In some corporate cultures, creating a social media policy is only half the battle — selling it internally is a significant challenge, too. While new FTC policies have helped management realize the importance of having something in place, some brands are still finding roadblocks that are slowing down policy implementation.
How to sell it:
- Make a friend in legal. Earning an ally on the team responsible for creating other corporate policies can help yours gain significant legitimacy.
- Small word changes can make big differences. It’s amazing how much changing the word “policy” to “guidelines” can mean to those standing in the way of your proposed document.
- Attach it to existing policies. Maybe you don’t need an entirely new document. Most companies have existing policies related to communications and employee behavior. If you can’t sell a stand-alone policy, explore ways to add guidelines to existing ones.
(P.S. If you’re still working on your policy, check out the Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit created by the Social Media Business Council — of which I am the CEO — that’s been vetted by dozens of corporate legal teams.)