While your employees may speak highly of their work in person, what about online? Social media usage is rapidly increasing every year, and how it is used can have a significant impact when it comes to making or breaking a business. Are you protected against a corporate social media faux pas? To be sure, check to see if your corporate liability insurance covers your business against social media liabilities and make sure you have a relevant social media policy in place.

Know what your employees are saying online

The way the public views your business online is vital to promoting business, gaining new business, retaining the right employees, as well as finding and retaining customers. This means ensuring employees understand that what they say online could potentially impact their place of employment and to use discretion when posting content online, especially on social networking sites.

Have an Online Social Networking Policy

One way to ensure all employees are on the same page when it comes to social media is to construct an easy-to-understand Online Social Networking Policy. A well-written social media policy can be an organisation's first line of defense in mitigating risk for both the employer and the employee.

The purpose of an Online Social Networking Policy is:

• To guarantee a constructive relationship between the company and its employees.
• To reduce the possibility of risk to or its reputation.
• To discourage the use of company time for personal networking.
• To ensure employees are aware of their actions while engaging in social networking, the number of individuals who can access information presented on social networking sites, and the consequences associated with these actions.

Be clear on what is acceptable and what is not

Letting your employees know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable online can help ensure your business is free from legal issues associated with social media as well as protect your company’s reputation. By providing clear guidelines and parameters to your employees, you will also be able to ensure that your organisation's brand is protected and even enhanced.

Limit social media use in the office

In addition to protecting your business’ reputation, providing clear social media rules for social media use while in the workplace can help protect data and sensitive information. Usage of social media while on a business’ network could make the network prone to viruses and malware attacks. Login information, as well as customer information and other sensitive information, could easily become vulnerable and, if taken hostage, could cause customers to lose trust in a business. By clearly educating employees to restrict the usage of social media and not fall prey to click-bait links, you can prevent mishaps that could potentially happen to your company.

Without a clear policy in place, your company risks being embarrassed by what employees post and even facing legal issues in case of a misstep or account hack. If you want to learn more about why a social media policy is essential as well as learn tips on what to include in your policy, download your free copy of our Social Media Policy Checklist.