Creating a social-media policy that works, with Alexandra Levit
Alexandra Levit is a career columnist for the bi-monthly Metro-US and author of five books including “New Job, New You.” Levit recently shared her take on social-media use in the workplace with SmartBrief’s Abe Silk.
As a workplace-issues expert, what advice do you have for companies to ensure that their employees are using social media effectively, for work rather than personal reasons?
Beware of policies that are too broad-sweeping, or that force you to micromanage. For instance, categorically denying any one group, or all groups, access to social media at work in this age is unrealistic. Fairness and consistency is part of the reason, but a bigger reason is that burying your head in the sand and thinking you can stop your employees’ use of social media because you block those sites from the corporate network is simply not going to work.
Have you noticed a trend among companies that previously forbade the use of sites such as Facebook in the workplace updating their staff policy manuals to reflect the increase of employees using social media for work?
Yes, and this is great! Every organization should have a written social-media policy that includes the following points:
- Define what you mean by social media — for most, social media means an online forum for two-way communication.
- Clarify who will own work products created on social-media sites.
- Spell out the type of information considered proprietary or confidential — customer details, company financial data, etc. — and say that it should never be shared on these sites.
- Spell out the type of potentially damaging information that should never be shared on these sites: offensive comments, libelous statements, illegal activity, etc.
- Determine which employees should be contributing to social-media sites on behalf of the company and what activities these individuals should be engaged in.
Should someone be monitoring whether or not social media is being used appropriately?
Yes, you should to have someone — or multiple someones — in the communications department monitoring what is being said in social media, both from an internal and external perspective. It is the same thing as having a staff member monitor what is said in the press. The conversation will take place with or without you and it’s always best to be informed. It’s not as easy to dictate your image as it used to be, but strategic social-media monitoring and participation can help you shape it.
On Tuesday, July 20, Levit will share more about managing workplace issues related to social media as part of our Buzz2010 event series in Washington, D.C. Space is limited — sign up here.
Image credit, Alexandra Levit
Posted by Tweets that mention Creating a social-media policy that works, with Alexandra Levit | SmartBlog On Social Media -- Topsy.com on July 14th, 2010 at 4:37 am
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Posted by Brian on July 14th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Facebook is a huge application with a number of amazing uses that can be applied to business. Palo Alto has written a practical guide to how to safely allow Facebook to be used in the workplace while still protecting the security of your business. The white paper http://bit.ly/brno0T is really interesting and will allow you to understand that there is utility to Facebook and that it can be an excellent medium for business.
Posted by Josephine on July 14th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
What a great article on creating a social media policy; I especially liked how you mapped out the specific areas of focus to include. I'm be interested in hearing your thoughts on the line between branding yourself as an expert in your field personally through social media versus branding yourself as an expert for your company and any pitfalls to avoid.
Posted by working girl on July 14th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I couldn't agree more that companies need a clear social media policy these days. I also think the policy should be inclusive and, well, social to really harness the potential of social media: http://ls-workgirl.blogspot.com/2010/07/got-passi…
Posted by Jesse Torres on July 14th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Check out Creating an Ironclad Social Media Policy. Free download at docstoc.com http://www.docstoc.com/docs/45894330/Creating-an-…
Posted by Social Media: Developing Strategy vs Policy – « Kingmaker on leadership on July 15th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
[...] However, your social media policy is much more operational centric. To help you better understand the difference, I recently came across an interview with Alexandra Levit. She is a career columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of five books including “New Job, New You.” Levit recently shared her take on social-media use in the workplace with SmartBrief’s Abe Silk. [...]
Posted by Alexandra Levit on July 28th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
@Josephine: Absolutely discuss it with your supervisor, but I would think that contributing content as an expert for your company means mentioning the company name, and contributing content that establishes your own brand omits that name.
Posted by Kenneth Forrest on September 2nd, 2010 at 8:44 am
Social media is quickly growing. Serving for a million of people around the world does help a lot of people promoting their businesses. There will come a time that all people should learn social media. Thanks for the information. Nice post!
My recent post Top 3 Costly Email Marketing Mistakes
Posted by 5 things every social-media policy should include « FCEdge Powerful Marketing Communications on September 10th, 2010 at 6:24 am
[...] 5 things every social-media policy should include Every organization should have a written policy setting out its expectations of employees who use social media, says Wall Street Journal career columnist Alexandra Levit. The key is to be clear and not to take anything for granted, she says: define your terms, spell out precisely what you consider acceptable, and explicitly tell employees the kinds of information that should never be shared on social networks. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media [...]
Posted by Kingmaker Media » Blog Archive » Strategy vs Policy on November 17th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
[...] and author of five books including “New Job, New You.” Levit recently shared her take on social-media use in the workplace with SmartBrief’s, Jesse [...]
Posted by Bryan Long on April 8th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Every company needs a social media policy. Thanks for the advice on how to create one.
My recent post Social media policy- A treasure trove of netiquette rules