Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. Michelle Krasniak

may not be allowed to use personal social accounts on company time.

       Some trained employees may be allowed to post customer support replies on behalf of the company, whereas others are responsible for new product information.

For additional information and examples, see the resources listed in Table 4-3.

TABLE 4-3 Social Media Policy Resource Sites

Name	URL	Description
American Express	www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/employee-social-media-policy	Article titled “Employees Gone Wild: 8 Reasons You Need A Social Media Policy TODAY”
Content Marketing Institute	https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/01/write-social-media-guidelines	Social media guidelines and examples
LinkedIn	www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140320152546-13721119-how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy-that-actually-gets-read	Article titled “How to create a social media strategy that actually gets read”
Sprout Social	https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-policy	Article titled “Your Guide to Creating a Social Media Policy”
Bloomberg Law	www.bloomberglaw.com/product/health/document/X44KC03C000000	Free checklist
PolicyTool for Social Media	http://socialmedia.policytool.net	Free social media policy generator
Rocket Lawyer	www.rocketlawyer.com/document/social-media-policy.rl	Free 1-week trial of social media policy generator
Inc.com	https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/writing-a-social-media-policy.html	Article titled “How to Write a Social Media Policy”
UpCounsel	www.upcounsel.com/social-media-policy	Article titled “Social Media Policy: Everything You Need to Know”
TechRepublic	www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-craft-a-social-media-policy	Article titled “How to craft a social media policy”

      

To increase compliance, keep your policy short and easy to read. Try to focus on what people can do rather than on what they can’t do.

      A typical policy addresses risk management, intellectual property protection, individual privacy protection, and the respect of your audience, company, and fellow employees. Given the rapidly changing world of social media, you’ll have to keep your policy flexible and update it often.

      Try to incorporate the following suggested concepts, adapted from Hootsuite (https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-policy-for-employees):

       Hold individuals responsible for what they write.

       Be transparent. Disclose who you are, including your company name and title.

       Recognize that clients, prospects, competitors, and potential future employees are part of your audience.

       Be respectful of everyone.

       Understand the tenor of each social media community and follow its precepts.

       Respect copyright, trademarks, and privacy rights.

       Protect your company’s confidential trade-secret and proprietary information in addition to client data, especially trade-secret information under nondisclosure agreements.

       Do not allow personal social media activity to interfere with work.

      

The complexity of your social media policy depends on the extent of your social media marketing effort and the number of people and departments involved. Generally, the larger the company, the longer the policy.

Staying on the Right Side of the Law

      Just about everything in social media pushes the limits of existing intellectual property law. So much information is now repeated online that ownership lines are becoming blurred, much to some people’s dismay and damage.

      When in doubt, don’t copy. Instead, use citations, quote marks, and links to the original source. Always go back to the original to ensure that the information is accurate.

Watch blogs such as TechCrunch (https://techcrunch.com) for information about legal wrangling. New case law, regulations, and conflicts bubble up continually.

      Obtaining permission to avoid infringement

      

You can’t (legally) use extended content from someone else’s website, blog, or social media page on your own site, even if you can save it or download it. Nope, not even if you include a credit line saying where it came from. Not even if you use only a