Why your company needs a social media policy

You see people online every day, walking down the street, on public transport and yes even in the office.

Most of these people are checking their Twitter stream or updating Facebook or posting pictures on Instagram.

So just why does your company need a social media policy?  Social Media has taken the world by storm and just about everyone in your office is probably sending out a tweet as you are reading this article.

What’s in the tweet they sent out?  Do you know? Do you care? Some of them might be taking a picture of their friends in the office and perhaps a few business documents might be in the shot but who cares about that right?  Perhaps those documents have confidential details of a huge business deal between your company and another company.

Perhaps someone from another company sees that picture on Instagram and decides to offer the other company a better deal and just like that you lose $1 billion dollars.

What you see there is a worst case scenario and it has already happened to some companies.  How can your company protect itself?  This is why you need a simple social media policy drawn up. Each staff member should get a copy and read it and sign it when they join your company.

So what should your social media policy contain?  At the very least it should cover the basics like:

·         What can a staff member post on social media while they are at the office

·         What are staff members allowed to post and what are they not allowed to post

·         If a staff member uses the social media account of the company what are they allowed to post

·         What images are staff members allowed to put out there

·         What blog posts are staff members allowed to write

·         What can staff members post and what can’t they post in their profile

·         Remember that a staff member represents your company and the brand so remind them of that before they post on social media

·         Have a disclaimer that protects your company from what people post on your social media pages

For a more detailed social media policy do not hesitate to contact Falconscove to set up an appointment to discuss your needs.

Fred Felton - Falconscove

Email: falconscove@gmail.com

Where do you want to be?

Have you decided which social channel is for you?  Take a look at the various options and see where you belong.

Is it Twitter with its fast, short bursts of tweets.  Where everyone is part of this community and at any given time someone is fighting with someone else.  On the other side Twitter is also a wonderful community of support amongst peers.

Are you perhaps drawn to Facebook with its status updates and where everyone is drooling over baby pics and pet pictures.  Perhaps you prefer Facebook for keeping up with family.

Is your aim to take wonderful artistic photography.  Then perhaps Instagram is right for you.  Just remember to learn about hashtags.  Each picture can have up to 30 hashtags.  That’s a lot of hashtags.

Are you drawn to making videos?  Then perhaps you should be looking at YouTube where everyone has a channel and then are more channels than on cable television.  So make sure what you put up is worth a viewing.

Whatever channel you decide on make sure it is one you love being on.  No point being on a channel and nothing is on.  Think it through.

Yours in social

Fred Felton

Social Media Specialist and Keynote Speaker 

Falconscove

Twitter @fredfelton 

Your Social Media Goals For 2015

Think about that for a moment.

What are your goals for this year?  Make yourself a strong cup of coffee and sit down and plan out your year on social.

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

Have A Brainstorm

What is it you exactly want to do on social media?  Are you wanting to use it to share personal stories?  Are you wanting to become a though leader or social media influencer.  Are you here to build your business.  Think it through.

Choose Your Social Media

It’s all very well to sit on every social media network but you will find that one of them works better for you than any other one.  So choose which one fits your brand better.  Is it Twitter with short and sharp tweets?  Is it Facebook?  Are you more visual and do you prefer Pinterest or Instagram?  Perhaps you prefer making video content, then focus more on YouTube.

Have A Strategy

Once you have decided where you are going have a strategy in place.  Decide exactly what it is you want to do.  Have a plan and stick to that plan. 

Build your Brand

Set mini-goals for yourself and try to slowly build your brand on social media.  Share amazing pictures.  Tell people about wonderful places.  Upload spectacular videos.  Start following interesting people.

Track your progress

At the end of each quarter of the year check your progess.  Are you on track?  Do you need to change anything?  Do you like what you see on your timeline?

If you follow these simple tips you might just have your best year yet in 2015.

Fred Felton - @fredfelton

Creative Director – Falconscove – Advertising – Social Media Strategy – PR

Email: falconscove@gmail.com