If someone violates the rules for the first time, managers usually give a verbal warning and set up some extra training. Your policy needs to keep personal opinions separate from company positions. You have to balance employee expression rights with your company’s compliance needs. Employee monitoring solutions can help you keep track of policy compliance, but don’t forget to respect employee privacy rights.

Common Social Media Policy Mistakes To Avoid

Include a couple of sample disclaimers that are easy to copy and paste. So before you lock in your social media guidelines for employees, you might want to check in with … your employees. Ask for team feedback to make sure you address their questions or concerns.

Bring Other Teams Into The Process

Even though they might be sharing it on their own account, they could be legally responsible for the information they share. Finally, your social media policy can also be implemented into a larger training program, letting your employees know how to use social media properly. Even though there are plenty of social media platforms, posts, and profile options, your employees must know how to use social media properly. A social media policy can be a strong foundation for a training program that can help you guide your employees on using social media properly. Purpose and scope are the ‘why’ and ‘who’ behind the social media policy—why you have these social media guidelines and who needs to follow them.

For company accounts, the policy might advise employees to avoid copyrighted images and credit the source of images where appropriate. Employees should also be aware of privacy laws, like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which protects the privacy of healthcare records. Some companies might go as far as to prohibit employees from mentioning them on social media, while others might encourage employees to advocate for their brand.

In large or regulated organizations, a clear policy protects against legal exposure, reduces reputational risk, and empowers teams to engage confidently within defined guardrails. The stronger the policy, the less time leadership spends firefighting, and the more time they can spend driving growth. To get started on writing your own brand social media guidelines, you can grab our easy-to-use template. Simply download the Google Doc, save a copy and customise it to your requirements.

The guidelines or playbooks are not meant to police your team and their work. Use your social channels to build excitement leading up to the event. Here’s a simple list of what to do and what not to do for your social media rules. The following subsections will discuss assembling a team and training and implementation in more detail. Clockify will automatically save all time entries, and you can later see how you and your employees spend time at work thanks to its detailed reporting system. Clockify is one of the most reliable time trackers out there, and it allows you and your employees to track work activities and improve productivity.

Guardrails around appropriate social media use protect both you and them. Emphasis is the UK’s leading business-writing training company, offering specialist business-writing training and consultancy services to private and public sector organisations all over the world. For example, say you’re a finance brand that’s just started to use Instagram. You don’t have access to loads of real-life photography but you want to be visual, original and stand out from your competitors. Creating a do’s and don’ts list is ideal for people to easily see what’s OK and what’s not. If you have one, include your approval loop process, so employees know how to get their content approved and live.

Learn what states have adopted data privacy laws to protect consumers online in 2025 and stay compliant to avoid potential lawsuits. Moreover, if an employee mentions your brand in one of their posts, you should instruct them to use the official logo, font, or anything else that is connected to your brand. Let’s say an employee working in a tech company accidentally posts internal product details on LinkedIn, thinking they were sharing a harmless update. This is a serious breach of confidentiality and could result in significant harm to the company. For example, when commenting on company updates, providing feedback, or engaging in industry discussions, ensure that your comments reflect the professional tone expected in your work environment. If you’re unsure whether something is appropriate, err on the side of caution and consider how the message might be perceived by others—especially if it involves sensitive or controversial topics.

Maintaining good relationships with your employees and complying with federal regulations are two more important reasons you should use a professionally made template. This section also makes employees aware that they must follow state and federal laws about subjects such as pornography, discrimination, and creating a hostile work environment. When crafting your Social Media Policy, use a numbered system that makes the policy easy to follow and easy to refer to during employee training or when they need to refer to its various sections.

That is why it is helpful to have a company social media policy for employees. The handbook also specifies that employees must follow the social media platforms’ rules and be respectful when posting about the company or anyone related to it, such as clients or other employees. The social media content of a public library or publicly funded academic library can be subject to an open records, or Freedom of Information Act, request. All user’s posts that are removed for any reason whatsoever should be securely retained in accordance with your organization’s retention schedule.

List which platforms your policy covers and how it applies to both work time and personal time. These guidelines should cover behavioral expectations, harassment prevention, and how employees represent your brand. The trick is finding a balance between employee rights and protecting your business, using clear expectations and rules everyone understands. It allows you to assign specific engagement requests with detailed instructions to employees at scale so they never worry about saying the wrong thing. It’s also important to inform employees how they can seek support if they are a victim of any bullying. If people try to handle a messy situation on their own by responding online, the issue can quickly escalate into an argument that subjects both the provoker and victim to disciplinary action as well.

Collaborating with departments such as marketing and communications, HR ensures the policy is comprehensive and aligns with the company’s broader objectives. Training staff on responsible social media use helps prevent compliance violations and uphold the company’s online reputation. Clear guidelines can help employees manage their personal social media use responsibly for personal use.

Typically, it includes all employees, contractors, freelancers, interns, and third-party vendors who manage or contribute to the company’s digital presence. It explains that the policy covers both professional use (e.g., managing brand accounts) and personal use (when employees identify themselves with the company online). The Code of Conduct for Church Personnel of the Diocese of Raleigh applies to activity on social media and Diocesan entity websites. Personnel must maintain an appropriate professional demeanor when communicating on or through a Diocesan website or social media account. Your social media presence is often the first, and most frequent, interaction people have with your brand.