While many companies, large and small, across the land are embracing social media and encouraging their associates to use a broad range of platforms to communicate with stakeholders, others are doing just the opposite and shutting off the hose completely.
Why? Primarily because of recent scandals and crises created by intentional and inadvertent posts that have resulted in some form of reputational damage, lost sales, credibility hits, client departures, and so on. Furthermore, the line between where one's personal life ends, and his professional existence begins, continues to become murkier and murkier. This is why the need for a comprehensive social media policy is so great, but it's a moot point for those companies that block access altogether.
So where do things currently stand in Corporate America? According to a recent survey of companies conducted by Mindflash and Column Five, 70.7 percent block all social networking sites in the workplace, while 55 percent of firms have some social media policies in place. For 44 percent of companies, these policies govern social media usage both inside and outside of the workplace, presumably to prevent unhappy employees from badmouthing their employers. The survey's findings also reveal that more than 50% of all companies believe in the value and benefits of social media when used for business purposes, but also has some downside when it is not.
A complete summary of the results follows below:
If you're a marketing executive or a business owner who wants to further leverage social media communications for a variety of purposes, but has not yet crafted a thorough usage policy, you should definitely pay attention to the approaches outlined here and the suggested guidelines and training recommendations. These can make the difference between a successful program and adherence to policy adherence, as opposed to having to clean up some sort of crisis down the line.
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