Does your company need a social media policy?  YES!  Social media mishaps are the standard, not the exception. Many have responded or posted on a personal blog or Twitter or Facebook and later regretted it.  Monitoring what is being said about your company on social media sites is worth the upfront time and investment and can give you more control.  Companies of all sizes need to effectively manage their reputation on the Internet and having a social media policy in place can help you do just that.

By definition, social media content is created by its users. Therefore, the content is not directly controlled by your company in the way that you control your more traditional marketing materials.  This is where the problem lies.  One way to help you safeguard your organization is to publish an official social media policy for your employees. And take that a step further and incorporate it into all employee training, from orientation to regular ongoing training.

It’s now time to start thinking about social media in the same context as other forms of communication.  You probably have an existing communications policy that spells out your company’s expectation when employees use the phone or email.  A social media policy is merely an extension of what you currently have in place.  Companies need to acknowledge that the conversation has moved to the web and extend their existing communications policies to include social media sites.

Employees shouldn’t be surprised when they find themselves in trouble for saying something that they shouldn’t have said.  Unless you tell them what the rules are…they will not know that they are breaking them.  By developing a policy for the use of social media and training your employees on how to leverage its benefits you will establish a positive social media presence for your company.

And that’s a good thing!

corecubed knows how to reach new audiences via social media and how to connect to your brand via the social mediasphere. Our social media services include Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter marketing and the strategy to engage.  Contact us to learn more about how to improve your social media presence. We just created a social media policy template for home care that could be tweaked for all industries.