Social Media Policy Recommendations

By Barton Goldenberg

Last time I wrote about the importance of creating Social Media policies to govern employee activities on Social Media. I will now discuss my Social Media policy recommendations. Here are three Social Media policy best practices that every organization should keep in mind:

1. Legislate: Effective Social Media policies make clear to employees why the organization needs these policies, the process for setting up and amending the policies, and how the organization contains risk while encouraging employees to be Social Media advocates.
2. Communicate: Social Media policies need to be clearly communicated across the organization, to clients, and potentially to other stakeholders.  Given the fast-moving pace of Social Media, effective and timely communications of changes is also important.
3. Energize: Social Media policies should also encourage participation among employees, partners and customers.  Being heard on Social Media communities can provide meaningful engagement between an and organization and its constituents.

Social Media policies should not be just a laundry list of prohibitions. Instead, they should encourage employees to be active in Social Media communities in ways that benefit the organization.  With this in mind, here are some specific recommendations:

• Encourage employees to join LinkedIn and build their network of contacts. LinkedIn is an excellent way to network within and outside the organization.
• Ensure that executives also follow the organization’s Social Media policies and actively participate in appropriate communities. Remember the adage, “What interests my boss fascinates me.”
• Follow members of the executive team on Twitter and retweet their posts as appropriate.
• ‘Like’ the organization’s Facebook page (very important).
• Encourage employees join and actively participate in the organization’s private Social Media communities, if any. Comments should always be intelligent, insightful and reflect well on the company.

I would also recommend going to the website www.socialmediagovernance.com, which is a valuable resource for Social Media policies.

In my next post, I will discuss developing realistic timelines to deliver a successful Social Media program.

– – – – – – – — – – – – – –

Barton Goldenberg, is the founder and president of ISM Inc., customer-centric strategists/implementers serving best-in-class organizations globally. As a CRM leader for 30 years, he was among the first three inductees in the CRM Hall of Fame. Recognized as a leading “customer-focused” author, his latest book, The Definitive Guide to Social CRM, is hailed as the roadmap for Social CRM success. Barton is a popular speaker on “maximizing customer relationships to gain market insights, customers and profits”. He is a long-term columnist for CRM Magazine and speaker for CRMevolution and frequently quoted in the media.