Why do you need a social media policy? Pepsi’s story won’t be the last social media thread viral for the wrong reason. An employee creates an offensive post or shares confidential information on social media accounts. On the other hand, the organization becomes the target of social media trolls.
Digitalization has changed consumer behaviour. They trust a brand or organization that puts the public’s interest, upholds social responsibility, and protects employees’ benefits. Therefore, most organizations encourage staff to promote their work on their personal accounts.
Another story happened in Malaysia. A chef at a five-star Grand Ion Delemen Hotel (Genting Highlands) admitted to spitting into Chinese customers’ food in his private tweet. He was then fired. The hotel also issued a statement.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it was burned in a night.
Setting up Social Media Policy
When any of these problematic situations catch the media’s attention, all branding efforts went in vain.
You definitely do not want these issues keeping you up at night. To prevent any such situation, an organization needs to implement two social media policies. First, a social media policy for all employees. The other will set the rules on how to deal with negative feedback and backlash issues.
Those policies, however, are not fully guaranteed. It at least sets a guideline for all staff. You need to trust employees to use good judgment when posting. You need to ensure staff should not publicly disclose future initiatives before any public announcement. The policies ensure all posted content is accurate and how to correct mistakes. Also, have a clear approval process on corporate social accounts. Most importantly, organizations must strongly prohibit staff from posting discriminatory remarks and obscene text or images.