style="font-size:15px;"> Review previous work completed by the contractors.
Check references.
Creating a Social Media Marketing Policy
Even if you’re the only person involved in social media marketing at the beginning, write up a few general guidelines for yourself that you can expand later. Figure 4-6 shows a sample social media policy; you can download other examples from http://socialmedia.policytool.net.
Courtesy of Ellipsis.Digital, a division of rTraction Canada, Inc.
FIGURE 4-6: A basic social media policy may be enough to get you started.
Most policies address the social media issue both in terms of what employees are allowed to do on behalf of the company and what they aren’t allowed to do. For example:
Employees may not be allowed to use personal social accounts on company time.
Some trained employees may be allowed to post customer support replies on behalf of the company, whereas others are responsible for new product information.
For additional information and examples, see the resources listed in Table 4-3.
TABLE 4-3 Social Media Policy Resource Sites
| Name | URL | Description |
|---|---|---|
| American Express |
www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/employee-social-media-policy
|
Article titled “Employees Gone Wild: 8 Reasons You Need A Social Media Policy TODAY” |
| Content Marketing Institute |
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/01/write-social-media-guidelines
|
Social media guidelines and examples |
www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140320152546-13721119-how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy-that-actually-gets-read
|
Article titled “How to create a social media strategy that actually gets read” | |
| Sprout Social |
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-policy
|
Article titled “Your Guide to Creating a Social Media Policy” |
| Bloomberg Law |
www.bloomberglaw.com/product/health/document/X44KC03C000000
|
Free checklist |
| PolicyTool for Social Media |
http://socialmedia.policytool.net
|
Free social media policy generator |
| Rocket Lawyer |
www.rocketlawyer.com/document/social-media-policy.rl
|
Free 1-week trial of social media policy generator |
| Inc.com |
https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/writing-a-social-media-policy.html
|
Article titled “How to Write a Social Media Policy” |
| UpCounsel |
www.upcounsel.com/social-media-policy
|
Article titled “Social Media Policy: Everything You Need to Know” |
| TechRepublic |
www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-craft-a-social-media-policy
|
Article titled “How to craft a social media policy” |
A typical policy addresses risk management, intellectual property protection, individual privacy protection, and the respect of your audience, company, and fellow employees. Given the rapidly changing world of social media, you’ll have to keep your policy flexible and update it often.
Try to incorporate the following suggested concepts, adapted from Hootsuite (https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-policy-for-employees):
Hold individuals responsible for what they write.
Be transparent. Disclose who you are, including your company name and title.
Recognize that clients, prospects, competitors, and potential future employees are part of your audience.
Be respectful of everyone.
Understand the tenor of each social media community and follow its precepts.
Respect copyright, trademarks, and privacy rights.
Protect your company’s confidential trade-secret and proprietary information in addition to client data, especially trade-secret information under nondisclosure agreements.
Do not allow personal social media activity to interfere with work.
