For many small businesses HR Policies are quite low down on the priorities list, but as your business grows, having policies and procedures in place will support your business growth, protect you for the future and importantly ensure you are legally compliant.
One policy that is proving necessary for all businesses, big and small, is a Social Media Policy. Social media is somewhat reshaping our world; the way we communicate, the pace of communication and the way individuals consume and share information. Social media is easily accessible via mobile devices and it’s common for individuals to have some type of account; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Blogs, WhatsApp, Chat Forums etc. Social media is in fact hard to escape!
Here at CitrusHR Consulting we have social media pages and have recently engaged with local Bristol firm TaylorBoyle to learn more about how we can leverage these platforms and effectively use them. Many small businesses have witnessed large business growth through social media platforms alone.
From a business perspective, we’ve outlined some of the key benefits for having business social media pages:
- Provides a great opportunity for businesses to instantly update their following with their latest news and updates and build relationships with prospects and clients
- Provides opportunity for the personality of a firm to shine through, seeing behind the scenes
- Clients can leave live reviews and star ratings via Facebook – providing an opportunity to generate referral business and strengthen business status
Despite the wonder the world of social media can give, it’s important to note that it also offers a platform for negative comments, reviews and feedback to be posted. Many of your team and employees will commonly have access to at least one personal social media page, with technology being so accessible via phones, tablets and laptops it’s important they are aware of the firm’s expectations of usage on these sites.
Social Media Policies should be tailored to your business. Some firms will want to actively promote social media and their staff using it to generate leads etc. However, some businesses may prefer no access during working hours and for there to be no mention of the workplace at all. The line is thin but expectations need to be clear and employees need to be made aware of what is acceptable and not acceptable, emphasising the importance of implementing a social media policy.
“The benefits of social media are many, but it is important you have a firmwide Social Media Policy that all staff are aware of.” Richard Jay, TaylorBoyle.
If you haven’t already got a policy in place, please do get in touch with us direct and we can help you with putting one together.
Social Media Policy aside, if your business goals and workforce trends have changed, it is worth questioning whether or not your other policies need revising or updating. We’ve been working closely with our clients to ensure the new GDPR policies are in place but do get in touch if you need support with any other policies.
As always, we appreciate your feedback and thoughts on our blog items, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know any questions you may have regarding the above. Get in touch: CitrusHR Consulting, call us on 0844 854 6704 or email us at info@citrushrconsulting.com