Mel Kettle is a communications and social media consultant, speaker, blogger, educator, coach, bookworm, obsessive foodie and eatie, and a budding photographer. She blogs on marketing and social media at www.melkettle.com.au. Mel is passionate about working with organisations to show them how to communicate effectively so they can develop communities, share their stories and raise awareness. She particularly enjoys working with people who want to make a difference to other people’s lives. In her spare time Mel writes a food blog, The cook’s notebook.
I often have people ask me why should they have a social media policy? They only have two or three staff. They don’t actually use social media within their business (What??? That’s a whole other issue!).
And I tell them that all organisations need a social media policy. Even those that don’t use it. And especially those that have staff. Even if it’s only one employee.
Let’s face it. The majority, if not all, of your staff are likely to be using some form of social media – such as a personal Facebook account, private Twitter or Instagram account, or maybe they are blogging. Or commenting on blogs.
A social media policy will help them understand what is and what is not acceptable to say about your organisation. It doesn’t need to be long or sophisticated. It does need to include:
- What can staff share about your business on their personal accounts – e.g. publicly-available information, job opportunities, public events etc
- What should staff NOT share about your business on their personal accounts – financial information, projects you are tendering for, criticism of other staff/management/ your competition etc.
- Who manages the company social media accounts and who to contact if you see someone talking about your business online (good or bad)
- Consequences of a breach of policy
Ideally you want to empower your staff to be ambassadors for your business while showing respect for co-workers, clients, business partners and suppliers.
If you aren’t sure where to start, please get in touch.
