What is a social media policy today? In Australia, social media has evolved so much over the past decade that organisations now must rethink how they approach social media guidelines for staff. While the costs associated with paid social media promotion keep going up, rather than containing staff activities, effective social media policy examples enable them to engage safely online. But to avoid social media issues and rather unlock the advantages of social media, organisations must also consider social media training, endorsement from senior leaders and activating internal advocates, as this post from Roger Christie at Propel explains.
We’re more focused on the dangers of social media than the advantages of social media.
I watched an internal government seminar recently, aimed at encouraging participants – staff from a range of agency backgrounds and levels of seniority – to get more active on social media.
Among other things, some of the benefits raised during the session were:
- To remind citizens of the good work being done across government;
- To encourage private sector participation in the public service by ‘meeting them where they are’; and
- To open up the public service and make it easier for citizens to share new ideas and opportunities.
It was great to hear the facilitators taking a leadership position. They shared practical advice, stories and experiences to help others feel more confident and empowered. It was a simple, honest and respectful introduction to the ideas of profile building and online industry engagement.
After the formalities were done, the floor was opened up to questions. The very first cab off the rank?
‘This is all very positive, but what about the negative side of things? What sort of things should we avoid in social media?’
Despite the focus on enablement during the session, participants’ minds and questions immediately went to minimising social media issues.
You can understand why. While organisations see the value of staff participating online today, for years social media guidelines have actively discouraged staff from participating due to the perceived risks of social media.
So, having kept organisations ‘safe’ for the past decade or so, what role do policies play today as popular opinion of social media continues to shift from risk to reward? And how should your organisation successfully navigate this transition?
What is the real purpose of a social media policy today – should it contain or enable staff?
What does a good social media policy look like today?
Ten years ago, social media was still a largely uncharted, unproven environment. Naturally, people made mistakes. (In fact, google ‘social media fail’ and you’ll find more than a quarter of a billion results.)
To help mitigate errors among staff, industry leaders like Telstra designed and implemented social media policies. The telco’s ‘Three Rs’ social media policy was first written and implemented in 2009 and is still in place today, having evolved over the years.
The policy was quickly tested as Telstra responded to ‘Fake Stephen Conroy’ (read more about the context here) with the fallout sparking action across Australia’s public and private sectors. At a time when corporate brand was largely controlled, Telstra’s experience showed just one employee ‘armed’ with social media suddenly had the potential to create national headlines.
To limit risk, social media use needed to be contained.
The response was swift. Organisations introduced policies that restricted social media access to a select few. The discipline of social media management was taken more seriously. And specialist teams were appointed to both run branded channels and sniff out any unauthorised use among other staff.
This was particularly true for the public sector, where policies commonly encouraged public servants to avoid social media. The risk of abstaining from public discussion online was always perceived to be lower than the risk of participating and getting it wrong.
But avoiding social media is no longer an option for organisations based on consumer expectations. And with employee advocacy success stories like Dell and OsloMet permeating leadership circles, the urgency to unlock greater value from social media is driving change.
From a place of containment and restriction, organisations suddenly want their employees active and advocating online. The goal is not to contain but to safely enable staff to engage with online communities.
As such, social media policies that previously limited the actions of staff now have a new role enabling them. But unpacking any internal fears associated with past policies must be a priority to deliver effective online engagement.
Designing an effective social media policy for your organisation.
Is online employee advocacy as simple as updating policy terms and giving staff the thumbs up to engage? How much effort really must go into changing internal mindsets and behaviours around social media?
If a recent experience of ours is anything to go by, the transition requires greater patience from leaders and closer attention to aspects beyond the central policy document itself.
Not long ago, we designed and implemented a program for a government client aimed at empowering staff to engage industry via social media. Staff were hand-picked to participate in the program and brought together to discuss the strategy, process and desired outcomes.
After hearing the plan – and despite senior approval and endorsement for the program – one individual was still concerned they would lose their job for breaching policy by posting content online. Despite the planning and structure put in place to support the group, fears and legacy attitudes towards social media still left this individual feeling exposed.
How can you resolve these sorts of barriers and ensure any changes to social media policy are embraced by staff? In this particular situation – and to share learnings with others facing the same challenge – we took several important steps to address these legacy attitudes and help the team feel confident to act.
- Surface staff attitudes and concerns. While your leaders may view any decision to ‘open up’ social media access for staff as a win for them, your staff may not see it that way immediately. In the same way it took organisations some time to grow familiar and comfortable with social media, so too will it take time for staff to trust that these changes are a good thing and that they won’t be ‘caught out’ for participating. Create a space for them to air their concerns and take the time to listen and respond to each (e.g. Q&A with a senior leader). This will help them understand why the change is happening and what that means for them going forward before any major changes are made.
- Reinforce senior support. Senior leaders must be visible in these early stages. Even very clear policy parameters will be taken with a grain of salt by staff if they don’t see those in leadership positions displaying the new behaviours. That doesn’t mean every executive must be on social media, but it does mean they must be supportive of the new parameters in conversations with staff, and those who are digitally savvy should be visible and active.
- Harness authentic advocates. Alongside senior leaders, it’s important to tap into the trust and credibility of influential peers who are leaders in social media engagement. Beyond social media teams and specialists, look to engage those who are known to use social media as part of their day-to-day activities. If possible, provide a forum for these influencers to give feedback on proposed policy parameters and shape the final guidelines. These individuals provide an important relatable link between policy setters and those looking for guidance.
- Showcase the structures supporting change. Your social media policy is a crucial, central pillar for staff and something they will defer to for guidance on what to do and what to avoid online. But in addition to this written guidance and any explanation sessions, consider:
- Formal social media training or ‘lunch and learns’ for staff on key skills;
- Semi-regular team meetings or Q&As to discuss practical experiences;
- A ‘hotline’ (internal social network thread, generic email) for staff to share ad hoc questions and seek guidance;
- Job description and KPI reviews based on increased responsibilities; and
- Peer-to-peer mentoring to help foster skills development in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
- Listen to practical challenges (and don’t be afraid to adapt). Within the above support structures, it’s very likely you’ll capture insights from staff as they adopt a more proactive approach on social media. Take the time to surface and understand these as they are the very real examples of how effective your social media policy is in helping staff safely navigate online community engagement. And if their feedback highlights a gap in policy or something that could be approached differently, don’t be afraid to update it. Social media moves fast.
Most pleasingly, these practices helped that particular individual overcome their concerns about active online engagement. In fact, they went on to become an avid user and advocate of social media among peers, and to this day continue to help alleviate the fears of others around the organisation.
So while any company social media policy that restricts or denies staff access to online engagement must of course change, the biggest changes happen around the policy itself. Rather than simply updating guidelines, try to look more holistically at the factors influencing staff behaviours on social media.
Understanding the current attitudes and concerns of staff and using those to shape policy and support structure; engaging trusted internal voices to build comfort and confidence; and keeping close to staff as any changes are rolled out – these are the real drivers of change for employee use of social media and the determining factors in the success of any social media policy.
