1. Purpose and Scope
This policy sets expectations for personal social media use that references [Organisation Name], its staff, customers, or operations. It also covers the governance of official company accounts. Purely personal activity with no workplace connection falls outside this scope.
This policy does not create an employment contract or alter employment-at-will status. Nothing here restricts employee rights under federal labor law to discuss wages, hours, or working conditions.
Working through related paperwork at the same time? See also our UK Social Media Policy Template, UK Data Breach Response Procedure Template and US Data Breach Response Procedure Template.
2. Protected Employee Rights
Employees retain the right to discuss or act collectively regarding wages, hours, and working conditions, including on social media.
- Permissible protected activities include:
- Discussing pay, work schedules, or working conditions with coworkers.
- Raising shared workplace concerns about management decisions.
- Organizing with colleagues regarding employment terms.
- If any provision of this policy conflicts with protected activity, statutory rights take precedence and the provision will be interpreted narrowly.
- Managers must not unilaterally decide whether a post is protected. Escalate any concerns about an employee’s post to [Role] before starting administrative or disciplinary action.
3. Guidelines for Personal Social Media Use
When posting on personal social media about [Organisation Name] or the industry, follow these standards:
- Disclaim personal views. State that opinions are your own (e.g., “views my own”) if you identify as a [Organisation Name] employee while discussing industry topics.
- Protect confidential business data. This includes customer and employee data, unreleased products, plans, pricing, financials, security details, and NDA obligations. Pay and working conditions are not confidential business information.
- Do not harass, threaten, or discriminate against colleagues. Anti-harassment policies cover online interactions just like in-person workplace conduct.
- Do not speak for [Organisation Name] without explicit authorization. Do not issue official statements, handle media inquiries, or try to resolve customer complaints online.
- Disclose your employment when posting about company products, services, or promotions.
- Get consent before posting photos or videos of colleagues or customers taken at work. Check backgrounds for sensitive details like whiteboards, screens, customer data, or security hardware.
- Keep personal posting to non-work hours and personal devices. Any social media use during work hours must follow the [IT Acceptable Use Policy].
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4. Management of Official Accounts
Manage official company accounts using the following protocol:
- Authorized staff publish content using established approval processes.
- Store account credentials in [System/Location]. [Role] manages access and must revoke permissions immediately when an individual leaves the role.
- Route customer complaints, media inquiries, and legal notices received on official accounts directly to [Role] for response.
- Correct factual errors on official accounts promptly and transparently.
- Never comment on specific employees, employment disputes, or individual customer disputes from official accounts.
5. Incident Response and Non-Compliance
Follow this process for improper posts or potential policy breaches:
- Self-Reporting Unintended Disclosures: If you accidentally post confidential information or issue an unauthorized company statement, remove the post immediately and notify [Role] the same day.
- Reporting Concerns: Submit any internal or external concerns about an employee’s social media activity directly to [Role].
- Protected Activity Review: [Role] reviews the post to confirm if it is protected concerted activity before taking action.
- Disciplinary Evaluation: If [Role] determines the activity is a non-protected violation (such as leaking confidential data or harassing staff), [Role] handles the issue under [Disciplinary Policy Name].
6. Records and Review
- Records Retention: Store official account registers, user authorizations, and investigation records in [System/Location] for [Period].
- Review Cycle: [Role] reviews this policy [Frequency] or when relevant statutes change to maintain legal compliance.
FAQs on a social media policy
What is a social media policy?
A social media policy sets expectations for personal social media use that references your organisation, its staff, customers, or operations. It also covers the governance of official company accounts.
Having it written down means the same rules apply to everyone, so managers are not making judgement calls case by case under pressure.
What does a social media policy include?
This template covers protected employee rights, guidelines for personal social media use, management of official accounts and incident response and non-compliance.
Every section is written to be filled in. The bracketed placeholders mark the decisions that are yours to make, such as timescales, approval owners and retention periods.
How to implement a social media policy with Whale
Copy this template into Whale and work through the bracketed placeholders so it reflects how your organisation actually operates.
Assign it to the teams it applies to so it sits where people work rather than in a shared drive, and set a review date so it gets revisited on schedule instead of quietly going out of date.
Use our templates to fast-track your documentation
Customize this template and 100s of others for free in Whale, the fastest way to get your team aligned.