You hear the word “policy” and shriek, especially when it comes to social media. The whole point of social media is that it’s fun; you have a lot of freedom and flexibility in how and why you engage on it. While a poorly written social media policy can kill engagement and deaden participation, a well-thought-out policy can support your efforts, protect your brand, and empower higher quality engagement.
Unlike your typical policies and procedures, a lot of uncertainty surrounds social media. Most policies lay out what staff should or shouldn’t do in certain situations. With so much ambiguity, it’s important to put together a clear and concise policy that leaves room for human judgement and change.
When building your social media policy, consider the most effective platforms, who is allowed to post, who has administrative access, and how it fits into your overall marketing and public relations strategy. The following considerations should get you thinking about your agency’s social media policy:
Platform Considerations: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+
Grab your team or put together a focus group, and brainstorm which platforms are most effective. Do your research. Twitter and Facebook are popular now, but predictions show that Instagram and Google+ are making their mark and may, in fact, surpass these networks. Today, Google+ is the second largest social networking site, with Facebook still sitting at number one.
Don’t just discuss which platforms are most effective; discuss what content is most effective, too. What do your readers consume? What type of content drives the most traffic to your site? Who is your audience on each site?
Consider each platform, your audience, and lay out boundaries for the types of posts that are allowed or most beneficial. Keep the boundaries loose to allow for creativity and personalized engagement, but make sure the expectations are clear.
Employee Access and Posting
Will you employ a social media manager or outsource the job? Do you need an individual dedicated to managing your social media alone? Identify who will have administrator rights and access to social media platforms.
An impactful social media strategy isn’t the result of just one person acting alone. Get employee buy-in. Encourage agents to post on the agency’s page, to like, share, or retweet posts and pictures. Discuss whether you want each agent to have their own pages and profiles. Consider allowing them to build their individual brands while consecutively building the company’s brand.
Filtering and Monitoring
Discuss how you’ll filter each platform. Will you allow anyone to post on your Facebook page or will you restrict access? Some businesses don’t allow the public to post on their page in case there is negative feedback. Others carefully monitor their page and either delete negative commentary or create enough activity that it moves down the page (and out of sight) quickly.
Your social media policy should consider how you’ll filter your accounts and monitor them. Will you check your platforms three times a day or will you check them each time you receive a notification?
Controlled Messaging
What types of messages do you want posted? How do you want to portray your brand? Will you provide topics or posts to the social media manager or will you, as the CEO or manager, do the posting yourself? What do you want your policy to consider when it comes to the messages you share.
Some agencies may include an overarching definition for their content, stating that it should be positive, non-confrontational, non-political, etc. Consider that your messages will be on the internet for a very long time and weigh them against a set of criteria that you’ve outlined.
Trolls (Online Troublemakers) and Complaints
Both online and offline there will be those who are unhappy with your work and services. Consider how you’ll deal with customer complaints and unhappy clients online. Will you acknowledge their complaint and forward it to a manager? Will you apologise and move forward? How much attention will you give it and what is the chain of command? It’s a good idea to have a plan in place for how you’ll deal with complaints, when you’ll deal with them, and who will deal with them.
Lay the groundwork and encourage employee participation, and you’ll have a social media policy that works—one that’s not overly restrictive and empowers