Social Media Guidelines for Staff

My library recently created a set of social media guidelines for staff. There are two parts to these guidelines:

• Guidelines for social media teams: we take a team-based approach to our social media channels. For example, there’s a social media team for our Facebook Page, and they have some general posting goals that they follow. So the first set of guidelines apply to our social media teams.
• Guidelines for all staff (when not at work): The second set of guidelines pretty much mirror what’s in our library’s Employee Handbook, but spell out what that looks like in an online setting.

So – here they are:

Guidelines for Social Media Teams

• Follow team guidelines. Social media teams should follow the guidelines for each social media team.
• Be helpful. Share content related to the social media team’s goals. Avoid arguments and debates – the digital services director and communications & marketing director will handle those.
• Get photo permission. Use these guidelines when taking photos and videos of our customers:
  • For photos with 1-2 people, use a photo release form
  • For photos with groups of 3 or more, no photo release form needed
• Let Marketing do their job. Don’t create social media content that falls under Communications & Marketing, including:
  • Advisories and notices of cancellations
  • Official library communications (press releases, library newsletters, etc.)
  • Events or links to events. The library doesn’t use Facebook Events:
    • They limit invitees. Facebook Page fans can’t be invited to a Page’s Facebook Event. You’re only allowed to invite Facebook friends from a personal profile – not from a Facebook Page.
    • They don’t work well with the Facebook Timeline. Facebook Events are only seen by people who were invited to an Event. A series of boosted posts works much better to promote an event on Facebook
    • We don’t have control over the content. No statistics, no edits if needed, etc.
• Work for Hire. All content you create for the library is owned by the library and is considered work for hire content. The library has the right to re-share and re-use the content you create on work time for the library.
• Creating new social media channels. The Digital Services Director does this in cooperation with Communications & Marketing, based on need, library goals and objectives.

Guidelines for all staff (when not at work):

• Share what you do at the library. Feel free to use personal social media channels of all types to share library-related content. Share what you’re proud of!
• Be yourself. If you share about the library, let people know you work at the library. Don’t represent yourself or the library in a false or misleading way.
• Be nice. No spam or remarks that are off-topic or offensive.
• Keep secrets. Don’t violate the confidentiality of the library or our customers. If in doubt, check with your supervisor first.
• Don’t overstep official library channels. The CEO and the Marketing Director are our official spokespeople, and they speak for the library on official matters.
• Remember the Employee Handbook. It also applies to online settings.

So that’s what we have created. Do you have any social media guidelines for staff? If so, please share!

Arrow image by Caleb Roenigk