How to Create a Great Social Media Policy [+ Free Editable Template]

Hey there 👋

If you’re here, you’re looking for inspiration for your social media policy.

You’ve noticed the shift from a “do not post on social media” to “please share our content” approach companies are now taking.

Gone are the days when employees were prohibited from mentioning your company on social media – even in regulated industries.

Leaders are now recognizing the impact that encouraging employees to be active on platforms like LinkedIn can have.

From marketing and sales to recruitment and employee engagement… Positioning employees as industry thought leaders sets you apart from the competition.

And your company is no exception.

You may even be launching an employee advocacy program to fully take advantage of the opportunity professional social media presents.

But there’s something you’re going to need either way: a clear and concise social media policy.

Not just one that says, “don’t do x, y, or z, or you’ll get in trouble.”

But a social-ready document that allows your employees to leverage social media to grow their personal brands and move your business forward.

And not a 45-page document that’s a catastrophic blend of both dull and confusing 🤦‍♂️

First, let’s discuss why…

A social media policy is a document created for employees that outlines a behavioural code of conduct they’re expected to follow when sharing anything online, whether it’s part of their job or not.

The BEST social media policies should also educate your employees on the benefits of using social media at work.

Historically, they’re put in place to protect brand reputation. Now, they also serve as an opportunity to educate and reassure employees that they can post on social media as long as they adhere to your guidelines and stay safe.

These days, branding is social-first.

Your employees serve as the names and faces behind the name and the logo.

Everything makes a difference when it comes to building brand awareness, whether it’s content from your company channels or an employee’s LinkedIn profile.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a digital shift that’s got everyone from salespeople to tech teams incorporating social media into their role.

Not to mention the number of millennials in the workforce and emerging Gen Z talent who grew up with social media. These generations will undoubtedly be on social media and using it regularly.

Now, more than ever, it’s time to write (or rewrite) your social media policy.

Here are some numbers to make you think:

Your employees are already using social media at work.

They’re already talking about your company online.

And yet less than half admit to knowing the laws of the land 🤔

Your social media policy isn’t there to police your employees.

You don’t want to create a big list of “don’t do this” things that people are too scared to post anything at all 🙅‍♂️

With a clear policy that clearly states what’s off-limits while allowing for authentic content creation, you alleviate that worry (and avoid a potential PR nightmare!).

The benefits of employees using social media for work far outweigh the risks.

And this is exactly what your new policy should be centered around.

ESPECIALLY if you’re going to leverage employee advocacy.

Employee advocacy programs have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years.

So much so that Gartner predicted that by the end of 2023, 90% of B2B organizations would have scaled employee programs as part of their marketing strategy.

For the unacquainted:

Employee advocacy is the promotion of a company or its products/services by the people who work for the company.

It’s essentially word-of-mouth marketing on social media via employees.

When the pandemic caused networking to become 100% digital, brands and professionals the world over began to see the potential of employee advocacy.

Marketers realized they could elevate brand awareness through their employees, salespeople were able to adopt social selling, HR teams found a new way to showcase their company culture… the list goes on! 😎

It’s simple, people want to hear from people, not brands.

Employee advocacy allows you to communicate with your key audiences in the most authentic and transparent way possible – through the people behind the brand!

Whether you’re aiming to take your content the extra mile or to showcase your employer brand, here are some key employee advocacy statistics that’ll make you think:

Your employees are people, not robots.

Speak to them like they’re people and use a more casual tone of voice.

You should be writing to be understood, not to get the OK from legal… 🤦‍♂️

Plus, you want this to sound fun! This should be an encouraging document, and you want to get your employees excited about the idea of using social media for work.

Ensure that your employees understand basic copyright laws.

This should include links to the most up-to-date image rights and GDPR legislation.

Plagiarism isn’t a good look for either party involved 😬

It’s not only damaging to the employee’s personal brand, but it can also leave their network with a sense that they’re not being authentic in any of their posts.

If that message is a post is a direct copy of someone else’s… Did someone tell them to post it?

Worse still, in more extreme examples, the use of someone else’s image or a breach of copyright laws could land both the company and the employee in legal trouble.

