Social Media: What’s Your Policy?

If the call for policy and regulation is any sign of the maturity in an industry, the current buzz from marketing and HR departments about the need for social media policies to govern online social interactions could very well be a ‘coming of age’ sign for social media. That said, just sitting down and writing out a policy is not the end of the story. In fact, it’s barely the beginning.

Let’s step back a moment. In reality, most companies have an ethics, code of conduct and acceptable use of technology policy that will likely cover many of the challenges that arise in social media, as they’re the same across most media. That said, there are nuances, but a social media policy alone is not going to really make your organization ‘social media ready’. The ideal place to start in any organization is with training employees on the ins and outs of the social web and how to incorporate social media into their daily jobs. Show them how to use social media to drive business results and provide a framework for employees to increase their participation in social media and you’ll realize the business results that social media can deliver.

Finally, the best social media policy and education efforts come from a team of Legal, Marketing, PR, IT and HR professionals working together to ensure that everyone’s needs are understood and addressed. The team should meet at least yearly to address emerging opportunities and challenges in social media.

For a look at 105 Social Media policy documents from a wide variety of companies, I suggest digging into the Social Media Governance Database at http://socialmediagovernance.com/