Why does Visual Alliance Media help clients to create, adopt and train their employees on effective social media guidelines? There are several reasons, one of which can best be illustrated with an example:

Employee has bad day at work and wants to vent. Employee vents on Facebook.

It happens more than you think! One such example took place recently when Manatee County Sheriff’s deputy, Gerald Kall, did not appear to think before he decided to take out his emotions on Facebook.

According to a story by Alison Morrow of ABC Action News entitled After Facebook Rant, Manatee County Suspends Deputy for Three Days, Deputy Kall was reported “calling his colleague expletive names, thereby violating the office’s social media policy. He was suspended for three days.”

Whether your company has a social media policy or not (it should!), what it really comes down to is good judgment. Derek Lee, CEO of Visual Alliance Media, had the opportunity to sit down with Alison last week and enforce the importance of using good judgment on social media. “If you wouldn’t say it to your employer’s face, you probably don’t want to put it on social media… Once you say it, it’s out there.”

We’ve seen a similar situation with the folks over at Chipotle, and there are undoubtedly many other cases like this out there where an employee’s job was put in jeopardy because of something they said or did on social media. To avoid situations like this, it’s critical for companies to not only develop a social media policy, but to also have a conversation about it. If employees understand their responsibilities as they relate to social media, (and any possible repercussions of acting irresponsibly), situations like the two described above are less likely to occur.

Does your company have a social media policy? If so, is it a regular part of your new employee orientation process as well as an ongoing dialogue with employees?