Social Media Marketing Policy for Employees

Social Media Policies for Employees

Butterfly Effect - Chaos Theory

The theory that the smallest event, 

such as a flap of a butterflies wings, can cause a major event,

 such as a hurricane on the opposite side of the world.

Often times there is a contradiction between internal information, meant just for employees, and public information.  There are times when employees do not always distinguish between the two, and will share information that isn't necessarily for the general public, or could potentially harm a company's public image.  Often times this comes from no malicious intentions on the employees end, maybe they just say a comment that creates a ripple effect, without ever thinking of what the comment is that they are saying, or the effect it could have.  In this day and age there are few things that we can say that do not come back to haunt us, especially with Social Media and the internet, once it's out there it has potentially "gone viral" as it were.  Below are a few of the does and don'ts that can be applied to most businesses.

Some things that employees should not put on Social Media include:

Any bad experiences with customers or clients

Any personal information about customers or clients

No mention of finances, good or bad, of a business

Any sort of work problem or work related issue

Any information that is not readily and easily available to the general public

Personal Opinions on what they feel their company is doing wrong

Things that employees can mention on their Social Media sites include:

Positive published or announced information, sans negative opinions

Job Openings that have been posted publicly by the company for External Candidates

Events that the company is hosting or partaking in that are open to the General Public

Charities that the company is working with, so long as the campaigns are public

Again, these are just a few items from each side to give an idea of the kinds of things that should, and should not, be put out there by the employees of a company.  Depending on the size and type of company, as well as the marketing plan and transparency with the public there may be additional online behaviors that the company may want to institute to avoid public relations and marketing nightmares.  One of the most important things that can be done by a company in this age is to create awareness with their employees as to what information is being put out there, and the ripple effect that it can cause. 

 The road to hell is paved with good intentions

 

Often times we forget that it is sometimes better to be seen and thought to be stupid then to open our mouths and remove all doubt.  In today's world with the Facebook's, Pinterest's, LinkedIn, Twitter's, MySpace's, etc., etc. etc. it is hard to adhere or even pay notice to this simple philosophy.  This is true in business as well.  There are times when a employee may try to say something with the best intentions, and it can be taken in the wrong way, maybe it was a statement that wasn't fully formulated, saying too much or too little when it would have perhaps been better to say nothing at all.  Another scenario is that it was perhaps an employee commenting on something that was public information, a personal opinion that perhaps conflicted with the direction that the company was going in, or with the information that was presented to the public.  The best policy for any employee is to not post something on Social Media if it contains a personal opinion, good or bad, and not a published, public message from the company, and even then, it is often better to not make any kind of public statement about the matter and leave it to the PR Reps, as they will often have official company backed statements giving the information that the company deems pertinent to release to the public.

Awareness is the best tool that a company can impress upon their employees.  By creating a culture that involves actively engaged and aware employees the company can ensure that information that is put out there is handled in a proper way.  When information is deemed to be shared by a company they need to be clear as to the methods, and channels, that the information is going to be shared as well as the role that the employees will take in sharing this message.  That role needs to include appropriate responses and inappropriate responses to that message that may be carried out by all employees.  When handled in a professional manner that keeps everyone informed a culture that feeds off knowledge is formed which leaves no one to feel left out or slighted and helps to minimize off the cuff comments that lead to ripple effects and butterfly wings.