Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are essential in the business world today for effective marketing and communication. One should not forget, however, that although these sites are utilized for business communications they are also utilized by individual employees in a personal capacity as well. Establishing a company wide social media policy will ensure that your online reputation is protected. Here are 5 things you can do now to create and implement some social media guidelines within your organization.
- Remind your employees to familiarize themselves with the employee code of conduct and confidentiality agreement if you have one in the employee handbook.
- Communicate to your employees that whatever policies and guidelines you have in the employee handbook also apply to multimedia communication and social media websites.
- Make an official statement that any information acquired from employment with your company should not be communicated via social media or blogs especially information regarding individual clients and that this is a violation of the company’s confidentiality agreement.
- Request that if information stating employment with your company is on a social media website or internet blog the employee should include a disclaimer stating that their views are not associated with the views of the company itself.
- Speak with a professional about establishing a clear and concise company policy specific to the use of social media inside and outside of the office. This can help protect your business, yourself and your employees from future online reputation issues.
Contact us at (845) 567-7703 for more information regarding the creation of a social media policy and why it is important for your online reputation management.
