subject: Why You Need a Social Media Policy For Business [print this page] Why You Need a Social Media Policy For Business
I met with a new client recently and one of the first statements I heard was that an employee had decided to set-up a fan page on Facebook for the business without checking if the business was ready to use Facebook. Worse, the employee didn't communicate with other employees in the business about the fan page. They found out because someone else told them. While the employee was well-intentioned, everyone else felt pushed into Facebook and wasn't sure what to do with the Facebook fan page, or if there was possible liability issues they would need to deal with. My client wanted to know what needed to be done to handle this situation effectively.
Social media has exploded in 2009 and now that we are in 2010 is it only going to continue to become more and more prevalent to the marketing and networking that people do, as well as just connecting in general. But while many businesses acknowledge that they need social media, they aren't sure where to start or what to do, and when a situation such as what I described above occurs, it can make it harder for the business to effectively incorporate it into the mix, if everyone isn't on the same page. The worst case scenario is if the business is represented in a way that isn't accurate to the business, but even if the business is represented accurately another issue that can occur is that how the person uses it to promote the business may run counter to the marketing and promotion the business is engaged in, in other ways.
Regardless of whether your business is just starting to use social media or has been using it for a while or plans to not use it at all, it's important to develop a policy that explains to your employees what they can or can't do with social media while on company time. And even if you're a solopreneur, it may be useful for you to also develop a policy that defines your activities and processes.
A good policy explains how social media should be used, why it's being used, what sites are being used, and who should be using it. For instance, if you're an engineer, you may not need to be using social media for your company, but a marketing person in that same company likely should be using it. Also Facebook may or may not be a site that your audience is on. If it isn't a site your audience is on, should you be there and if so how much time should be put into that site?
A good policy maps out the process and activities for using social media. What is your message? What activities do you need to do, to get that message out there? What will being on that site help your business accomplish? Are you spamming people or genuinely engaging with them?
A social media policy provides your business with the map for how social media will be integrated into the other activities that a business does, and more importantly lays out how your business should be represented on social media sites. Your policy may change as you get on different sites and/or as new situations arise, but the policy should provide clear guidelines that automate the activities that the employee or solopreneur engages in while using social media.
Social media is here to stay, but it doesn't need to be uncontrollable. Defining your policy can also help you define your strategy. While the two are not necessarily one in the same, they are related to each other. Spending some time defining your policy can plant t
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