Why your company should develop a social media policy.
Social media is being used by more and more businesses, to mostly positive results. Using tools such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can help your business reach a wider audience than you may have ever thought possible. However, as awesome as these tools may be, you do need to be careful about how you (and your employees) use them.
The thing about social media platforms is that they are public. Very public. Pretty much ANYONE can see you live-tweeting this week’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars”. Just like ANYONE can see you venting about that annoying client of yours. If you are representing your company on Twitter or Facebook, (or trusting someone else to do it) you have to make sure you set out clear guidelines as to what kind of language and content is appropriate. One little slip-up could cause big problems. Look at what happened with Chrysler and Kenneth Cole. You could even end up with a lawsuit on your hands if you’re not careful. It sounds scary, but avoiding these bad situations isn’t really that hard.
You should embrace social media, but at the same time be mindful of the potential for things to go awry. Personally, I think the safest bet is not to link personal accounts to your business, especially if your employees are linking to your company. You can’t control what others are going to say, but you can keep some control of what is linked back to you. Your policy doesn’t need to be overly complicated. It just needs to cover the basics, such as offering guidelines for employees on how to mention and promote the company in appropriate ways. (Check out Roche for a great example of a simple, clear social media policy.)
Have you established a social media policy for your company? What is your method of managing the potential risks of using social media? Share them with us in the comments.
