Your business is your brand and you want to do everything you can to protect it and maintain its integrity.  That’s why, when it comes to social media, you want to stay actively aware and on top of what you and your employees are sharing on your brand’s behalf and of your brand’s reputation online.

Often times companies create strategies for social media, but they fail to create plans to protect their brand online.  Protecting your brand requires implementing social media policies and approval processes, as well as having personnel in place to monitor conversations about your brand online.

Create a Social Media Policy

Developing a social media policy for your company is a great first step — and something we highly recommend.  Here are a few elements you might want to consider incorporating into your social media policy:

• Set rules and guidelines on who can post to company profiles
• Develop guidelines for employees who post about the company on their personal social profiles
• Develop security protocols (to be used if social accounts are breached)
• Outline consequences for those who misuse company social media policy

Define a Social Media Approval Process

Even the most seasoned social media marketer needs guidelines and a strategy.  Establish guidelines for when to post on various channels and the type of content to post about your brand.

For items that will need approval, you’ll want to define your social media approval process.  When doing so, outline what needs to be approved and consider how long it will take your team to finalize and approve media assets, such as GIFs, graphics, images, videos, or other types of content, in addition to the post copy.

Monitor Your Social Media Channels

Monitoring your social media platforms is critical — both to reinforce your policies and to help protect your brand’s reputation.  When someone is closing watching your brand’s social media channels, they will be able to react quickly to promote positive news and help to mitigate reaction to negative news or comments.

Hiring a dedicated person to manage your brand’s online reputation might not be feasible.  If that’s the case, consider hiring an agency or freelancer to handle the task on behalf of your company.

Need assistance monitoring and managing your social media channels?  Contact SBOS Web Solutions and let our expert marketing team help you protect and manage your brand online.