Social Media Policy

Social media is a great tool that all employers can utilize to advance their business. Whether you’re creating a strong public presence or using it for advertising, social media can benefit all employers.

Although there are many benefits of social media, employers must ensure that they have the safeguards in place to limit negative exposure and maintain employee productivity. A social media policy can help to accomplish this.

In this guide, we’ll explain what a social media policy is, the importance of them, and what to include when you are developing your own.

What is a Social Media Policy?

A social media policy is a document outlining clear expectation and guidelines on how employees should conduct themselves online. This could be both personally and professionally. It should cover a range of social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

A policy can help protect your reputation and encourages employees to get involved in sharing about the company in a safe way.

Types of Social Media Policies

There are various types of social media policies that you can implement. Social media policy examples can include a rule that refrains employees from accessing social media during hours of work.

People spending hours at a time on social media can lead to low productivity in the workplace.

You can also introduce a policy that restricts employees from posting about your company on social media. Some companies are extremely prevalent on social media and even use it to market their services or goods. That’s why it can be important to restrict the number of employees authorized to post about your company.

A social media policy in the workplace should also make it clear to employees that posting about themselves may reflect negatively on the company. All posts about the company on personal channels should be given prior approval.

What is the Importance of a Social Media Policy?

A properly drafted social media policy for employees will safeguard the company brand and image. As well as encourage employees to be responsible when posting on social media.

A policy that prohibits employees from using social media while at work can prevent potential security breaches. It can also prevent drops in productivity.

How to Create a Social Media Policy

Before creating your own social media policy, you should consider what kind of policy you want to implement.

If you are a business that is heavily involved in social media, you may want to create a policy that covers how to communicate through various platforms.

However, if your business deals with confidential information and material, you may want a policy that bans social media usage at work.

It is important that you are understand what kind of social media policy best suits your company.

What should a Social Media Policy Include?

A good asocial media use policy should include:

• Roles and responsibilities: You should assign specific employees to have access to company social media accounts. Some responsibilities these employees may have include posting, community engagement, communication, and advertising.
• Definitions: Social media can mean many different things. You may wish to add a definition of social media that includes blogs, networking platforms, public forums, and communication sites.
• Security rules: Some company information should not be shared with the public. The social media policy should explain what information is prohibited from being communicated.
• Response plans: Unfortunately, you may run into a situation where you receive a negative post or comment about your business. You should have the measures in place on how to respond and potentially rectify the situation.
• Personal social media use: Employees should be advised when it is appropriate to use social media and how to respond about the company.
• Consequences: Employees should understand the disciplinary measures that you may take in the event they breach the policy.

Can I Terminate an Employee for Breaching a Social Media Policy?

It is important that you follow your employee handbook if a social media policy has been breached.

It will set out your company’s disciplinary process when dealing with breaches of company policies. However, a breach of a social media policy may not warrant termination unless the employee engaged in wilful misconduct that harmed the company. For example, making damaging remarks about the company may lead to termination.

Best Practices for Social Media Policies

Social media policies provide many benefits for employers that implement them, including:

• Confidentiality awareness: It is important that you inform employees of your expectations regarding social media use. Employees must respect the boundaries that you make in regard to this issue.
• Prevention: Make clear what is an appropriate use of social media in the workplace and what isn’t. You must establish boundaries for your employees. This can help reduce the number of inappropriate actions that could negatively impact your company.
• Open communication: A social media policy allows open communication between you and your employees. This is to ensure that any issues that arise can easily be addressed.

Get Advice on Social Media Policies with BrightHR

Social media often changes as new trends arise. It is important that you frequently update your social media policy to keep up with this ever-changing landscape.

If you do not have a social media policy in place, you may face potential risk of unintentional consequences of misappropriate social media posts damaging your company’s brand or even legal consequences of the social media post is not truthful.

If you need assistance with drafting or implement a social media policy in your workplace, our BrightAdvice service allows you to receive quality advice on any employment issues you may have.

Contact us on 18882204924 or book a demo today.