Social Media Policy

Table of Contents

1. Statement and Scope
2. Tactical Guidelines
3. Personal Social Media Use
4. Consequences

1) STATEMENT AND SCOPE

As an employee and representative of Teignbridge, you are expected to demonstrate best practices and appropriate etiquette on social media, including but not limited to the following:

• Be respectful, polite and patient, when engaging in conversations on our company’s behalf. You should be extra careful when making declarations or promises towards customers and stakeholders.
• Avoid speaking on matters outside your field of expertise when possible. Everyone should be careful not to answer questions or make statements that fall under somebody else’s responsibility.
• Follow our confidentiality policy and data protection policy  and observe laws on copyright, trademarks, plagiarism and fair use.
• Inform our [PR/Marketing department] when you’re about to share any major-impact content.
• Avoid deleting or ignoring comments for no reason. They should listen and reply to criticism.
• Never post discriminatory, offensive or libellous content and commentary.
• Correct or remove any misleading or false content as quickly as possible.
• Do not slander the company during or after employment, this is not limited to social media alone, but to Google reviews as well.
• As an employee, you are prohibited to share confidential information through social media.

2) TACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYEES

When do I need the approval to post a message on social media?

Anytime you feel you want to tag and/or comment on the company social media account, you must seek the Marketing Officer for approval.

What kind of information am I allowed to post related to my work on social media?

You are not allowed to post and/or tag images relating to your work completed at Teignbridge without the prior approval of the Marketing Officer.

Should I include my company info in my social media bio? Or should I keep my company accounts and my personal accounts separate?

Please keep your personal accounts separate from your work accounts. You may put that you work at Teignbridge Propellers in your job description, however, if you are found to have defamatory content on your personal account, you must remove all association to Teignbridge. If you are unsure if your personal account may cause defamation, please contact your Marketing Officer for clarification. 

How do I comply with copyright law on social media?

See the gov.uk site for more information: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-service-to-understand-online-copyright-laws

3) PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA USE

We [allow] our employees to access their personal accounts at work. But, we expect you to act responsibly and ensure your productivity isn’t affected.

Whether you’re using your accounts for business or personal purposes, you may easily get sidetracked by the vast amount of available content. So, please restrict your use to a few minutes per workday, preferably at designated breaktimes.

We ask you to be careful when posting on social media, too. We can’t restrict what you post there, but we expect you to adhere to our confidentiality policies at all times. We also caution you to avoid violating our anti-harassment policies or posting something that might make your collaboration with your colleagues more difficult (e.g. hate speech against groups where colleagues belong to). In general, please:

We advise our employees to:

• Ensure others know that your personal account or statements don’t represent our company. You shouldn’t state or imply that your personal opinions and content are authorized or endorsed by our company. We advise using a disclaimer such as “opinions are my own” to avoid misunderstandings.
• Avoid sharing intellectual property like trademarks on a personal account without approval. Confidentiality policies and laws always apply.
• Avoid any defamatory, offensive or derogatory content. It may be considered as a violation of our company’s anti-harassment policy, if directed towards colleagues, clients or partners.

4) DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCES

We’ll monitor all social media postings on our corporate account.

We may have to take disciplinary action leading up to and including termination if employees do not follow this policy’s guidelines. Examples of non-conformity with the employee social media policy include but are not limited to:

• Disregarding job responsibilities and deadlines to use social media at work.
• Disclosing confidential information through personal or corporate accounts.
• Directing offensive comments towards other members of the online community.

If you violate this policy inadvertently, you may receive a reprimand. We expect you to comply after that, or stricter disciplinary actions will apply.