfies or messaging on a dating app.
Tip 2: Consider Blocking Certain Websites
If you feel like certain sites are distracting your employees, you can consider blocking some like Facebook or the ability to Gchat. Beware though — don’t let one bad egg ruin it for the many. Instead, we recommend using progressive discipline for violations of your social media or computer usage policies.
Tip 3: Consider Monitoring Software
If you want an extra level of precaution, consider internet and computer monitoring software, but you will need to use it wisely. Spying on your employees is not a best practice in HR land. It can hurt company morale, and even affect your reputation as an employer. If you decide to implement monitoring software, you should tell your employees, even though you do not have to by law.
Remember, your employees will never be perfect— and neither are you— but monitoring software can come in handy for repeat offenders or if you end up in a sticky situation where you need proof of something (i.e. someone posts something and then takes it down).
The Bottom Line
Having a social media policy is part of the new digital world business owners must come to grips with. It is better to have something in place than to run into an issue and implement one in hindsight. Consider having a social media policy in order to nip any issues in the bud, and to set clear boundaries for as your business, and social media in general, grows.
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