For most companies, it helps keep social media communication consistent and avoids mistakes. But for certain organizations, like government agencies, insurance companies, and medical service providers, these policies are non-negotiable. Because they need to follow strict laws to protect private data, avoid misinformation, and stay compliant with regulations. A social media policy is a set of rules that helps your team know how to post and interact online in a way that protects your brand. Good social media policies set boundaries for how employees behave online and protect both workers and the company’s reputation. Social media guidelines are like training wheels that give employees the basic rules they can follow to learn how to connect on social media.

Incorporate Legal And Ethical Considerations

This helps protect sensitive information from being inadvertently shared online. This section is crucial for safeguarding the organization’s proprietary data, as well as the privacy of customers and employees, which in turn builds trust with stakeholders. Information posted on social media platforms may be viewed by the public and further used or disclosed.

Gather Input From Key Departments (marketing, Legal, And Hr)

An overzealous post can unwittingly morph into a goldmine for rivals and hackers. Such gaffes highlight the critical need for an unwavering social media policy in today’s tech landscape. Guidelines on content creation and sharing ensure that all posts align with your brand’s values and goals.

This section aims to protect your company from harm if people post about it on social media. It covers items such as proprietary information, negative sentiments about the company, and the company’s right to take disciplinary action. This section of our template lays out when employees must follow the policy. This includes managing company accounts and their personal use that affects employees or the company. Creating a Social Media Policy is crucial when employees are promoting your brand. This policy should outline guidelines for writing about your company and products and clarify who is responsible for posting.

Planable offers a multi-layered approval system that prevents any post that shouldn’t be published, well, getting published. By using it, teams ensure that the right people (whether clients or managers) have the chance to take a peek at the post and screen it for any brand/inclusivity inconsistencies. This section should include guidelines and resources that educate on how to deal with trolls or bullies. Aspects such as who to report it to, how to react, how to identify trolls and bullies (sometimes they’re just angry customers who are being jerks), when to ban, when to block, and so on and so forth.

Your social media branding guidelines should first note all your profiles. So, if your brand is also on Snapchat, Reddit or TikTok, don’t neglect them in your style guide. Think of a social media style guide as an extension of your brand guidelines. Panacea Neighborhood Pharmacy uses marketing and promotion to interact with customers through a variety of social media channels.

For example, a compliant sponsored post might include the #ad hashtag at the very beginning, plus the platform’s built-in “Paid Partnership” label. This might be a well-intentioned advisor or affiliate creating a non-compliant account. It’s also important to look for social accounts related to your organization but not under corporate control.

A social media policy template is a set of guidelines designed to help employees represent the company professionally on social media platforms. These policies are crucial for protecting the brand’s security, privacy, and legal interests. With 45% of companies lacking a social media policy, the risk of reputational damage and legal issues is significant. Your employees own their social media profiles, so what they post there can’t be restricted by your organization. As far as your own company’s social media accounts are concerned, you’re entitled to set the rules of posting. Start by ensuring that everyone involved in managing your social media accounts is familiar with the contents of the style guide.

Here’s how employers and employees can successfully manage generative AI and other AI-powered systems. Social media can allow us to share the positive impact our schools have on our students and communities as a whole. If you have ideas about school events or activities to highlight on NYCPS’ main account, please reach out to our Digital Team ().

Empower your organization to navigate the complexities of social media with confidence and professionalism. The primary purpose of a social media policy is to protect the company’s online reputation. It provides clear guidelines for employees to follow, ensuring consistent brand interaction and building trust with the audience. A well-crafted policy can prevent public relations disasters and minimize the impact of crises by providing a framework for appropriate online behavior. By setting clear expectations and offering guidance, a social media policy creates a safe space for employees to express themselves without worrying about crossing boundaries. It also helps employers maintain a consistent, professional online presence that aligns with their brand.

Your social media policy should also reflect your organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Include guidance on using inclusive language, avoiding stereotypes, and ensuring visual content meets accessibility standards (e.g., alt text for images, captions for videos). Even posts on personal accounts can reflect back on your company if people know where your employees work. Remind employees that this rule also applies to their personal accounts. So, even if employees are just engaging on an informal social media site, their activity is still subject to company policy.

I’ve seen agency employees post on behalf of a client and not disclose it. While other companies have disclosure guidelines in their policies, Intel takes it step further and makes sure its team knows exactly what Intel expects when it comes to FTC disclosures. There are three sections for disclosure, protect trade secrets, and use common sense.

Those kinds of updates can impact what your ideal social media policy looks like. Social media can turbocharge your company’s growth, propelling your brand into new opportunities. But when employees post without guardrails, it’s HR that ends up playing firefighter. Mixed messages, missteps, and a platform that creates headaches instead of momentum. Companies often define social media as including forums, wikis, blogs and professional networking services, such as LinkedIn.