Does Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?

Does your company have a social media policy? For smaller companies the answer could very likely be no, but developing a policy may protect your business.

Even if you're not currently using social media as part of your overall marketing strategy, please keep in mind that your customers and employees are using it and you should at minimum be monitoring what's being said.

Here are some questions to consider in developing a social media policy:

• Who if anyone specifically is responsible for managing your business' social media. Whose managing the Facebook page, Tweeting, etc?
• Who is responsible for developing and approving content or else defining in the planning stage what topics are permitted to be shared? 
• What are employees allowed to say and what must be kept confidential? For example in the healthcare field there are strict patient privacy laws called HIPPA that prohibit sharing patient information with anyone not authorized to receive the information.
• Are there any restrictions for employees (i.e. some may be allowed to use social media at work due to nature of their roles but for some it may not be necessary)?
• Who will develop out the social media policy and how will it be shared with employees? In writing? In meetings? Both?

If you don't have a social media policy in place I encourage you to think through these questions and start formulating the framework for your policy. It's an important step in protecting your business.