How can you create social media guidelines that are easy for non-digital natives to follow?

1 Define your goals and audience

Before you draft your social media guidelines, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach with your internal social media channels. Do you want to foster collaboration, engagement, feedback, or recognition? Do you want to target specific groups, such as new hires, remote workers, or leaders? Having a clear purpose and scope for your social media strategy will help you create guidelines that are relevant and aligned with your organizational culture and values.

2 Use simple and consistent language

One of the main challenges of creating social media guidelines for non-digital natives is to avoid jargon, acronyms, and technical terms that may confuse or intimidate them. Instead, use simple and consistent language that explains the basics of social media, such as what platforms you use, how to create and manage profiles, how to post and comment, and how to use hashtags and mentions. You can also provide examples and screenshots to illustrate your points and make them more visual and engaging.

3 Highlight the benefits and risks

Another challenge of creating social media guidelines for non-digital natives is to balance the benefits and risks of using social media for internal communications. You want to encourage your employees to participate and share their ideas, opinions, and feedback, but you also want to protect them from potential pitfalls, such as privacy breaches, cyberattacks, or reputational damage. Therefore, you need to highlight the benefits of social media, such as connecting with colleagues, learning new skills, and staying updated on news and events, but also the risks, such as sharing sensitive information, violating policies or laws, or posting inappropriate or offensive content.

4 Provide dos and don'ts

A practical way to create social media guidelines that are easy for non-digital natives to follow is to provide a list of dos and don'ts that summarize the main points and expectations of your social media policy. For example, you can tell your employees to do things like: use respectful and professional language, check facts and sources before sharing, report any issues or concerns, and follow the company's code of conduct and values. On the other hand, you can tell them to avoid things like: using personal accounts for work purposes, disclosing confidential or proprietary information, engaging in arguments or conflicts, and endorsing or criticizing competitors or partners.