5 Things Your Social Media Policy Should Address

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Table of Contents

• Why is a Social Media Policy Important?
• 1. Content Policy
• 2. Content Procedures
• 3. Privacy
• 4. Security Strategy and Procedures
• 5. Acceptable Use Policies
• What Can I Do if an Employee Breaches My Social Media Policy? 
• Key Takeaways

Social media and social networking are a classic double-edged sword for businesses. An ineffective social media plan can hinder the potential for expanding your brand and engaging with customers online. As a business, your social media presence is determined not just by what you upload, but also by your customers and employees. This article explains how your social media policy can moderate your business’ online presence. 

Why is a Social Media Policy Important?

Social media can be a very effective tool to promote your business to your customers and wider network. So that your business can benefit from using social media, it is important to be proactive and address any potential risks. 

Having your employees engage in social media also bears its own risks. Namely, employees using social media on the job can lead to a:

• decrease in productivity levels from inappropriate use; 
• damaged reputation if employees ‘bad-mouth’ your business; and 
• dispute regarding intellectual property if employees have access to confidential information, such as client numbers and details.

One of the ways you can mitigate these risks is by introducing a social media policy to regulate employee use. This should include: 

• a guideline for the types of content your employees put on social media;
• the procedures in place for monitoring their social media use; and 
•  other legal requirements, such as privacy law. 

It is important to provide your employees with a copy of this policy, and confirm that they have read and understood it. You should obtain confirmation of this in writing to assist you in the event of a dispute. 

Before creating a social media policy, you should familiarise yourself with the following five things your policy should address. 

1. Content Policy

You need a social media content policy that explicitly sets out what employees can and cannot publish on your business’ behalf. This ensures that your business is not engaging in unhelpful, inappropriate or even illegal activity online.

General terms would include prohibiting employees from publishing:

• confidential information;
• unlawful material; and 
• other restrictions specific to your business area. 

For example, if you run a tech company, your social media policy will likely restrict your employees from sharing technical business information. 

You should also provide your employees with reasons supporting why they should or should not publish certain content to reinforce the importance of each policy. Additionally, some content may only be inappropriate for specific social media platforms. You should clarify these specific details in your content policy. 

2. Content Procedures

Most businesses will have a social media or marketing team whose role it is to develop the business’ online presence. It is important that you include a step-by-step process for team members to follow in engaging with social media. This could include: 

• an approval process;
• removal procedures for any inappropriate content; and
• relevant procedures for accepting friends or followers. 

3. Privacy

Under Australian law, you are bound by online privacy obligations. You should have a privacy policy that communicates to your customers or users how you manage their personal information. Additionally, your social media policy should include procedures that enable privacy information to remain confidential and protected.

4. Security Strategy and Procedures

Within your business, you will need to decide who will have access to passwords and social media accounts. For this reason, you should put in place authorisation procedures so that team members are held accountable to each other. 

Additionally, you can maintain security through safety measures such as: 

• virus protection;
• firewalls; and 
• data backup. 

5. Acceptable Use Policies

Aside from managing employee use, it is also important to ensure that social media is enhancing customers’ experiences with your business. Acceptable use policies will help you achieve this by applying certain guidelines to your users.

Acceptable use policies should include: 

• what content is acceptable on your platforms; and 
• relevant procedures you will undertake to remove inappropriate content. 

If you intend to remove posts or ban users who publish inappropriate material, you need to give them a warning first. Likewise, you can point to your terms of use policy and inform them how their actions online breach your policy.

However,  there is a limit to the control you can have over your users’ posts. For example, you cannot entice users to post positive reviews online by offering them a reward. Similarly, you cannot boost your business by simply deleting all negative comments. If you do this, you may be in breach of the law. If you are unsure about whether your policy is legal, it would be wise to seek advice from a lawyer. 

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What Can I Do if an Employee Breaches My Social Media Policy? 

It is important to remember that you cannot simply dismiss an employee if they breach your social media policy. While it is important to enforce your policy, taking appropriate disciplinary action is also critical. What disciplinary action is appropriate will depend on the circumstances, such as: 

• the seriousness of the breach; 
• any damage caused to your business by the breach; 
• whether the employee has breached the policy before; or 
• whether the employee has received any warnings for similar behaviour in the past. 

It is important that you seek legal advice before taking any disciplinary action against an employee. 

Key Takeaways

Social media needs to be a well thought-out tool your business uses for promotion and to improve its customer or client experience. An effective social media policy will protect your business from destructive online behaviour and help your employees engage effectively online. To do so, your policy should address:

• what your employees can and cannot post on social media;
• the procedures you have in place to regulate social media activity;
• privacy and data laws when interacting with consumers;
• securing your business’ confidential information and intellectual property; and 
• acceptable use policies.

If you need help drafting a social media policy, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.