Make sure your employees are aware of customer and client confidentiality.

You don’t want them sharing sensitive details that could harm both customer and audience relationships.

Remind employees to consider and be respectful of their audiences 👍

Social media has become the #1 destination for social issues surrounding things like race, religion and sexuality, and as the lines between social media for professional and personal use become increasingly blurred, they should be reminded that if dishonourable behaviour isn’t accepted in the workplace, it won’t be tolerated in the digital world.

Encourage your employees to be themselves.

There’s nothing more authentic than being yourself, and generally speaking, using social media is much easier when you adopt this mentality! 🤩

Remind them to avoid any “pseudo identities” and encourage transparency. It shouldn’t be a secret who they work for, and you’ll want them to talk loud and proud about this as it can be great for your employer brand.

Employees should be told to write and talk in the first person too.

You’re not encouraging them to be robots, after all!

Emotions run high online, especially nowadays when we’re exposed to so much injustice and misrepresentation.

Passion is great, and you should absolutely speak when you feel it’s right and just, but draw the line at anger.

We’ve all been there… you’ve had a difficult day, your emotions are already running high, somebody says something, or you see something online, and you furiously type out a response.

Take a minute and think about it before you press send 👌

Nothing ever really disappears once it lands on the internet.

You might hit delete on that tweet or remove that LinkedIn comment, but often it’s too little too late.

People can screenshot, retweet, re-share, you name it. Once it’s online, it will always exist somewhere.

It happens! 🤷‍♂️

Tell them that they should be told to be the first ones to respond to mistakes.

Don’t just leave it there.

Trust me, on social media, a mistake will only grow in significance!

Whether it’s deleting a comment or correcting something they’ve said, encourage them to sort it sooner rather than later.

If they’re not sure how to handle the situation, make sure to remind them that the social team are at hand for situations like this!

Provide a point of contact for your employees to reach out to 👋

Things come up all the time.

It could be a bad response to one of their posts or a difficult question from a client/customer.

They’re not always expected to know what to say, and that’s okay!

Having a point of contact assures them that someone is at hand if they need assistance.

Social media and personal branding are all about building your community.

Whether it’s weighing in on a topic that fits in with what they do or responding to a comment on one of their posts about the company, you should encourage employees to engage with their audiences when the opportunity presents itself.

Plus, it’s not all about the company!

Sometimes being authentic just means sharing helpful content with their audiences. It all helps to build trust and rapport with their networks 🙏

Tell your employees to check out and follow your branded channels.

It’s a great place for them to start, especially if they’re not so confident with using social media.

Following your branded social channels will allow your employees to locate content that’s “oven-ready” that they can share themselves.

It also serves as a bit of inspiration if they’re stuck for something to say 🤷‍♂️

They’ll likely find it easier to engage with the company/other employees at first.

As an employer, you will likely have run through a code of conduct on how to behave in the workplace when onboarding new employees.

Remind your employees that the same behaviour is expected from them online as well as in the office or on internal channels.

It’s easy to get lost in social media.

We’ve all been there.

You open LinkedIn or Twitter to message someone or post something, and half an hour later, you’re reading a rags-to-riches story from some entrepreneur on LinkedIn 🤦‍♂️

Remind employees that while social media usage is encouraged, it should not distract from or disrupt the day job.

When it comes to social media for work, LinkedIn should be the first-choice platform.

And getting started on LinkedIn begins with setting up your profile.

It sounds simple enough, right?

Your name, a bio, your photo…

But there’s doing it, and then there’s really doing it 💪

If you want your employees to reap the benefits of being more active on social media, you’re going to want to include a checklist and some best practices on how to optimize LinkedIn profiles.

We’ve included one in our downloadable template to save you some time!

Okay.

So you can’t just say:

“You should post to social media”

And expect them to become social media experts.

How often should they post?

Do they know what community management is?

What kinds of posts does LinkedIn prioritize right now?

Algorithms can be mean, after all 😩

Include some best practices and include as many resources as possible so that your employees can implement a plan and start adding structure to their posting.

Don’t sweat it though, we’ve included some tips and resources in our template.

Include a few pointers on how to keep imagery and messaging on-brand.

