Developing the right social media policy for your brand can be brutal, confusing, and frustrating for you and your employees.
We have seen story after story about employees and company social media policies, including a recent story about an Associated Press journalist who was fired for violating the AP social media policy. Having led some social media efforts at large companies, I can tell you that it’s crucial to ensure you have an effective policy.
But so many companies are still missing the mark when it comes to social media and meeting the expectations, and frankly the needs, of their employees.
And to be clear, a privately run company has the right to implement whatever social media policy it thinks is appropriate. But that doesn’t mean it should do that. As we’ve seen, oftentimes what you can do isn’t what’s best for your company, your brand, or your employees.
So, how do you find the right formula for your social media policies?
Well, there’s no single way to ensure you’re find the right mix of giving your employees the ability to express themselves through these channels while still protecting your brand.
And let’s face it, you need to be ready to evolve because the political, business, and social media landscapes evolve by the hour.
But I do have some tips to think about when creating, or reviewing, your social media policies:
Explain your reasoning and position on your social media policies to your employees. If you have a specific policy, be open about why you have that policy and your thought process on making that decision.
It’s not to justify but rather to explain so your team understands why that decision was made. This will also help them adopt the policy and support the brand.
Ambiguity is the enemy of any policy. The guardrails for social media policies need to be very clear. And not just clear for you or the leadership team, but clear to every employee that it affects.
Talk with them and be sure they have a clear understanding of the policies. Give examples where you can and allow them to ask questions about how the policy is implemented.
From top to bottom of the organization, the policy needs to apply equally. You can’t ask your frontline team members to abide by a policy that leadership doesn’t adhere to.
It’s been proven time and time again that the old “do what I say not what I do” approach fails every time. If you’re not consistent in how you apply the social media policy, you’ll never get your team to sign on and support it.
It’s a complicated world that your employees are trying to navigate. You can’t keep what’s happening outside of the office from having an effect on what’s happening inside the office.
This means you need to be willing to understand your employee’s positions and empathetic to what they are trying to do with their social media activities.
I definitely do not mean to sacrifice your standards or brand for the sake of someone’s desire to post on social media. But you need to understand the situation before you make a decision on what your policy should be.
If you make a decision without considering your team, then you’re leaving out the most important part of your organization. Your employees are the ones that have to bring the brand values to life, so think of them when defining your social media policies.
Your policies need to align with your company values. Period. If your brand values are focused on honesty and openness, then your social media policy needs to align with that.
Having conflicting policies and brand values will confuse not only your employees, but your audiences. And to be sure, external audiences will detect when something is not aligned and you’ll suffer for that.
Creating the right social media policy for your brand or organization is tough, but follow these tips, and be willing to evolve, and you’re on the right path.
Here are some recent posts to help as you create your Strategic Communications campaigns, including the importance of having a strategic communications plan:
– Do I Really Need A Strategic Communications Plan?
– Tips For Managing Unethical Communications Requests
– A Meaningful Message, Or Pandering Without Purpose
– Pitching Media Like The Pros
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
I’ve also been discussing how you can find success following the Coronavirus crisis through the RADD approach, which is Recognize, Adapt, Develop, and Deploy. Check out our previous posts to see how you can succeed with the RADD process:
– Get RADD And Plan For Success Following Coronavirus Crisis
– Prepare for Success and Get RADD, Part 1: Recognize
– Finding Success By Getting RADD, Part 2: Adapt
– Get RADD, Part 3: Develop Plans For Success
– Deploying Your RADD Communications Plan
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