Businesses are now using social media for promotion and for learning more about customers’ perception of their company, but they’re often overlooking the risks of doing this without social media policies.
The policies associated with social media are “fairly complex” because there are various risks to consider when choosing a policy, says David Adler, the principal attorney at Adler & Franczyk, a law firm in Chicago that specializes in technology and communications.
Corporations are exposed to reputational risk when they use social media, according to a progress report on social media, released by the ACE Group, an international leader in insurance.
In order to lessen that risk, corporations must instate policies to prevent untrue or negative comments from being posted about the company, the report states.
“I strongly recommend that every company have a social media policy in place,” says Adler. “I think it provides a road map for employees and gives the company a framework for enforcing these rules,” he says.
In a 2011 survey conducted by Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm, 120 businesses were asked a series of questions about the use of social media at work.
Of these businesses, 76.3 per cent use social networking for business use. Almost half of these businesses allow their employees to use social networking at work for personal use. The survey also revealed that 72.6 per cent of businesses using social media don’t monitor their employees’ use of it.
Organizations can use social media monitoring to “identify negative statements quickly and work to resolve the situation before it becomes a crisis,” says Sarah Carver, a representative of Radian6, a company that enables organizations to monitor what’s being posted about their company on social networking sites.
“It is certainly beneficial for organizations to monitor their overall brand health on the social web, regardless of where the negative comments originate from. By being able to react quickly, it gives organizations the chance to respond and resolve issues,” says Carver.
Companies can be held liable if an employee posts a defamatory statement online from a corporate account, says Gary Bahadur, the co-founder and CIO of Foundstone, an information security and vulnerability risk management company.
“With a policy in place, you have the ability to fire someone for breaking the policy,” says Bahadur. “It makes it easier for the company to define appropriate actions that can be used to justify termination.”
Without policies, companies are forced to face the risks of social media with no defence.
It’s clear the business world has changed, and policies are being forced to follow suit.
“Crisis management is a very real necessity for businesses and their external communication efforts,” says Carver.
“If there’s a conversation swirling around about your company and it’s centered on negative press, misinformation, or a potential business threat, you not only want to listen in on it, but you want to be able to respond.”
