Sunshine 100: Evaluating Social Media Policy and Brand Image Effects

This report examines the benefits and consequences of social media use within organizations, focusing on the impact of employee behavior on brand image, using Sunshine 100 as a case study. It assesses how employee comments on social media platforms can either build or damage a company's reputation, and it highlights the importance of a well-defined social media policy. The report also includes a memo and PowerPoint presentation outlining a communication plan to introduce the social media policy to employees, emphasizing the need to balance the advantages of social media for marketing and customer engagement with the risks of negative publicity and decreased productivity. It concludes that a clear, ethical, and regularly updated social media policy is crucial for protecting the brand image and ensuring responsible social media use within the workplace.

Management

Table of Contents
PART 1-REPORT...........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BENEFITS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AN ORGANIZATION..........1
EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE’S BEHAVIOR ON BRAND IMAGE...............................................2
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY.................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
PART 2- MEMO.............................................................................................................................3
PART 3- POWERPOINT PRESENTATION.................................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

PART 1-REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Social media is a way to interact with individuals by using the appropriate medium such
as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. (Tuten and Solomon 2017). In this regard, the current report
is based on to identify the benefits and limitations of the use of social media in the workplace.
On the other hand, the impact of employee’s comments on the brand image has also been
analyzed that damage or build the brand reputation among clients and potential customers. At the
end, a communication template has been prepared to introduce the social media policy to staff.
BENEFITS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
According to Jeske and Shultz (2016), social media is the way to communicate with
individuals, to share knowledge, exploit new forms of communication and enhance the
collaboration. Use of social media for marketing is helping to reduce the marketing cost because
the employees demonstrate the product features on social accounts. Nonetheless, employees not
share clear information regarding the company that tends to dissatisfaction among customers and
reduces the benefits of the organization. On the contrary, social media has a contribution to
increase customer engagement and resolve the queries instantly (Razmerita, Kirchner and Nabeth
2014, p8). Therefore, the use for social media is beneficial to engage and enhance the loyalty
among customers, reduce the marketing cost; however, incomplete information in conversation
develops dissatisfaction in the consumers.
Use of social media supports to maintain the brand image of the organization among
customers, competitors, clients etc. In this regard, employees state the positive comments on the
personal accounts and dictate merely company-specific information to grab the attention of
potential customers. On the contrary, Bornmann (2014) mentioned that employees use social
media to update the status and to create a friendly environment online. Additionally, employees
post negative comments over the social sites for the publicity; therefore, the reputation of the
company get damaged. Apart from this, employees interact with the target audience through
social media platform and enhance the viability of the organization. For example, as per the case
study, Sunshine 100 is using the latest technologies of social media such as Twitter, Facebook to
interact with customers, clients, staff members, suppliers etc. It helps to share specific
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information and creates regular connections among employees. Thus, it shows that social media
is supportive to protect the brand image but fewer consequences make a negative impact on the
customers and brand. Moreover, the social media platform supports to contact with target
audiences.
EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE’S BEHAVIOR ON BRAND IMAGE
In the current business environment, social media is the strong key factor to lead the
company's products in the competitive market (Schlager et al. 2011). The employees comment
on the social sites to defend the brand image and demonstrate the quality, attributes of the
services. However, employees post negative comments on the social platform and ruin the
reputation of the firm. Moreover, staff members operate the personal social accounts within
working hours; therefore, the quality time gets affected as well as engagement with customers
reduces. For instance, in the case study, one of the individual employees of Sunshine 100 had
posted a negative comment over the Facebook regarding the products ‘Junk food is everywhere’.
This statement affects the brand image of the company in the market and reduces the
involvement of the customers towards the Sunshine 100. On the contrary, the workforce remains
committed towards the operating activities of the business and focuses on the effective
performance on social media (DiStaso, McCorkindale and Wright 2011). In this case, employees
remain in contact with customers by posting the company related comments to create
understanding and knowledge instead of spending time over the personal accounts. On the other
hand, the reputation of the firm gets affected by communicating the company’s abstract
information in everyday attitude, behavior, decisions etc. on the social sites. Here, the employees
play a role of the creative person to protect the brand image in the group of stakeholders.
Moreover, also focuses on the coverage of consequences of the company on the social media and
defend the brand image among clients. Hence, it reflects that behavior of employees on social
media affects the brand image in both terms such as positive and negative. Comment over the
social media in favor of the company protect the brand image otherwise negative posts reduces
the competitiveness in the market and affects the customer's behavior.
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ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Social media policy of the organization is the blueprint to explain the rules and
responsibilities of the employees as well as employers (Vaast and Kaganer 2013). In the case
study, Sunshine 100 is focusing on the social media platform to communicate with staff, clients,
customers etc. In this regard, Sunshine 100 can include a rule in policy to restrict the use of
personal accounts within the workplace to enhance the work quality and engagement with
customers. On the other hand, policy should be lenient towards all the employees and focuses on
the ethical considerations. Moreover, the staff member should be responsible for the company
perspectives that post merely the company-specific information and do not mislead the clients by
providing the wrong information. By considering this, Sunshine 100 should include a regulation
that employees will remain active during working hours on social media to give feedback on the
customer's issues. Apart from this, Sunshine 100 should be responsible to amend the policy on
time basis.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the discussion, it has been concluded that the use of social media within
the organization is supportive to convey the relevant information on a frequent basis. Social
