The Internet is a pretty wild place. Six years ago we were casually browsing the internet as a “reader” and now almost all of us are “contributors” whether we know it or not.

We’re engaging with friends, family, celebrities, and businesses across web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’re reading and writing blogs (like this one) to reach an extended audience that we may never have come to find before (thanks Google!).

But more importantly, your employees are probably already engaging with your customers, clients, and contacts without your knowledge – the question is: have they been told they couldn’t?

This is where a quick and easy Social Media Policy might help your organization. It should outline your company’s views on social media and how or if your respective employees, vendors, or anyone else you designate should engage clients or prospects across social networks, blogs, or outside of your office, either in the virtual world.

Something said late Friday night via twitter may impact your revenue on Monday morning!

At CoVerica, we have a pretty relaxed atmosphere and actually encourage all of our employees to engage in social networking (such as LinkedIn). We also ask that employees blog at this site as it gives them both a creative outlet and a voice to relay their extensive knowledge of a topic.

My biggest concern, as the Director of IT, is that any interaction with our clients happen in a public domain so that it’s discoverable. This is not to say that this stance is the best option for your company or organization as it really is a comfort-level decision for your owner(s) and management staff.

I personally have met several business leaders and managers that prefer that no one in their organization contact clients outside the confines of the office. That’s not a bad policy to have, and might be required for some industries, but more and more businesses are leveraging these new forms of networking for additional revenue and retention models.

Attached below is a sample Social Media Policy (loosely based on IBM’s excellent policy) policy to help get you started on your own.

Remember that a social media policy should be a living document to change with advancing technologies. The policy should also be vague enough as to not require you to list every social networking site, new or old, nor should it have too many gray areas for interpretation. A great tip that I heard from another company is that they require all company policies to be signed upon hire, as well as, once a year to incorporate any changes.

Without further ado:

Social Media Policy

While >insert company name< (and all other owned companies hereby referred to as “company”) believe that social media can and should be used as a business tool for networking, sales, and general exposure to the public, friends, and family the company also believes that each member of the company recognizes and exhibits professional responsibility for their actions while using social media. (hereby referred to as “online” meaning but not limited to social networking, blogs, virtual worlds, wikis, review sites, online forums, etc) Since both business and non-business messages, comments, photos and other actions can represent the company, whether intended or not, the company requires that you use common sense and professional judgment when engaging in these activities.

The following is the company’s social media and social networking policy. The absence of, or lack of explicit reference to a specific site does not limit the extent of the application of this policy. Where no policy or guideline exist, employees should use their professional judgment and take the most prudent action possible. Consult with your manager or supervisor if you are uncertain how a possible action may be interpreted.

1. Personal blogs should have clear disclaimers that the views expressed by the author in the blog is the author’s alone and do not represent the views of the company. Be clear and write in first person. Make your writing clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the company. Use “I” and not “we” or “our” when writing if speaking about business related topics unless you have the consent of the company.
2. Information published online should comply with the company’s Confidentiality, Non-Piracy, and Non-Disclosure of proprietary data information, procedures, and/or trade secrets or methods. This also applies to comments posted on other online sites which you do not own.
3. Be respectful to the company, other employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
4. Non-business social media activities should not interfere with work commitments. Refer to the company’s Computer Usage Agreement for more details.
5. Your online presence reflects the company. Be aware that your actions captured via images, posts, photos or comments can reflect that of the company and can be brought to the attention of management if further action is needed.
6. Do not reference or cite company clients, partners, vendors or customers without their express consent and the consent of a manager. In all cases, do not publish any information regarding a client during the engagement. All engagement with any of the above listed entities should occur in the “public” space online and not over private message.
7. Respect copyright laws, and reference or cite sources appropriately. Plagiarism applies online as well for both business and non-business uses online.
8. Company logos and trademarks may not be used without written consent.
9. Speak professionally about the company online. If you see a need to vent, please see a manager or someone who can modify the situation.

Employee Name (printed)                  Employee Name (signed)                   (Date)

Manager Name (printed)                    Manager Name (signed)                      (Date)

Hopefully this sample will help you craft and build out your own Social Media Policy applicable to your company or organization. Please note that you should consult an attorney as the above policy may or may not be enforceable in your particular country, state or county.

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