We all know that control and social media are contradictory, but that is what people and companies think you achieve through a social media policy.
Where in the past social media was the exclusive playing field of marketing, today HR, sales and other departments are finding great benefits in social media. These departments are discovering new platforms or uses for existing platforms to benefit their departments. So with this expanding usage of social media, comes the awareness that a social media policy is needed.
Today I am seeing a new battle arise, namely who will create the social media policy. A number of departments are trying to pull that creation of such a much needed policy to them. However, there are 3 clear main drivers: HR, marketing and IT. They do this for different reasons.
But first, the creation of a social media policy is project that is done in a number of different ways today. Some resort to an automated tool to create a policy. It goes without saying that this can't be the full answer. Others will surf the internet for a policy and do a copy/paste, this is a better approach but the reality is that your social media policy is not the same as the one from any other company and thus requires a personal approach.
In order to reflect all requirements and wishes within the company, a number of departments must be included in the creation of such a policy. Each department will bring their unique experience, skills and motivation for the policy to the table. No department alone should be dominating this effort. Here is some experience from real life why.
Marketing wants to control all messaging by being in charge while having free reign. They will try to create either a minimalistic policy ("use your common sense" as only rule) or control the usage by a detailed "how to use social media handbook".
HR wants to limit the risk, liability and time usage. Though they do bring the skill of creating successful policies to the table, their angle will be focused on "do not ..." rather than "do..." or "become...".
IT will be concerned about bandwidth and IT security and their driver will be shut down as much as possible in terms of access to social media.
Legal will for liability reasons be trying to cross all the t's and dot all the I's in terms. Most of the time this achieved through complex wording that no one understands (cfr. Terms of services of most social media platforms).
Employee will either want as much as possible access to social media with nearly no rules or guidelines while others will want nothing to do with it. The contributors will be giving the social media policy makers the real insight to the use of social media in the company and they should be considered valued contributors.
Unions are a much dreaded group of contributors. Companies are afraid to involve them in the process. However, since policies must also be reviewed, approved or endorsed by these unions, who by the way also use social media, they are critical to implementing social media policies successfully.
In my personal experience, creating a 2 page or 20 page social media policy (guideline or handbook), you need to have all these people and departments involved in the project to create a personalized and integrated social media policy for your company. To make the roll-out process a success you need to accompany this project with social media awareness sessions and/or training.
Do you have different views? I love to hear from you!