Fife Business Week kicked of bright and early yesterday, and one of the first speakers was our very own Julie Sullivan addressing the growing topic of social media at work. If you missed her talk, or need notes, here are the important points.

With a huge 10% of time online spent visiting social media sites it’s important to understand that social media is here to stay. While most business owners now understand that its online profile is a shop window, you are increasingly, and correctly, recognising the need for internal policies on staff use. Incidents like the Stornoway Gazette’s recent social media meltdown highlight the need to guard against online public embarrassment.

An online business profile, and having actively involved staff, can be hugely beneficial. During our presentation we looked at the three R’s; reputation, recruitment and rainmaking. Using social media can help you to develop all three however, no public platform is without risks.

It’s important to take steps now to insure against damage to your reputation, and from losing time and productivity because of social media use at work. Talking to staff about the behaviour you expect from them online and putting policies and procedures in place to protect your business is important. Now is the time to review your procedures and make sure that your within your business digital security is safeguarded.

If you weren’t among the attendees who took home a free social media policy yesterday, but would like more information please get in touch on 01383 721 621 and jks@businesslaw.co.uk.