You’ll want to outline things like:

Maybe add a link to your electronic press kit if you have one.

Naturally, your employees will have some questions.

Whether from past experience or common sense, try to answer a few questions that you expect to arise.

Examples might include:

Stress that above all else, employees should enjoy the time they’re being encouraged to spend on social media.

By encouraging employees to use social media to build their personal brands, you’re opening a world of possibilities for them, no matter their role 👍

Being active on social enables employees to start conversations and generate leads with social selling, build their personal brand and progress within their role/career by networking and demonstrating thought leadership.

90% of companies fall at this hurdle.

(not an official statistic)

But this happens A LOT 😪

Companies spend days, weeks, or months writing an all-encompassing social media policy for their employees, then fail to share it with the workforce effectively.

Or worse yet, they simply leave it on the company intranet for employees to search for.

The purpose of your shiny new policy should be to encourage employees to share content, and that starts with sharing the policy with them.

Why? We already know they’re using social media anyway…

Since the start of social media, employees have been told to avoid talking about the company online or face the consequences.

Sure, the emerging workforce will have a different attitude, but the majority of your employees will, by default, have reservations about using social media for work purposes. You HAVE to get your policy in front of these people 🙏

Consider which of your internal communications channels typically receive the most engagement and responses. This will be the ideal place to announce and share your new policy.

We’ve even seen some companies schedule team-specific calls and webinars to walk through their policy and educate employees on how to use social media for work.

Make sure to get key stakeholders on board, such as HR, the C-Suite, department leaders and regional heads. This helps spread the word that your approach to social media has changed.

Every company will be different but choose an approach that works best for getting attention from your team.

And don’t forget to include your social media policy in your new starter onboarding package/training!

Check out the podcast episode below for guidance on ensuring brand consistency in your employee advocacy program, with insights from employee advocacy lead at Dentsu Benelux, Maike Jansen.

Naturally, every company’s policy will be different, both in terms of its contents and its appearance.

Some companies might need a much longer document…

(Emphasis on ‘might’ as we remain skeptical) 🙄

Either way, try to take a step back and remove that corporate brain for a second.

Consider what will resonate with your workforce and what they’ll be inclined to actually read and ultimately understand.

Here are some great (and very different) examples:

GAP has absolutely nailed it with their policy 👏

Sure, it doesn’t tick all the boxes in terms of things we’ve suggested you include, but the tone of voice and humorous nature of it make it a document that employees will actually take the time to read.

It also includes some nice visuals and is very much to the point.

“If you #!%#@# up? Correct it immediately and be clear about what you’ve done to fix it. Contact the social media team if it’s a real doozy.”

Coca-Cola’s guidelines are comprehensive and clear, but it’s lacking in the visual department.

Excluding the brand’s logo, it’s predominantly a standard black-and-white document, and the text is bunched up.

Thankfully, it’s only three pages, but at first glance, it won’t thrill any employee to be told that they have to read this 🤔

In the age of short attention spans, it’s essential to keep things visually stimulating.

Intel’s social media policy is an excellent example.

Though the full policy is very text-heavy, they’ve also broken it up into 3 easy to understand rules of engagement 👇

• Be Upfront
• Focus on the Good
• Use Your Best Judgment

Their introduction copy is positive and encouraging, emphasizing that they trust employees:

“What do our policies mean? They mean that we trust you. We bring smart people into the Intel family and we expect you to make smart decisions. This means that you are both the person in the best position to tell the world why Intel is such an amazing place to be and the person best suited to protect Intel from harm.”

Ready to create a social media policy of your own?

We’ve rolled all of these tips together into a free social media policy template.

It’s fully editable, customizable, and can be white labelled as your own. Easy!

Ready to get started with employee advocacy?

But not sure if you’re ready for a platform?

Schedule a call with one of the team.

Prefer to cut to the chase and explore DSMN8?

Roger that!

Book your demo.

More resources for getting employees active on social media in a risk-free way:

• 12 Employee Social Media Guidelines
• Social Media Security Checklist
• Employee Advocacy Training Plan
• Do’s and Don’ts of Asking Employees To Post on Social Media