MNG81001 Assessment 3: Social Media Policies Communication Report

This report analyzes a business case study involving Sunshine 100, a health food company, and the impact of employee social media use on its reputation. The report, written as a memorandum from the Director of Social Media to all staff, examines the differences between traditional and social media, and how employee posts can have both positive and negative effects. It highlights the importance of social media policies, including interactions on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A communication plan is proposed to inform employees about the effective use of social media, including its benefits and disadvantages, and the policy will be revised every three months. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for clear guidelines to manage the company's online presence and protect its brand image.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management Communication

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 1
Memorandum
To: All Staff
From: Director of Social Media
Date: 6/5/2019
Subject: Social Media Policies
This memorandum is being presented to analyse the issues Sunshine 100 is experiencing due
to use of social media at workplace. Based on the analysis of the case study, the memo is
answering some of the key concerns related to social media at the workplace.
The case study is based on one of the specialized business in the health food products that is
Sunshine 100, who experienced the impact of the use of social media at the workplace.
According to the analysis, it has been identified that Sunshine 100 was at the edge of
introducing its new baby food product in the market, when one of its employees posted the
news on the social media site, due to which the business came into the news and got a huge
benefit. Due to the benefit of the post in social media, the director took it as the tool of
promotion and did not take any action against the employee. After some time, at the time of
launching time of the same product, one employee again posted the news and posted the
image of the product with some of the junk food items along with the status ‘Junk food, junk
food!’ This step of the employee had a major negative impact on the reputation of the
company, as it was launching the Kids Eat product as healthy food. Due to this, the company
has to bear huge losses and the image of the company was damaged drastically. In return,
Sunshine 100 did not fire the same employee but took the decision to frame some social
media policies for the organization in order to reduce the negative effect on the business.
1.

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 2
Traditional media is the type of mass media that majorly concentrate on delivering updated
news to the general public. Different types of traditional media tools that are used include
print publication like newspaper and magazines, and broadcast news through radio and
television (Adzharuddin, 2012). On the other side, social media is utilized in a different way
and is used a lot in order to describe a range of diverse digital platforms. Some of the social
media sites that are famous among people are Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, and
Instagram (Alison, 2014).
Social Media Traditional Media
Today, business is becoming a key challenge
to identify which social media platform to
use (Karin, Riitta and Tuula, 2013).
There is a very limited number of effective
tools of traditional media that could be used
by the businesses to market their products.
It becomes very tough to carry subscribers to
the blog or Facebook page of the business.
Traditional media is very expensive for the
business to communicate the information in
comparison to social media (Van, 2017).
It is very tough to incorporate social media in
regulated industries like alcoholic beverages,
financial institutions, etc.
Through traditional media, businesses can
deliver limited message or information to the
customers.
2.
In the context of above case of Sunshine 100, it has been identified that comment of an
employee over social media for the company can have both positive as well as a negative
effect on the image and reputation of the company. In the general perspective, employees are
considered as the face of the company, through whom the general public and concern
stakeholders of the company create perceptions.

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 3
The positive review of the employee regarding the culture and policies of the company
create; let other people think in a positive manner regarding the company. It is because today
people are majorly involved in different social media sites and rely on the reviews presented
on these sites (Nguyen, 2017). Even social media sites allow the users to directly ask and chat
in order to confirm the positive review regarding the company.
On the other side, negative review or statement of the employee on the social media site,
majorly impact the image and reputation of the business. Because of just one negative event
regarding the company, make people think in a doubtable manner (Rajalakshmi and Naresh,
2018). Today, many businesses conduct their recruitment procedure through social media
sites in order to get a huge pool of candidates. If there is any negative comment by the
employee of the company regarding organizational culture, it will have a major impact on the
candidates search for a job and can result in limited number and less skilled participants in
the recruitment procedure.
3.
With the introduction of Social media people and businesses have come together at a single
platform. Before the introduction of social media, businesses were not so accountable to
customers and never the customers been so precisely advertised to by brands (Deborah,
2011).
There are few of the differences among different social media sites or networks, like
interactions used to provide reviews. The social media interactions that must be covered in
the social media policy of the business are:
 For Facebook interactions that must be incorporated are: Comments, Emoji Reactions,
Likes, and Shares (Kmieckowiak, 2017)

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 4
Source [(Kmieckowiak, 2017)]
 For Twitter, interactions are the sum of all retweets, favorites, and relies on the
profile.
 Instagram is different from both Facebook and Twitter. By default, the user cannot
share any other content except videos and images on the Instagram platform. Thus,
Instagram interactions refer to comments and likes.
4.
Communication Plan
Activities Planning
Timing 1/6/2019 to 31/8/2019
Audience Stakeholders (Employees, Customers,
Investors, Government)
Sender Director of Social Media
Key Message Effective use of social media
Desired Outcomes Social media at the workplace must be used
for the productive use only and must not
affect the productivity of the individual as
well as the organization

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 5
Medium Email, Text Messages, Annual Reports,
Sustainability Report, and website
Materials Knowledge regarding the advantages and
disadvantages of using social media in the
workplace.
Frequency After every three months
The above communication plan is focused on having an effective social media policy, which
will be targeted to inform employees regarding the effective use and benefits of social media.
Besides this, it will help in understanding the disadvantages of these sites. The policy will be
communicated to the stakeholders of the company through, email, annual reports,
sustainability reports, and the company's website. The social media policy will be revised
after every three months in order to incorporate any updates in the business environment
regarding these sites.

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 6
References
Adzharuddin, N.A. (2012) Marketing Communication Through The Integration of New
Media and Traditional Media: The Insights. Revista de Administratie Publica si Politici
Sociale, 1(8), 18-31.
Alison, P. (2014) What is Social Media? British Journal of Midwifery, 22(12), 896-897.
Deborah, M. (2011) Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents.
Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 26(5), 498-499.
Karin, V., Riitta, H., and Tuula, L. (2013) Knowledge Protection Challenges of Social Media
Encountered by Organizations. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic
Commerce, 23(1-2), 34-55.
Kmieckowiak, T. (2017) Understanding social media interaction KPIs [online]. Available
from https://www.klipfolio.com/blog/social-media-interaction-kpis [accessed 5 May 2019]
Nguyen, N. (2017) 4 ways employee feedback will help define a positive company culture
[online]. Available from https://www.polly.ai/blog/4-ways-employee-feedback-will-help-
define-positive-company-culture [accessed 5 May 2019]
Rajalakshmi, M., and Naresh, B. (2018) Influence of Psychological contract on workplace
bullying. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 41(2018), 90-97.
Van, R.E. (2017) Social Media, traditional media and party politics in Ghana. Africa Review,
9(2), 152-139.

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION 7