“Social Media Guidelines & Policies” is New White Paper from HR/TD and Marketing & BD Councils

CUNA Councils
January 11, 2010 | COMMENTS

Social media is slowly altering the workplace even while its technology and protocols are evolving. “Social Media Guidelines & Policies” is a new white paper recently published by CUNA's HR/TD Council and the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council that includes information on the necessity of having a credit union social media policy and what it should include.

The white paper is a result of conversations by participants during the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council's sold-out webinar series on social media held last fall. Many participants saw the need for a social media policy but didn't have a policy in place and didn't know where to start. The two councils commissioned this white paper soon afterward.

“A lot of credit unions used to think that having a social media policy meant having something in place that says whether employees could access social media websites on company time,” said Christopher Morris, CUNA Councils web manager and the first speaker in the social media webinar series. “That's not enough anymore – credit unions need to have guidelines in place to ensure that employees don't inadvertently harm their brand online. For example, what do you do if a staff member posts negative comments about work on their personal twitter account or blog?”

There's no denying the numbers for some of the media: Facebook users now have an estimated 300 million accounts. It's is an online vehicle for friends to stay in touch with each other by joining or “friending” another on Facebook. New employees are using its pages to become acquainted with their co-workers before they start their new positions. Human resource recruiters are also reviewing potential candidates on their Web pages, determining if the candidate should be hired. Also, many workplace conversations are taking place on Facebook, for instance, while some provide an open door to worker's lives outside of their jobs.

But employees and executives are also growing confused about what is appropriate behavior in this new, developing environment. Some sort of written guidelines or policies are advisable to provide answers to recurring questions. One set of social media protocols won't fit all organizations. The culture of an organization along with the allocation of time, expertise and funding that are devoted to a social media presence should be the determining factors in the development of policies or guiding principles.

CUNA Council members are entitled to complimentary copies of these and more than 200 white papers; non-members may purchase the white papers for a price of $50 per copy.

The paper is available online in the white paper section of each council site – select the “Marketing & BizDev” or “HR/TD” tab.