4.3 Policies & Terms of Use
Businesses who market online must keep up-to-date with current world events. For example, you do not want to be caught posting a “Motivational Monday” quote or a scheduled humorous anecdote right after a natural disaster. In fact, companies have been warned time and time again[1] to not post about the death of a famous individual, about 9/11, or a terrorist attack, etc. on social media. In these types of situations many still feel that companies should stay silent. Individuals who feel passionately about responding to the crisis should use their personal accounts to do so.
Creating Policies
Polices are required to be proactive and mitigate potential risks of posting on social media.
Customers are turning more and more to social media to find information about products and services. Companies are realizing the importance of creating policies to control their website’s “official” presence, which may include blogs, social media, Google My Business, etc. Policies can ensure messaging delivered online plays a positive role in creating and maintaining a brand’s reputation. Businesses may also have an “unofficial” presence – developed by employees’ personal blogs, posts, online interviews, reviews, YouTube videos, LinkedIn accounts etc.
“Policies that draw clear lines on what employees should and shouldn’t say online, whether in company-authorized content or in personal posts, can help you make sure that your company is being represented positively and appropriately in cyberspace.” (Guerin, L., 2017, p. 7)[2]
Social Media Policy
The following is a hypothetical social media policy to guide online interactions for the fictitious business: Land. This policy has been modified and updated from a template provided by Lisa Guerin, J.D. in Smart Policies for Workplace Technologies.
Example of a Social Media Policy
Our Company’s Social Media Presence
Social media is an important technology for our Company. Social media tools, including Company-sponsored blogs and microblogs, social networking sites, video or picture sharing sites, wikis, and other means of communicating online, are a key part of our Company’s face to the public. Social media platforms offer opportunities to shape opinions about our products and our company, to communicate directly with customers and clients, to provide added value for our customers, and to be part of the online conversation about important developments in our field.
Social Media Goals
We use social media primarily to communicate with and add value to our clients’ lives. Our Company uses three separate social media platforms to engage with clients and target future customers through paid, owned and earned marketing campaigns. Our company maintains Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts and uses them separately to connect with a variety of audiences. It is our goal to keep our content original and not to post duplicate content across all of our platforms. Our company uses each account for a specific pu