As more and more companies try to grow their business and find their voice on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is inevitable that guidelines are going to have to be formed. Small and medium sized companies will need to guide employees carefully on how to use social media sites on the company’s behalf. Policies will need to be developed to help employees to navigate the complex communication issues these sites introduce.
Social media can be a very powerful addition to a company’s marketing tools but one of the underlying tenets of social media is transparency which does not sit comfortably with many companies. A “what you see is what you get” attitude towards a company’s relationship with it’s constituencies. For this to be implemented well, then all social media participation on behalf of the company will need some careful thought.
To help I have come across a very useful site which has pulled together a load of social media policy examples in support of a book on social media governance. They have examples for blogging, using third party sites, editorial guidelines and much more from many large companies across the world. These could form the basis of your policy if you are looking to draw one up.
Oxford Digital Marketing run workshops on SEO and Social Media marketing and the issues related to implementing it effectively in your company.