YOUR BUSINESS & SOCIAL MEDIA

Businesses are faced with the task of creating new policies to manage the risks associated with social media. A social media policy is essentially a set of standards relating to, and governing, conduct on social media platforms, whether work-related or for personal reasons. This policy aims to protect the interests of the business by introducing guidelines and principles that employees must adopt when using social media. 

In addition to creating policy guidelines for employees’ use of their personal social media accounts, businesses with an online and social media presence must also establish guidelines for their company’s social media accounts.

Whether using social media at work or after hours, a good social media policy can provide guidelines for appropriate employee behaviour. While some may argue that what employees do after hours has nothing to do with their employer, this is not altogether true. An employee’s poor behaviour can oftentimes reflect very badly on their employer and negatively impact their business. A clear and comprehensive social media policy can mitigate this risk.

Creating a social media policy for your employees’ use of personal accounts has become an essential area of risk management for any business. An employee’s social media activity has the potential to negatively impact a business’ reputation, particularly if the relationship between the business and the employee is known or presumed. 

The use of foul language, negative comments, hate speech, engaging in online arguments, or other poor behaviour can have a negative impact on the reputation of the business, potentially opening the business to litigation and ultimately affecting the business’ profitability. 

It is important to remember that our online interactions are subject to the same laws and professional expectations that govern our personal and professional behaviour on a daily basis. If behaviour would not be considered acceptable in personal face-to-face interactions, it would also be unacceptable online. Just as a business may establish a code of conduct for how their employees interact with and treat one another, a social media policy could be seen as an extension of this.

If an employee is active on social media and transparent about where they work, it may be necessary to require that they place a disclaimer on their profile, clearly stating that their opinions are their own and not that of their employer.

Another consideration when creating a social media policy is that of productivity. As a society we have become quite addicted to social media and, if left to our own devices, we can easily spend hours a day on various social media sites, even during working hours. It is therefore essential to set boundaries for how long employees may spend on personal social media while at work. It may even be necessary to restrict access to certain social media platforms altogether.

A business’ employees may provide a huge audience through which to raise brand awareness. It is important to note that, while you can restrict an employee from promoting the business on social media, it would be improper to demand that employees engage in promoting the business. A business can encourage its employees to raise brand awareness and create guidelines by which to do so, but may not penalise employees who opt not to participate.

In order to be truly competitive in this day and age, it is almost imperative for businesses to maintain a social media and online presence. However, if they are going to engage in social media activity, it is essential that they implement a policy to govern this activity. 

Depending on the business, there may be one or several persons administering the various social media accounts. Either way, as the social media accounts are the online face of the business, it is imperative that the employees know exactly what is expected of them and, perhaps more importantly, what they are prohibited from doing as any improper activity could have serious negative consequences for the business.

Social media can be a powerful tool for businesses to build and communicate their brand and there is no way to avoid the impact of social media on our personal and professional lives. Unfortunately, as is often the case, with the good comes the bad, and it would be naïve to ignore the potentially negative consequences that could result from a social media faux pas. Creating a social media policy is the most effective mechanism to manage these risks.