The Importance of Social Media Etiquette in your Social Media Policy
Social media is all around us and, while it can be great for business, it can have a negative impact on your company if inappropriate content is posted.
So what can be considered inappropriate content? Let’s define it as anything that could have a negative impact on your business or bring the your company name into disrepute. It would also cover confidential information or content that may be discriminative. Some businesses owners might wish to go a step further and do not want employees posting anything about the workplace. While others seek to actively encourage employees to post positive comments and content in order to boost brand awareness. Every leader will have their own view.
So how do you control what is posted and what’s the best way to deal with it if something negative or unacceptable is posted by a team member? The secret is to have a very clear, and well communicated social media policy from the get go. Your policy needs to clearly spell out what is and is not acceptable. Importantly, your policy must be well communicated to everyone, so that everyone knows the rules.
With a clear policy in place you are far less likely to have a problem in the first place as, generally, people will follow the rules. But if they don’t follow the rules, a good policy will allow you to act. This could include requiring the individual take down any posts, and, if appropriate will also include taking formal disciplinary action.
Your policy needs to tell your staff the possible consequences of breaching the rules set out to them, and should make clear that in serious cases this may be considered to be gross misconduct. You will then have the option – having followed a full and fair procedure – of terminating employment if this is the necessary sanction.
So, if you want to protect your business and prevent inappropriate content as well as be able to deal with it, write and implement a clear policy and communicate it clearly to your team.
If you’re not sure where to begin, here are a few things you might want to consider including in your social media policy:
Give a definition of exactly what you consider to be social media and confirm this covers any future developments in social media communication.
State clearly what your policy is, for example, do you want a total ban on mentioning the company, work, and clients? Or, do you want to encourage employees to talk about the company? If it’s the later, be clear about what is acceptable and what is not.
Confirm your policy covers any kinds of posts including images, videos or words.
Be clear that you reserve the right to request that any post is taken down if it refers to the company, colleagues or clients in a negative or discriminative way, or if a post could bring the company into disrepute. You may also want to include a contractual right to request this as well.
Finally, don’t forget to think about what happens when people leave. For example, if someone has a LinkedIn account and has accumulated business contacts during their employment, do you consider this information to be company property? You need to consider this in combination with any restrictive covenants in your contracts to make sure you fully protect your business.
