Social media has invaded the work place like never before and it has become critical for companies to develop and implement an effective social media policy keeping in mind the interest of the company and its employees. When developing a social media policy companies should be aware of the prevalent laws on social media and they should ensure employee activity on social media is legally protected. Most of the business houses have realized the importance and benefits of social networking at the workplace and its power to increase the website traffic improve brand awareness and build customer relations. In the workplace, employers need a clear social media policy with certain parameters to their employees and prohibiting certain behaviors in advance. They should inform employees to maintain extreme caution when they post something in their social media pages because competitors can access confidential and proprietary information of the company and if it reaches the public can have devastating consequences in the end.
Employers should also discourage employees from discussing about co-workers especially supervisors in the social media because it is a sensitive issue. Sometimes employees are carried away and harmlessly post information about new products and the marketing strategy or a possible merger in their social media page, which can create unnecessary hurdles in the marketing strategy. When enforcing social media policy employers should not only provide rules and regulations but should also explain the consequences for violation the social media policy. An undertaking should be taken from the employees against the misuse of social media and the rules should be incorporated in the employee’s handbook. Since social media platforms keeps changing virtually every minute and the chances are that the policy will get out dated in no time so it is necessary to monitor the social media policy in real time, do the necessary update on a regular basis, and incorporate the latest social media trends into the social networking at the workplace policy. Care should be taken to ensure that social media policies are not over restrictive or unreasonable. Once implemented employer needs to ensure that employees understand the policy requirements and their implications.