Social Media is increasingly becoming a norm rather than an exception in the business world these days. Low cost, wider reach and real-time communication are some of the most obvious business benefits of social media.

There’s no doubt that social media is an immensely powerful tool for businesses. However, with power comes responsibility and social media is no exception to that rule. There’s a strong need for businesses to define an effective social media policy based on their needs and ensure strict adherence.

What is a social media policy?

Governance is crucial for a business in order to make the most of the ongoing social media revolution. On one hand, businesses can harness the power of social media to boost revenues with regulated usage. However, on the other hand, unregulated social media usage can be disruptive for any workplace and thereby hurt a business’ prospects.

To put it in simple words, a social media policy defines the action plan, DO’s and DONT’s in order to manage potential risks and gain the maximum advantage out of social media.

There is no doubt that Twitter and Facebook are handy social media tools for any business. However, poor compliance to a social media policy can negate the business advantages of such tools.

How to create an effective social media policy for your business?

Are your employees spending way too much time on Facebook and Twitter? Is your business’ proprietary information floating on social networks without your approval? If that’s the case, there’s a strong need for enforcing a social media policy for your business.

While there is no “one size fits all” rule that defines an effective social media policy for businesses, I offer the following generic guidelines which can be beneficial for businesses to reap benefits of social media.

• Employee Restrictions should be communicated clearly – There’s nothing worse than employees getting pissed off due to lack of clarity in your business’ social media usage guidelines. Further, you should ensure that these restrictions are strictly enforced.
• Periodic Monitoring – A large number of businesses do a great job of coming up with an effective social media policy and implementing it equally well. However, they miss a crucial aspect of periodically monitoring the gains from social media. IMO, this defeats the purpose of having a social media policy for your business.

Why your business needs an effective social media policy?

So, why is it important to have an effective social media policy for your business? I’ve the following good reasons for it.

• Protects your business – Social Media is one powerful monster. If you don’t tame it, it tames you.
• Helps monitor business gains – A well-defined social media policy + strict adherence is a wonderful tool to know how well or how poorly your business is doing in its social media efforts.

• Addresses Key Stakeholder concerns – An effective social media policy addresses key stakeholders for any business – business owners, employees and customers. The policy helps clearly define the rules of the game for each stakeholder.

Does your organization have a social media policy in place? Or do you think its overkill from a business perspective? Please share your opinion by leaving a comment below this post.