Social Media Policy or Social Media Plan?

by Corey Creed on 2010.05.27

Does your business need a Social Media Policy or a Social Media Plan?

This question may not concern you if you are a freelancer or only have 1 or 2 employees.  You may just do what you want with social media.  (The consequences are typically far less than for a larger company.)

But the larger the business, the more important it becomes to have a social media policy.  You need to determine how social media should be used and what is acceptable and unacceptable, within reason.

You also need a plan as to how social media will be used by the company.

For some, the difference can be confusing.  So let’s break it down.

1. Which comes first?

The social media policy typically comes first.  Get the do’s and don’ts out of the way.  You can then move forward with the plan, which tends to be more creative and flexible.

2. Who uses it?

The social media policy typically applies to all employees of the business.  It outlines what is expected of them and encourages them to be positive and proactive.  It may therefore be used by HR (or even Legal) when problems arise.

The social media plan is primarily for those involved in doing social media for the business.  It is usually developed with input from marketing, pr, customer service, and the legal department.

3. When is it used?

The social media policy should be reviewed by all new employees as they are hired.  Many businesses require that they sign it along with other similar guidelines on computer use, etc.  It typically is only brought up again if problems arise.

The social media plan is more of a road map for those involved in using social media for the business.  It should therefore be used more frequently.  It may be referred to every day by those doing social media.

4. What does it contain?

The social media policy has some standard information it should contain.  (I have more specifics on that later.)

The social media plan contains plans and goals specifically for your business.  Due to the nature of social media, consultants are typically brought in to provide ideas and an ear to what other companies are doing successfully.

What’s next?

The above explanations should help define the difference between the two.  In my next post I’ll offer some more explanation as to what a good social media policy should contain.

Categories: Training

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  • Anne
    it is important to do both, and there are some great solutions to the problem of security in the workplace in conjunction to the use of social media platforms but it may be none of the above, Because so many employees are using Enterprise 2.0 applications without permission IT departments are feeling the only solution is to block them all together but they are missing the fact that these applications can also deliver significant business value and by using systems like the ones designed by Palo Alto can help them maximize their employees abilities to utilize these applications without endangering their networks, their recent white paper onhttp://bit.ly/brno0T has some real solutions to the problems IT departments everywhere are facing.
  • Thanks Anne. I think a lot of IT departments are coming around. Hopefully we
    can speed up their education together.
  • Anne
    Instead of having a policy in place because it almost guaranteed to be broken, why not a block some pieces of social media and keep some parts of social media accessible? Palo Alto Networks might have found a solution to this problem. Here's a link to a whitepaper they have created: http://bit.ly/d2NZRp
  • Great post Corey! & Thanks Jason for your insight too. Many businesses focus on the tools first with full enthusiasm - but have no plan or policy in place.
  • Great first post Corey! I like your explanation of the difference between a social media policy and plan. I agree, I think for most organizations: Policy = HR/Legal Guidelines and Plan = Marketing/PR Strategy.

    Looking forward to more of your contributions in the future. I just posted my first article for Social Fresh today. Really like what Jason + assembled team are doing on the relaunched site.
  • Really enjoyed this article - Thanks for sharing Corey!
  • Our corporate IT department just circulated a "proper use of social networks" guide that is rife with dated material (and I was not consulted on the content prior to publishing). I would add another point above: make sure your information is relevant in the policy statements.

    I say this knowing that I just received a pamphlet instructing me to be careful with what I post on Friendster. :)
  • coreycreed
    You bring up a tricky point. I don't think the social media policy will typically get rewritten that frequently, yet social media changes so quickly. Instead of making sure the information in relevant, I would recommend that the policy avoid being too specific with regard to exact websites and other specifics that will likely change.
  • Agreed. Platform agnostic is the key term.

    Think pre-social media. Your company policies would not say "do not do TV
    interviews unless approved by XYZ". It would just reference interviews or
    live interviews. Could be newspaper, radio, TV, etc.
  • Be careful that when you post on Friendster that you have first exited the time machine fully, closing the hatch door completely behind you.
  • Policy is more important than many first consider. It is the framework that will determine the type of vehicle a brand's social media will form.
  • coreycreed
    Thanks for the opportunity to be able to offer a guest post on Social Fresh, Jason. To everyone else, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment if you have any thoughts on the subject above. I'd love to hear from you.
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