September | 2012 | Social Marketing Authority

The topic of social media guidelines and policies has come up several times recently. I keep running across blogs topics about social media guidelines and employee infractions that may have been avoided had policies been in place.

Although, implementing tons of rules and regulations may not the best way to go for a number of reasons including:

encouraging appropriate social media usage can actually be beneficial to companies
employees spending more time trying to find ways around the rules rather than working

That being said organizations should implement some sort of rules for their employees as it relates to social media posting and usage.

Here are a few things you might want to include in your organization’s social media policy:

Be authentic, honest and conversational in your posts. Don’t get caught up in the marketing of the organization.
Use good judgment when posting content and never include confidential information about your company, your clients, or your suppliers.
Listen to people and respond to as many comments as possible with constructive feedback. Negative comments should also be answered – avoid being defensive.
When you posting comments about your organization use your real name. This helps make your affiliation to the organization real.
Implement peer reviews. It’s always nice to have someone double check grammar and technical details before it goes out to the world.

A few things you should not want to include in your organization’s social media policy:

Avoid racist and/or derogatory comments.
Steering away from politics and religion is also a good idea.
Do not implement lengthy content approval processes. Your employees want to be involved in discussions as they happen.
Avoid participation restrictions. Provide employees with guidelines to participate and if employees do not play by the rules address the situation as a performance management issue with the employee(s) independently.
Avoid topics of religion and politics
Stay away from racist commentary

What’s your experience with implementing social media guidelines and policies in your organization? Leave us your comments.

Be creative. Create your own tagline (headline). Write a tagline that brands you and your product(s) or service(s). Be sure to use keywords in your headline.
Post. Post. Post. Use the “updates” feature to share your expertise and experience with your network and help grow your company’s followers.
Keep your summary updated. Review and update your “summary” every couple of months. A strong summary is critical to successfully branding yourself on LinkedIn.
Join a group. Identify 25 to 50 LinkedIn groups you are interested in on LinkedIn and join. Explore the groups’ members and connect with members with similar interests.
Recommendations are like currency. Get at least five recommendations from clients, customers, vendors and former employers or colleagues.
Customize the website field on your profile. Use the “other” option to personalize the name and URL of your website, instead of the default “my company” or “my blog” setting.
Worth a 1000 words. To brand yourself on LinkedIn, a current and professional photo is a must. A “good” photo should reflect the person you are and the business you are in. Whether you like it or not, your photo makes the first impression for your connections. People want to see who they are talking to and who they are doing business with.
Movement is engaging. Add a video to your profile.
Have fun. Use an exciting, engaging invitation when asking people to join your network.
1. What are you doing outside of social media that would make someone interested in your social media persona? List interesting areas of your professional life and even areas of your personal life that relate to your professional industry.
2. Promote your blog via your LinkedIn profile.