Need a Social Media Policy? Maybe Yes, Maybe No.
14:46, 25 June 2009
.. Posted in Communication, Outreach and General Mngmt.. Link
Attention nonprofit organizations: your employees, volunteers and clients/supporters are using social media/online social networks to talk about what they are doing at your organization.
Let the panic begin! Wring your hands, pull your hair and gnash your teeth over the possibility that they are saying something inappropriate or confidential, that they are saying something negative about your organization, and on and on!
Oh, wait -- they could do all those things with boring old email. In fact, they could do that face-to-face at parties and family gatherings without any Internet whatsoever. Hmmm.
Paid staff and volunteers at nonprofits -- and, depending on your organization's work, clients as well -- need to have guidance regarding confidentiality and appropriateness in all communications activities, not just those that happen online. And that includes senior management at your organization, including the Executive Director!
If you are going to develop a policy for online communications, it should reflect your existing policies and your organizational culture. And setting such a policy should involve staff and volunteers themselves (and, again, clients, depending on the nature of your work), so that they can feel a sense of ownership of it (they will be much more likely to adhere to it if they helped design it themselves).
Fistful of Talent offers a terrific set of suggestions for setting a policy for employees regarding online activities, and its good advice for nonprofits as well to apply to paid staff and volunteers.
Also see my own web pages regarding nonprofits using online tools for outreach.
Employees, volunteers and clients/supporters are, IMO, the best promoters of a nonprofit organization's work. Don't muzzle them! Emphasizing regularly what's appropriate and what's not will keep all conversations -- online or onsite -- within bounds, keep current supporters engaged, and promote your organization to new audiences.
