A social media policy is important to have if you want your employees to better engage on social media. It helps to protect their personal safety and protect the reputation of your business.

Here are 3 tips for creating a social media policy for your employees:

Explain to your employees who can speak for your company on social media, and who can’t.

There are people who will be better at dealing with customer service than others, so they may have more responsibility in terms of speaking for the brand. It is important not to stifle employees’ ability to express themselves, but passionate employees may not be aware that their social media resolutions are not in line with the company’s intentions. A good idea would be to assign a team specifically for dealing with customer interaction on social media, and train them accordingly.

Develop detailed guidelines for business and personal conduct on social media.

These guidelines should help your employees understand expectations and create a consistent voice for the business.  Create a response template by brainstorming all the possible situations, such as an unhappy client or a product that is faulty, and decide on the best way for your employees to handle the situation. How employees post on their personal social media accounts is also an important factor, as they are a representation of your business. You don’t want them to post something that will later come back to bite them!

Be sure to protect your employees and sensitive business information.

It would not be fair to assume that your employees know what information is sensitive to your business, so be sure to state what business-related they can and can’t share on social media. Your policy needs to prohibit posts that could put your business or staff at risk, and explain why and how these posts could cause damage so that everyone is aware of the consequences. Your policy should also address when employees can share information about new products that are launching, to avoid sharing news too soon.

Having a social media policy that is clear and concise ensures that everyone understands what to do and what not to do to best represent your business and themselves on social media, and avoid causing any damage to your brand.

Reference: Franchise Association of South Africa – www.fasa.co.za