[According to the latest reports, approximately 87% of companies still do not have a social-media policy. Whether you realize it or not, social media affects your company in many ways. In order for you to maximize your effectiveness, you must also control the “unofficial” social-media activity that goes on within your company.
Most likely, your employees are currently engaged in some form of personal social media while at work. This could include Facebook, Twitter, blogging, texting, etc. There is also a good chance that through their personal social-media activity they may be expressing personal thoughts on their working environment, making inappropriate postings, inadvertently divulging company or client information, etc.
So how do you harness the power of your employees’ social-media activity while protecting your company’s brand? Empower them with company guidelines and policies that will benefit and enhance your company’s online presence, while simultaneously discouraging inappropriate behavior.
Some of the topics you should address in your policy include your philosophy on work-time use of Facebook, Twitter, blogging, social video, online shopping, texting, email forwards, etc.
If you’re not sure where to begin, the following introduction from our own internal Social-Media Policy may help:
“The world has changed. We are a plugged-in people, constantly bombarded by friend requests, photo tags, status updates and links to videos. At Gumas, we embrace these changes and are working to harness these technologies for our clients. We also embrace the ability of individuals to leverage and enhance their personal brands through these social-media tools. At the same time, we recognize the challenges brought on by these changes. In order to address these challenges, we have created the following guidelines to inform team members’ proper use of social-media tools both in and out of the office.”
Social-media policies will vary depending on your company’s philosophy and needs. If you are having trouble creating your own social-media policy or would like to see our complete policy, just shoot us a note and we will be happy to share it with you. Of course, you’ll want to ensure that your policies are legally and industry compliant, so have your legal and HR departments review them first.
From all of us at Gumas, here’s wishing you and yours a very happy Holiday Season!
