Pub. 3 2013-2014 Issue 4

8 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S FEATURE ARTICLE The New Social Media Guidelines Why You Need Social Media Policies and Procedures A lthough social media is a relatively young force within U.S. culture, it has trans- formed the way businesses operate. As a result, no company can afford to neglect social media when it comes to conducting business, especially in advertising and marketing efforts. BY SOPHIE B. HANSON, -THE NEWSLINK GROUP, LLC Even though banks are often conservative, and are perhaps slower to jump on cultural band- wagons than some other industries, the time for holding back from this particular trend is now over. Most companies have a website; most em- ployees, especiallymanagement, are likely to use smart phones and tablets and will usually have accounts onmajor social media websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. In short, you really do need to have policies and procedures ready to provide much-needed guidance about social media usage for management and staff. The first step is studying what the experts have to say on the subject. Several guidelines are available: • The Federal Financial Institutions Ex- amination Council (FFIEC) recently (Dec. 11, 2013) published a Financial