media helps to promote the brand and engage with customers through an active team. However,
employees use personal accounts within working hours and post the negative comments that
reduce the reputation of the firm among potential clients. Hence, it has also been summarized
that merely company specific accounts can be accessed at the workplace to defend the brand.
PART 2- MEMO
To: Paul Morgan, CEO Sunshine 100
From: Jane Wilson, Director of Marketing
Date: 12th January 2019
Subject: Sunshine 100’s social media policy
Introduction
Social media plays a role in business but can have positive or negative impact on a company
(Tuten and Solomon 2017). In the case study, Sunshine 100 is facing the issues with the use of
social media within the workplace because employees misuse the liberty and harm the brand
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image of the company Therefore, a social media policy has been prepared by Director of
Sunshine 100 to create awareness among staff regarding use of social media. The purpose of
the memo to protect the reputation of Sunshine 100 from negative comments of employees on
the social platform. The thesis statement of memo is the importance of use of social media
within the organization. At the end, the report examines the benefits, consequences of using
social media at the workplace, the impact of staff behavior on brand image, the effectiveness
of social media policy and communication plan.
Advantages of social media for an organization
Employees build self as a multi-tasking by using social media because they stay in contact
with more extensive networks (Jeske and Shultz 2016). Further, staff members gain additional
knowledge from the communications and use for the enhancement of productivity. In this
regard, owing to the case study, social technologies help to increase the productivity by 30%
to 35% because employees enhance the speed of communication by keeping the direct
contacts; therefore, relationships with customers strengthens and encourage to attach with
company.
Disadvantages of social media for an organization
As per the case study, the use of social of media at workplace harm the brand image in a
competitive market because the employees put the negative remarks and post on the social
accounts. In this context, the use of social media within working hours mislead the staff from
the target and remain involved in the non-business activities. On the other hand, social media
distract the focus of employees from the work because individuals have caught on playing the
video games, viewing the Facebook at workplace instead of resolving the consequences of the
customers as well as clients (Bornmann 2014). Further, use of social media within workplace
damage the reputation and increase the chances of possible hacks of the organization.
Impact of employee’s comments on the brand image
Brand image of the company get affected by the behavior of employees on social media
platform because employees are the mirror of the company (DiStaso, McCorkindale and
Wright 2011). Staff post the comments on social sites to reflect the company; therefore, it
affects the brand image of the firm in the market. However, negative comments of employees
damage the reputation in customers because customers prefer the company products on the
basis of reviews. On the other hand, most of the employees intentionally comment on
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Facebook that directly ruins the brand image. In this context, if employees do not activate
privacy settings; therefore, the general public can see the inappropriate actions of the staff on
social sites. Thus, a negative impression creates in the customers regarding the brand of the
company so a privacy setting of social accounts should be mandatory (Bornmann 2014). As
per the case, employees of Sunshine 100 had posted a negative comment on Facebook
regarding the new KidsFood products. It can create a negative impression in the customers
because people always remember the negative aspects instead of positive memories and
damage the brand reputation.
Elements of social media policy
Social media policy has been prepared for the staff members of Sunshine 100 to enhance the
speed of work. Sunshine 100 is engaged with the use of social media in the workplace to
enhance the collaboration but the employees using social media against the company benefits.
In this regard, the management can restrict the use of personal accounts and emphasize to
operate the authorized accounts for the conversation. On the other hand, there will be legal
framework regarding the use of social media and a rule will be set out. More, behavior of
employees should be positive towards the policy that they will not breach the policy otherwise
a strict action can be taken against the individuals. Apart from this, Sunshine can include a
regulation that staff does not share the feelings and thoughts on the company-specific Twitter
account to communicate the followers. Hence, operate the social media to engage the
customers and resolve the problems. The company is suggested to provide access to only
skilled teams instead of all staff because other employees will get only limited access to
operate the account. Hence, it would be effective for the company to protect the brand image
from negativities.
A communication plan to introduce the social media policy to employees
The director of Sunshine 100 can communicate the strategy to staff in a specific
manner as follows-
Activities Description
Timing
Audience
15th January 2019
Employees
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Sender
Key message
Desired outcomes
Medium
Materials
Frequency
Jan Wilson, Director of marketing
Use the social media within the workplace to
convey the company-specific information
Engagement of staff with customers and use
of quality time
Initially drop a mail on the company-specific
account and demonstrate in weekly meeting
Company’s template and monthly reports
Once in a month
Conclusion
On the basis of the report, it has been concluded that social media is the bridge between
customers and companies but the excessive liberty to use social media in workplace damage
the brand image. In spite of, employees can use social media to promote the brand by posting
positive comments. On the other hand, the use of company-specific accounts is helpful to
enhance the connections with customers.
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PART 3- POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
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REFERENCES
Bornmann, L 2014, Do altmetrics point to the broader impact of research? An overview of
benefits and disadvantages of altmetrics. Journal of informetrics, 8(4), pp.895-903.
DiStaso, MW, McCorkindale, T and Wright, DK 2011, How public relations executives perceive
and measure the impact of social media in their organizations. Public Relations
Review, 37(3), pp.325-328.
Jeske, D and Shultz, KS 2016, Using social media content for screening in recruitment and
selection: pros and cons. Work, employment and society, 30(3), pp.535-546.
Razmerita, L, Kirchner, K and Nabeth, T 2014 Social media in organizations: leveraging
personal and collective knowledge processes. Journal of Organizational Computing and
Electronic Commerce, 24(1), pp.74-93.
Schlager, T, Bodderas, M, Maas, P and Luc Cachelin, J, 2011, The influence of the employer
brand on employee attitudes relevant for service branding: an empirical
investigation. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(7), pp.497-508.
Tuten, TL and Solomon, MR, 2017, Social media marketing. Sage.
Vaast, E and Kaganer, E 2013, Social media affordances and governance in the workplace: An
examination of organizational policies. Journal of computer-mediated
communication, 19(1), pp.78-101.
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