Doctors, dentists, therapists and other professionals must establish a social media conduct policy for their employees to set reasonable expectations about what they can and cannot do as an ambassador of the brand.
Many of my clients have asked me for a template or some guidelines to help them establish a social media conduct policy for their practice, so I did a little research online. This is but one of the policies you need in written form. In fact, you will need to approach this as more than a simple policy statement.
Best Practices for Social Media Policy and Management
First, start by create a digital “notebook” that contains your online conduct policies. At the very least, it should contain:
- Your online privacy policy. This governs how you collect, use and store consumer information.
- Roles and responsibilities. Guidelines about who can post on social media and what they can post as a company representative.
- Your HIPAA privacy and security manual and policies should be annexed and incorporated by reference, by mentioning them and stating “and its updates and revisions are hereby attached and incorporated by this reference”
- Designate confidential documents and information of your practice, such as future plans, prices, strategies, upcoming announcements, etc., by marking those as “Confidential”. A list of those confidential documents could be listed in the digital notebook as protected communications, not to be discussed, mentioned, or shared outside the office without the express written consent of the practice owner(s).
- Established copyright laws should also be annexed and incorporated by reference
- Disciplinary policies for employees who abuse or disregard your social medial conduct policy
- Employee rights and responsibilities must align with the National Labor Relations Act. Incorporate decisions from the OM12_59 Report of the Acting General Counsel Concerning Social Media Cases into your policy. Provisions of your policy could be deemed unlawful if they interfere with the rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act, such as the right to discuss wages and working conditions with co-workers.
- Photographs are risky. On one hand, professionally composed, exposed and retouched photographs are generally the property of the photographer and must be liecensed for use. If they contain recognizeable brands or people, the people must sign a model release (including images of current employees, patients, visitors, and others) and any copyright logos or trademarks must also be released for use. If an employee uses a copyright image in a blog post without the license, the employer or website owner is liable, not the employee. There is no defense in ignorance, either. Fines and costs fo defense are huge, sometimes as much as half the annual salary of a receptionist or medical assistant, per offense. They may not be covered by your professional liability, so ask your agent. It is better to simply pay the fee to buy stock photos if necessary than “lift” one off the internet without permission. Stock photographs can be obtained for about $5 (often less) per image, subject to certain restrictions as listed in the license.
- Legal guidance from your attorney should be scanned and included in the digital notebook. Ask your attorney to address federal, state and local laws as they pertain to social media and employment law. Tell your attorney that this document will be included in the digital notebook and required reading with signed acknolwedgement by each employee, so that they know what “voice” to use to write their letter.
- A policy on endorsements. If you offer cash, free gifts, or any other compensation to reward people who write endorsements, reviews, or mentions, then the Federal Trade Commission requires that the endorser clearly states in their post that the review, mention or endorsement was in exchange for a fee or other compensation. If someone merely “checks in” upon arrival, but does not write a review, endorsement, or mention, you may offer to reward them with some small token of appreciation for doing so. Likewise, if you ask employees to promote your product or service on their social networks or blog, they must disclose their affiliation with your business.
- Your brand guidelines and image standards, including use of logos, fonts, words, tag lines, and semantic conventions you’ve elected for use as a brand standard.
Next, draft the official policy. This doesn’t need to look like a legal document or a contract. Instead, make it functional and easy to read. The objective is to outline how your business, your brand and your employees will be represented in the virtual world. This should include a table of related documents (as was indicated previously as incorporated by reference).
Include:
- Rules on when and how employees will be using social media
- Tips for adopting a social media voice and reminders to respect customer service policies and intellectual property
- Expectations for courteous and respectful engagement from social media followers themselves (a good defense should you ever need to remove offensive posts).
Deploying the policy
You may decide to target only employees in your social media conduct policy. However, if your policy addresses points of consumer concern, then you should consider posting it on your website and social networks.
Here are a few useful examples from outside the healthcare sector that you can refer to as you craft your medical practice’s social media policy:
- Walmart – Breaks down engagement guidelines by social media network, such as Twitter and Facebook, while separately addressing corporate concerns such as intellectual property or employee disgruntlement.
- Best Buy – Offers clear do’s and don’ts for company employees engaged in social media
- Environmental Protection Agency – A good example of more formal employee-centric social media guidelines
Conclusion
Social media can be the most important tool for marketing today’s medical, dental and healthcare businesses. A solid social media conduct policy is essential given the technological advancements that are taking place regularly, both in mobile technology, personal communication devices, and the poliarizing effects of and emotions about health reform. Social media will help amplify brand and help maximize profits. It can also bring visibility that small businesses need in order to compete.
Should you require assistance with all these as suggested, if you have the time but not a lot of cash for this, follow these recommendations and have the entire package reviewed by a consultant or attorney prior to deployment. The legal document I recommended will cost several hundreds of dollars because it will take some time to develop, and mostly because any legal opinion puts professional liability on the shoulders of the attorney for accuracy, enforceability, and compliance. That always comes with a price tag reflective of the time, knowledge transfer and professional risk, just as a medical consultation report and opinion carries with it.
If you want the whole thing done for you, expect to pay knowledgeable consultant between $2500 and $4500 for the deliverable that will take about 6 weeks to produce and deliver. The reasons for the wide range in costs are several: The geographic market in which the consultant works, the research time, the drafting time, and the complexity of your practice or organization and the level of organizational structure in place already for your social media activities and presence.
