MNG81001 - Developing a Social Media Policy for Sunshine 100

This report provides an analysis of Sunshine 100's social media policy, addressing the increasing importance of social media in organizational communication and productivity. It outlines the purpose and objectives of using social media effectively, highlighting the advantages such as cost-effectiveness, easier evaluation, and efficient record maintenance, alongside disadvantages like resource consumption, potential for poor public relations, and time wastage. The report emphasizes the importance of social media policies in the workplace to strengthen employee relationships, improve recognition, enhance information discovery, and details Sunshine 100’s specific policy elements, disciplinary consequences, and a communication plan to ensure employees use social media wisely. The communication plan includes timing, audience, sender, key message, desired outcome, medium, and materials to be used for effective implementation.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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To: Paul Morgan, CEO Sunshine 100
From: Jane Wilson, Director of Marketing
Date: 17th January, 2019
Subject: The social media policy of Sunshine 100
Introduction
Background
With the advancement in technology, the social media has become an increasing
important tool which assists the different individuals with respect to the communication and also
goes a long way in ensuring that the overall productivity of the organization increases
considerably. Sunshine 100 has recently faced certain problems with respect to the different
employees as present in the organization and this can be stated to be the cause of their concern in
regard to improving the overall social media operations.
Purpose
The main purpose of the memo is to outline the overall objective of making use of the
Social media in the operations and to outline the revised social media policy of Sunshine 100. In
this memo the report successfully aims to ensure that all the employees as present in the
organization are well aware of their plan to perform well and use the social media in a wise
manner.
Thesis Statement
The memo seeks to throw light on the concept of social media and in addition to this,
highlight the importance of making use of the social media along with laying down the

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advantages as well as the disadvantages of using social media. Along with this, an adequate
social media policy will be outlined for the firm, Sunshine 100.
Blueprint
The memo follows a systematized format with respect to which it can be stated that, the
meaning of social media will be defined which will then be followed by the advantages as well
as the disadvantages of making use of the social media. This shall then be followed by the
importance of the social media in the workplace and a discussion on the Social media policy
which needs to be used by the employees of the firm. The last section of the report, presents a
Communication plan based on the same.
The advantages and disadvantages for an organization when using Social Media
The use of social media can be believed to be very advantageous for any business
enterprise because it not only helps an organization in attaining success but it also goes a long
way in ensuring that the firm is successfully able to improve the communication within the scope
of the firm. However, there are several disadvantages associated to the usage of the social media
in the workplace as well (Boulianne, 2015,p. 530). The particular advantages and disadvantages
of making use of Social media in the workplace can be given to be as follows:
Advantages of using social media
1. Cost effective: The primary advantage of making use of the social media is that it goes a
long way in assisting the organization to save considerable costs. In this manner, it can be
stated that, the company Sunshine 100 will not only be to carry out its activities in a
cheap manner but also allow them to coordinate effectively (Hudson et al., 2015, p. 70).

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2. Evaluation: The evaluation also becomes considerably easier for the organization once
the social media is used (Gerbaudo, 2018). This is because as the communication of the
different employees will take place on time, this will ensure that the firm is successfully
able to keep a check on the matters of the employees.
3. Maintenance of records: It helps in retrieving data easily. In this aspect it can be
mentioned that when a firm is allowed to keep a check on the communication and sharing
data, the Sunshine 100 will be able to retrieve the required data easily and adequately
(Perrin, 2015, p. 60).
Disadvantages of using social media
1. Use of resources: It makes considerable usage of the resources. In this aspect, it can be
stated that, when a firm is engaging in the use of Social media in order to carry out the
communication amongst the different employees, it makes use of various devices and the
internet which may not have been required earlier.
2. Poor Public relations: As social media exposes the firm to various customers as well, any
misstep as taken by the employees would result in the spoilage in the brand name of the
firm.
3. Wastage of time: Very often, the employees instead of communicating for the purpose of
the business, end up wasting their time and the company`s resources which might impact
their productivity (Fuchs, 2017).
The importance of social media policies in the workplace
1. Strengthens the relationship between the different employees: The social media assists
the different individuals in the workplace to communicate well with one another and

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hence, with respect to this, they will be successfully able to work for the firm (Kumar et
al., 2016,p .20).
2. Improves employee recognition and retention: The social media can also be used to
improve recognition and retention of the employees by acknowledging them through the
network and making them feel valued (Cacciatore, Scheufele & Iyengar, 2016, p. 20).
3. Enhances information discovery: Lastly, it makes the employees more knowledge and
assists the employees to ensure long term success with respect to the same.
Sunshine 100`s Social media Policy
Scope
The given policy is expected to be followed by all the employees and the scope of the
policy sets the background
Policy elements
 Posting: All the employees must think twice before posting on social media as it may
have an impact on the overall operations of the firm.
 Usage: The usage of social media should be strictly made with respect to the work related
issues (Duggan et al. 2015).
 Positive attitude: All employees must reflect a positive attitude towards the allowance on
the usage of the social media policy.
Disciplinary consequences

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The corporate account of Sunshine 100 will be monitoring the social media postings
being made. The disciplinary actions will depend on the severity of the actions and the
consequences.
Communicating Sunshine` Social Media policy
1. Timing 2 hours
Date : 20th January
Timings: 11am to 1pm
2. Audience All the employees will be the target audience.
3. Sender The sender of the media policy will be the
communications head of the firm.
4. Key message To make wise usage of the social media.
5. Desired outcome The brand name and the actions of the
employees improve.
6. Medium Meeting, direct medium
7. Materials Handouts containing the policy and
PowerPoint presentation
8. Frequency Once in every 3 months

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References
Boulianne, S., 2015. Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current
research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(5), pp.524-538.
Cacciatore, M.A., Scheufele, D.A. & Iyengar, S., 2016. The end of framing as we know it… and
the future of media effects. Mass Communication and Society, 19(1), pp.7-23.
Duggan, M., Ellison, N.B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A. & Madden, M., 2015. Social media update
2014. Pew research center, 9.
Fuchs, C., 2017. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Gerbaudo, P., 2018. Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto
Press.
Hudson, S., Roth, M.S., Madden, T.J. & Hudson, R., 2015. The effects of social media on
emotions, brand relationship quality, and word of mouth: An empirical study of music festival
attendees. Tourism Management, 47, pp.68-76.
Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R. & Kannan, P.K., 2016. From social to
sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer behavior. Journal of
Marketing, 80(1), pp.7-25.
Perrin, A., 2015. Social media usage. Pew research center, pp.52-68.