The State Department sets strict rules for how social media activity affects visa processing and employee conduct. Many companies now tell employees to steer clear of posting about politics, conflicts, or sensitive social issues that could hurt the company’s image. Even government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs now warn employees about posting sensitive information on social platforms. This gives them the confidence to post social media content more regularly, which can ultimately help improve your brand’s presence and thought leadership.
Nestlé’s social media policy focuses on promoting clean and original content about the brand on social media. Adobe’s policy encourages employees to share their enthusiasm for the company while being mindful of potential risks. Best Buy’s policy is straightforward and sets clear expectations for employees engaging on social platforms.
Guidelines
We recommend the rule, where 80% of your content is to inform, educate, or entertain your audience while 20% directly promotes your brand. Your use of emojis (or not) has a clear impact on your brand voice and tone. This isn’t a social media audit, but you still need to make a list of every social account you use for your brand. Comments made to UIS social media must be relevant to the UIS community and the original topic posted.
It Ensures Consistency
Beyond the problem of reputational risk, your organization likely collects confidential information. If someone were to leak confidential data accidentally or intentionally, your nonprofit could be facing legal ramifications, as well. Your board members should be aware that there’s no way to prevent a bad or questionable social media post from going viral even if the content was only up for a short time. Posts can be copied, saved, or shared within seconds creating reputational risk for your nonprofit. As you create your community guidelines, remember to keep them simple yet specific, and involve your members to ensure that they are open and understanding of your rules. When creating community guidelines for your brand or business, it’s helpful to get a sense of what other companies have in place.
If an audience member posts an upsetting comment, administrators should take a period of time to before replying to ensure the response is rational and professional. It is a priority of Lamar University to ensure that stakeholders recognize LU accounts as legitimate forums for constructive communication with the university. 3.3 Employees and contractors of Lamar University may not engage in course correspondence or post any information regarding student records on social media. Examples of student records include, but are not limited to, names, admission status, GPA, Social Security number, Student ID number, and any/all other information that would be covered by FERPA.
If a new platform takes off or your company strategy shifts, update your guidelines to stay current and relevant. Create a unique hashtag for the takeover to track engagement and encourage participation. During the takeover, actively monitor the account to ensure everything runs smoothly. Work together to create a content plan that blends their style with your brand voice.
Provide examples of successful campaigns and best practices to inspire innovative and effective communication strategies. Define the purpose of the policy, including how it supports the organisation’s goals. Specify who it applies to, including employees, volunteers, board members, and third-party contractors managing social media accounts.
Over time I’ve found myself doing more and more foundational work for organizations looking to dip their toes into social media. One of the key elements of this work, in my opinion, is creating a social media policy that fits well with the organization’s goals, culture and risk tolerance. Your social media policy also helps control messaging and protect your brand from escalation or amplification that might make a crisis worse. A social media policy is useful both for preventing crises and reacting to them.
Brandwatch has a range of social media management tools to help you manage your brand’s social media presence and even track how your customers and the public are responding to your company online. Social media guidelines guide staff members and partners on how to represent themselves and the brand on social media platforms online. This one is especially true for staff members or contractors, including influencers, who have a public profile connected to your brand.
Regular audits and ongoing training round everything out so teams stay ahead of issues, not just react to them. The policy notes that the company must pre-approve statements discussing health benefits. In Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulates financial institutions. They provide specific directions for financial influencers and firms that work with them. New hires, agencies, contractors — anyone touching social needs to understand the rules before they log in.
It’s now called Influence, which is part of Brandwatch’s Social Media Management solution.Want to access your Paladin account? Log in to access your existing Falcon products and data via the login menu on the top right of the page.New customer? You’ll find the former Falcon products under ‘Social Media Management’ if you go to ‘Our Suite’ in the navigation. It’s wise to have legal counsel advise you on this section of your policy. For example, using inclusive language, maintaining respect, and never participating in hate speech or discriminatory language.