The necessity for employing governance on Social media

Social Media Governance is a relatively new phenomenon within the Information Technology (IT) space. In the organisational governance hierarchy, Social Media Governance falls under IT Governance with the likes of Information Security governance,   System development governance etc. Social Media Governance comes as a result that many companies are being victimised and misrepresented on social media. As such the purpose of social media governance is to provide a comprehensive guidance on how companies can harness the power of social media while reducing their vulnerability and risk exposures.

According to Fink and Zerfass (2010) Social Media Governance involves strategies, guidelines for staff, monitoring tools, and a range of support mechanisms to inform and guide social media use including training. However, many people and organisations mistaken a social media policy to be representing Social Media Governance.  As much as a social media policy is an integral part of Social Media Governance, it should be understood that there are a number of components and aspects that constitutes Social Media Governance.  Below is a synopsis of some of the fundamental aspects to be considered when planning or implementing as Social Media Governance program  

• Social Media Strategy:  the social media strategy gives a view on what the company intends to achieve by participating on social media and how they intent to realise their social media   objectives. All social media activities and programs should align the social media strategy.

• Data privacy and control:  This aspect deals with the rules that users or employees should follow when they are participating on social media and to ensure that the data being disseminated is not confidential. Additionally, this aspect covers the issues around access management to these social platforms.

• Social Media Policy: this documents details all expectations in terms of employee conducts, consequences, roles and responsibilities etc.  This policy serves as a guiding document for both the employer and employee when dealing with social media issues.  

• Training and awareness: It is very important that all stakeholders implicated by the policy receives training to ensure  that there is an understanding of what is expected from them and also that they acknowledge the policy to confirm their understanding of the policy

• Monitoring and correction: This aspect of Social media governance ensures that there is continuous monitoring of all social media activities to proactively detect any concerns from customers and to ensure that all issues gets address. Failure to do so will result in an irreversible reputational damage to the business.

• Crisis Management: should there be any social media controversy in the company, it should always be clear who does what to avoid contradictions amongst organisational members. For example, should an employee post an inappropriate statement that goes viral on social media, the company should be in a good position to know who will respond, who approves the contents and processes of disciplinary

According to the FERF study, 55 per cent of their respondents say social media will be an important component of their corporate marketing efforts going forward and 66 per cent further indicated that they foresee their company use of social media increasing over the next 12 months. These statistics reinforces the point that social media services enable new forms of socialisation for which, when managed successfully, companies will effectively communicate and conduct their businesses. Therefore, companies that employ Social Media Governance do not only inspire confidence to their customers but also reduce their vulnerability and risk exposures on these social platforms.