Employees Gone Wild: The Importance of a Corporate Social Media Policy

source: corporatecomplianceinsights.com

In this week’s readings, we learned about the importance of developing effective corporate social media plans and policies to ensure security, privacy, and proper brand positioning when sharing information. For example, the U.S. Army's social media handbook includes specific guidelines, case studies, checklists, and dos and don'ts on safely and effectively using social media for its employees.

But what happens when an employee deviates from the corporate social media policy and posts something that ignites backlash, creates negative publicity, and damages corporate reputation? As Dave Kerpen says, “You know your company will make mistakes, but you don’t know when they will come, what they will be, and who they will offend" (Kerpen, 2011, p. 190).

For this week’s post:

• Provide a real-world corporate example of an employee social media gaffe that received negative publicity. (Hint: here's one.) 
• How did the company handle the gaffe? 
• What were the ramifications of the gaffe on both the employee and the company?

• Now pretend you are the head of social media at this company. 
• Would you have handled the situation any differently? How? Consider your current social media crisis plan.
• How would you amend your current social media policy to prevent similar situations? Consider the rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act. 

To reference while writing your responses, review Scott’s perspective on social media policies (Scott, 2012, p. 91-92) and Kerpen’s perspective on social media crisis plans (Kerpen, 2011, p. 187-197).

Good luck and I look forward to reading your posts!


Works Cited

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an
irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on Facebook (& other social networks). New
York: McGraw-Hill.

Scott, D. (2013). The new rules of marketing & PR: How to use social media, online
video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers
directly (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.