Page 396 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Depending on the size of your organization, how your company is
structured, and whether organic, spontaneous collaboration takes place,
extreme distributed governance may be an evil necessity to put in place
for the short term.

Social media policies and guidelines

Every organization needs strong social media policies and guidelines. The policies
are best defined as articulating what employees can and cannot do. They are often
used to drive what can be published and by whom on a social media platform
(when representing the brand) and what procedure you should go through to get
to that publishing.

Guidelines, in contrast to policies, are typically defined as best practices covering
how to participate in social media as a brand or as an employee representing the
company. In the guidelines, you typically see recommendations, examples, rules,
and best practices. Organizations large or small need to practice social media
marketing effectively.

The major components of a social media policy typically include the following:

» Guidelines for identifying oneself as an employee of the company

» Confidentiality clauses — what you are free to publish and what you shouldn’t
» Respect and privacy rights components pertaining to others whom you may
talk about

» Legal components and liabilities; often, just expressing that the opinions are
your own can help limit brand reputation risk
» Rules for participation on social media platforms during work hours and
beyond
» Best practice examples of how to engage — especially on company social
media pages

You can write a social media policy document in many different ways. Every
organization is different, and you need to have something that’s suitable to your
organization’s needs, philosophies, value system, and culture. However, looking
at other social media policies can help. See Chapter 5 for links to examples of
social media guidelines.

380 PART 5 Old Marketing Is New Again with SMM