How to develop a social media policy for employees in 2020 and beyond

A decade ago, Zappos had a social media policy for employees that was more or less the industry standard: “Be real and use your best judgment.” Ten years ago, this policy might have been enough. However, with social media’s metaphorical and literal explosion, defining “best judgment” and “be real” has become much less straightforward. However, the need for an effective social media policy for employees has become more pressing than ever.

No longer a tool to curtail employee social media usage by force, a social media policy for employees today can empower, engage and delight employees and customers alike. How did this document, originally hated by employees, become such an important component of a brand’s overall social media strategy? Should employers suddenly change course and encourage employees to spend time on social networks during work hours?

Before we can answer these questions, it’s important to understand what a social media policy for employees is and what it isn’t.

What is a social media policy for employees?

A social media policy (abbreviated as SMP) is a set of guidelines detailing how and when employees should or shouldn’t use social media. 

Traditionally, a social media policy for employees included the following:

• A formal definition of a social media policy and the reason for its existence
• The scope of the social media policy
• General recommendations and guidelines for social media usage
• Use of company social accounts
• Inappropriate usage of social media
• Policy enforcement

Social media policy found its origins in the early 2000s as a “blog policy”, little more than a warning of what employees could and couldn’t post on message boards and blogs. This quickly shifted as social media began expanding significantly, and people began connecting around the world on a wide variety of platforms. But the tone and message have stayed the same – At work, just don’t.

From a legal aspect, these guidelines aim to protect the employee as much as the employer from legal or personal entanglements. In many ways, it can be compared to other corporate HR policies, like those created to prevent harassment or discrimination. The social media policy for employees attempts to, first and foremost, set behavior standards for employees in online interactions.

A living and breathing document that changes with the times, the social media policy is created and maintained through the cooperation and collaboration of numerous teams in the organization. HR, legal, marketing, and even IT all play a pivotal role in developing the policy.

Why your business needs an employee social media policy NOW

You don’t need statistics to guess that at least 77% of American workers use social media daily. This isn’t only because they simply must catch up on Lady Gaga’s Instagram account. It’s mostly because 82% of employees believe that social media improves work relationships, and 60% believe it aids in work-related decision-making. 

Undoubtedly, social media has become an integral part of the average employee’s workday. This is especially true today when social distancing has driven many business processes and communications to social media. In addition, with more mobile-addicted millennials joining the workforce, companies need to be prepared for their extensive social media use.

Social media policies for employees in 2020: Leverage, Not Gag

For far too long, policies have focused on what employees shouldn’t or aren’t allowed to do. They focused little on what employees should do to contribute to their bottom line in the time spent on social media. The idea prevalent in the early 2000s that employees’ use of social media should be limited as much as possible now seems almost laughable.

Today, businesses that maintain a negative social media policy are losing out, and businesses that have yet to implement one risk losing even more. It’s time to revamp your social media policy with a positive attitude and employee advocacy in mind.

If you’re still unconvinced, it’s worth considering that employee brand messages have a 561% greater reach than official brand channels. Moreover, those posts made lead conversion 7 times more likely. That said, surveys also show that 77% of employees hesitate to be brand champions on social media. It’s quite clear that outdated and inefficient employee social media policies are one of the causes of this hesitation.

Creating a social media policy for employees is not as hard as it may seem at first glance. Yes, you need to involve multiple departments in the organization and tread carefully around legal and social issues, but it’s worth it. 

To help ease the process and give it structure, we’ve created a simple seven-step plan for creating a positive and empowering social media policy for your employees.

7 steps to a social media policy for employees in 2020

1. Get everyone aboard

As mentioned above, creating and maintaining a social media policy is the product of collaboration between multiple teams. So before you can do anything, you must ensure that HR, Legal, and Marketing work toward the same goals. Everyone must understand how and why this is being done and their roles and responsibilities.

Having collaboration between HR, legal, and marketing is not enough. To create a social media policy that employees will adopt and implement, it’s critical that you involve them in the decision-making process.

Mastercard achieved this by holding a company-wide meeting where employees were invited to ask questions about how they should conduct themselves professionally on social media. The input from such a meeting and its value to the employee-employer relationship can be a huge benefit to all.

2. Define EVERYTHING

Don’t leave anything up for interpretation. Be very specific in the language you use in the document. Explain the goals of the policy, your brand mission, and of course, what employees should and should not do. This also includes definitions and directions like:

• The official company accounts are
• Who is in charge of them
• Who has access to them
• Which channels are used for what purposes
• What types of social media usage are encouraged and which are not

The SMP must include any language, topics, or even company logos if relevant that are recommended, and off-limits.

3. Protect your business

As much as this is about giving your employees the freedom to use social media for mutual aims, you must protect your brand and business from peril. This policy needs to include clear and specific copyright, privacy, and confidentiality clauses, as well as what company information can and cannot be shared. 

Of course, the social media policy also aims to prevent negative sentiments resulting from employees’ actions towards the company as much as possible. This can include:

• Defamatory posts about the company
• Public criticizing of specific company employees or management
• Sharing explicit content
• Breaching and/or stealing confidential information
• Violating the privacy of a customer or another employee

The Washington Post did a thorough job of protecting its business and clearly defining what employees may and may not do on social media.

4. Provide brand style guidelines

Employees may be hard-working and enthusiastic about their workplace, but honing and harnessing that energy to grow your brand requires some investment. A brand style guideline is your opportunity to show employees how your existing brand standards can be extended to social media.

5. Set boundaries

Getting your employees involved is crucial, but you need to set clear boundaries. One of the most important parts of your employee social media policy is the line you draw between what is personal social media and what is professional.

You have marketing PR SEO, and content departments to get the word out. That’s their job. Not the job of clerks or CEOs. Best Buy and Walmart have perfect examples of how to set boundaries without going too far, especially with constant customer interaction.

6. Encourage employee advocacy

Your employees can be your new greatest marketing asset, but you need to draw them in. While it’s clear there need to be boundaries, this is an opportunity for brand promotion and lead generation that requires little resource investment. 

There are a wide range of tools to get you started, but your social media strategy will determine which are relevant. These are just some of the measured benefits of promoting employee advocacy:

7. Measure effectiveness

None of these steps and measures will be worth anything if you can’t quantify the results. Analyzing the impact of employee activities on brand sentiment and customer engagement can help you improve and tweak your social media policy, among others.

Employee input is also key here. Beyond statistics and numbers, you need to ensure your social media policy is actually contributing to and not hampering their productivity and your relationship with them.

Social media policies were once a long, winding list of limitations aimed at discouraging employees from using social media in any way that could potentially hurt their employer’s business. While protecting your company and its assets should always be paramount, draconian social media bans during work time won’t fly in 2020. Moreover, by gagging your employees online you are missing out on a huge potential for growth and positive brand sentiment your employees can provide, as they say, at no extra charge.

As the COVID-19 crisis has proved, your employees’ presence and involvement on social media as part of your company are both inevitable and potentially beneficial. A clear and positive social media policy for employees can be an invaluable tool at times of crisis. It will also grant you access to a unique audience—your employees’ social media followers.