How to Write Your Brand’s Social Media Policy

A social media policy is a document that outlines how an organization and its employees should conduct themselves online. It is a crucial tool for any organization that uses social media.

In fact, it’s a crucial tool even if your organization doesn’t use social media. Because your employees almost certainly do: 72% of Americans use at least one social media platform. Yet 63% of Americans say their employer has no social media policy. A social media policy isn’t just a set of rules. It guides, advises and inspires in best and worst case scenarios.

Not sure where to start? Read on.

What is a Social Media Policy?

A good social media policy is a living document that provides guidelines for your organization’s social media use. It covers your brand’s official channels, as well as how employees use social media, both personally and professionally.

Social media is in constant flux. Networks and functionality change, new platforms emerge, and others fall. Your social media policy can’t just sit quietly< in a drawer (or a Google Doc.).

And it shouldn’t matter if the person reading it is a new hire or a social media manager in the middle of a PR crisis. You need a straightforward, up-to-date document that is easy to understand and act on.

Why Are Social Media Policies Important?

Maybe you’ve skirted some social media issues already. Or maybe your social media strategy is going swimmingly. Either way, why go to the trouble of crafting, revising and launching an official social media policy for your organization?

There are a few compelling reasons. An official policy can help you:

• Maintain your brand identity across channels

• Treat legal and regulatory sensitivities with awareness

• Prevent a security breach

• Prevent a full-blown PR crisis

• Act fast if a crisis or breach does happen

• Be upfront with your employees about their own social media responsibilities

• Encourage your employees to own and amplify your brand’s message

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What Should be Included in a Social Media Policy?

1. Define your team’s roles

Who owns which social accounts? Who covers which responsibilities on a daily, weekly or as-needed basis? It might be helpful to include names and email addresses so that employees from other teams know who to contact.

Responsibilities to assign might include:

• Daily posting and engagement
• Daily customer service
• Strategy and planning
• Advertising
• Security and passwords
• Monitoring and listening
• Approvals (legal, financial, or otherwise)
• Crisis response (see #3)
• Social media training for other employees

At the very least, this section should establish who can speak for your brand on social media—and who can’t.

2. Establish security protocols

There are a lot of social media security risks out there. In this section you have the opportunity to provide guidance on identifying and dealing with them.

How often do your account passwords get changed? Who maintains them, and who has access to them? Is your organizational software updated regularly? What about devices? Who should employees talk to if they want to escalate a concern?

3. Make a plan of action for a security or PR crisis

The goal of your social media policy is to prevent the need for a social media crisis management plan.

But it’s best to have both. Consider whether these should be two separate documents—especially if your social media policy will be public-facing.

Your crisis management plan should include an up-to-date emergency contact list with specific roles. The social media team, legal and PR experts—all the way up to the C-suite.

Guidelines for identifying the scope of the crisis, an internal communication plan, and an approval process for response will also help you handle it as quickly as possible.

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4. Outline how to stay compliant with the law

Details will vary from country to country, or even state to state, so consult your legal counsel. At minimum your policy might touch on the following:

• Copyright isn’t a no-brainer, so it’s best to explain how to comply with copyright law on social media, especially when using third-party content.
• Privacy is key. Do all your employees know how to handle customer information, for instance?
• Confidentiality refers to respecting your organization’s internal information. Whether you have your people sign non-disclosure agreements or not, they should be aware of the ramifications of disclosing information on social media that the organization considers private.

5. Provide guidance on how employees behave on their personal social media accounts

According to Pew, only 32% of Americans report that their employer has a policy about how they present themselves online. (Although 51% have a policy about using social media at work—which your policy can also cover, if you like.)

Posting hate speech, threats of violence, harassment, or racial epithets on social media may violate the law, or your organization’s code of ethics, or both. Regardless, employees should know that they will be held responsible for what they say.

Even when the posts in question aren’t outright illegal, it might be interesting for your employees to think about how 17% of American workers admit they use social media to find out more about the people they work with. And they’re more likely to find information on social media that lowers their opinion.

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6. Encourage employees to take part in conversations around your brand

Your social media team probably speaks your brand’s voice in their sleep. And your official spokespeople are drilled to answer tough questions on the fly. But what about everyone else? How do they stay accountable to your organization?

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