How to Implement a Social Media Usage Charter for Employees
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2025 10:36 am
1. Download our social media usage charter template
It's free and answers any questions you might have. Click the box below to download it.
Bonus: Download a free customizable social media policy template to easily create guidelines for your business and employees.
2. Solicit stakeholder input
A social media usage charter is a unique document. You can learn more about your kenya phone number data organization's needs by contacting:
To the main users of your product
To your marketing team
To your social media team
To the Human Resources Team
To any spokesperson
To your legal team
Don't forget to involve current employees in the discussion. After all, this charter concerns them all.
This doesn't mean you need to get feedback from every single one of them. But ask your team leaders, union representatives, or anyone else who might represent employee groups for their ideas, questions, or concerns.
When writing your charter, don't get caught up in tutorials or trivial details. The essentials will inevitably change, and quickly. Focus on the big picture.
3. Choose the location of your charter
We strongly recommend adding your charter to your employee handbook so that new hires can review it upon onboarding.
Once this is done, ask yourself where your current employees will have access to this information. Will the document be published on your company's intranet or on shared servers? Depending on your organization's needs, you may also consider publishing it on your external website.
4. Launch it (or relaunch it)
Whether it's a revision or a completely new document, you need to make sure everyone knows there's new information to be aware of. Whether you announce it via internal email or at a company meeting, be sure to leave enough space or time for potential questions.
If there is a new version, include a list of major changes and a revision date.
5. Plan an update for the following year (or even the following quarter)
It is not uncommon to see social media usage charters dating back to 2011, 2012... that is to say, the prehistory of social networks (we can guess this from the use of words such as "Web 2.0" and "microblogs").
Social media is constantly evolving, and your policy will need to be regularly updated to keep pace. Social networks and their features are constantly changing, with new platforms appearing regularly and others disappearing without leaving an address.
So your social media charter can't just sit in a drawer (or a Google Doc). Those charters from the early 2010s couldn't have anticipated the rise of TikTok or the high level of connection today's users have with their mobile devices.
By committing to an annual, semi-annual, or even quarterly review, you can ensure that your charter remains useful and relevant. At a minimum, make sure all contact information is up to date.
6. Make it respected
What's the point of writing a social media usage policy if no one enforces it?
Your charter should include a schedule for regular audits to easily identify new accounts claiming to represent your company. You should also ensure that it specifies the consequences of violating one or more rules, so that no one is surprised by the disciplinary measures that would apply.
Finally, your team should conduct social listening. This will allow you to identify social conversations related to your brand and posts (from employees or others) that violate your brand guidelines.
Pro tip: Hootsuite makes social listening a breeze. With a basic plan (like the Pro plan), you can set up feeds to monitor social media conversations, keywords, mentions, and hashtags . This allows you to quickly take action if something violates your social media guidelines.
It's free and answers any questions you might have. Click the box below to download it.
Bonus: Download a free customizable social media policy template to easily create guidelines for your business and employees.
2. Solicit stakeholder input
A social media usage charter is a unique document. You can learn more about your kenya phone number data organization's needs by contacting:
To the main users of your product
To your marketing team
To your social media team
To the Human Resources Team
To any spokesperson
To your legal team
Don't forget to involve current employees in the discussion. After all, this charter concerns them all.
This doesn't mean you need to get feedback from every single one of them. But ask your team leaders, union representatives, or anyone else who might represent employee groups for their ideas, questions, or concerns.
When writing your charter, don't get caught up in tutorials or trivial details. The essentials will inevitably change, and quickly. Focus on the big picture.
3. Choose the location of your charter
We strongly recommend adding your charter to your employee handbook so that new hires can review it upon onboarding.
Once this is done, ask yourself where your current employees will have access to this information. Will the document be published on your company's intranet or on shared servers? Depending on your organization's needs, you may also consider publishing it on your external website.
4. Launch it (or relaunch it)
Whether it's a revision or a completely new document, you need to make sure everyone knows there's new information to be aware of. Whether you announce it via internal email or at a company meeting, be sure to leave enough space or time for potential questions.
If there is a new version, include a list of major changes and a revision date.
5. Plan an update for the following year (or even the following quarter)
It is not uncommon to see social media usage charters dating back to 2011, 2012... that is to say, the prehistory of social networks (we can guess this from the use of words such as "Web 2.0" and "microblogs").
Social media is constantly evolving, and your policy will need to be regularly updated to keep pace. Social networks and their features are constantly changing, with new platforms appearing regularly and others disappearing without leaving an address.
So your social media charter can't just sit in a drawer (or a Google Doc). Those charters from the early 2010s couldn't have anticipated the rise of TikTok or the high level of connection today's users have with their mobile devices.
By committing to an annual, semi-annual, or even quarterly review, you can ensure that your charter remains useful and relevant. At a minimum, make sure all contact information is up to date.
6. Make it respected
What's the point of writing a social media usage policy if no one enforces it?
Your charter should include a schedule for regular audits to easily identify new accounts claiming to represent your company. You should also ensure that it specifies the consequences of violating one or more rules, so that no one is surprised by the disciplinary measures that would apply.
Finally, your team should conduct social listening. This will allow you to identify social conversations related to your brand and posts (from employees or others) that violate your brand guidelines.
Pro tip: Hootsuite makes social listening a breeze. With a basic plan (like the Pro plan), you can set up feeds to monitor social media conversations, keywords, mentions, and hashtags . This allows you to quickly take action if something violates your social media guidelines.