What are operating rules for?
Operating rules (also called a social media policy or guidelines) are an internal document that sets what the official account posts and how. They serve two main purposes. One is keeping the tone consistent even when the manager changes or several people run the account. The other is not leaving one manager to carry the responsibility when a judgment call is hard.
At small businesses and shops, it's common for a single person to handle social media alongside other duties. When that person is out or leaves, the account stalls or the successor starts from scratch. If you think of operating rules as taking the judgments in the manager's head and turning them into company decisions, it becomes clear what to write.
What to include
About ten items is a good guide. You don't need to write all of them in detail from the start. Write one line each at first, then expand where you run into trouble.
| Item | What to write | Example of a one-line starting answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Purpose | Why you run social media | Let new customers know about the shop and lead them to visit |
| 2. Accounts | Which accounts on which networks, and who is the administrator | X and Instagram. The store manager is the administrator |
| 3. What to post | Content pillars | Seasonal products, care tips, everyday life at the shop |
| 4. What not to post | Topics you won't touch | Politics, religion, crime, bad-mouthing other companies, customers' personal matters |
| 5. Tone | Writing style, emoji, how you introduce yourself | Polite style. Up to two emoji per post |
| 6. Replies and DMs | What you reply to, when, and what you don't | Reply to questions by the next business day |
| 7. Check before posting | Who checks before it goes out | The manager reviews new themes and replies to complaints |
| 8. Photos and rights | How to take photos, people appearing in them, others' materials | Get permission before posting photos with customers in them |
| 9. Emergencies | Who is told and who stops things in a backlash or accident | Whoever notices pauses the schedule and phones the manager |
| 10. Personal accounts | Rules for employees posting on their own accounts | Don't write about internal matters or customers |
How to write each item
Purpose and what to post
Write the purpose in one sentence. Once it's set, you can settle doubts by asking "does this post fit the purpose?" For what to post, list 3 to 5 pillars (themes you post regularly). How to set pillars is in content pillars.
What not to post
The trick is to write what not to post with examples. Writing "don't post anything inappropriate" doesn't help, since what's inappropriate varies by person. Be specific: "Don't joke about region, gender or age," or "On days when a disaster is affecting an area, hold off on promotional posts." Common patterns that cause backlash are summarized in preventing and handling online backlash.
Tone and replies
For tone, decide the writing style, how you use emoji, how you refer to the company and how you address customers. Prepare ready-to-use phrases for common replies (opening hours, directing people to DM, thanks), and wording stays consistent even with several managers. A detailed guide to writing reply and DM rules is in rules for replies and DMs.
Check before posting
Decide who writes, who checks and who publishes. If checking every post is difficult, decide which kinds of posts need a check, for example new themes, posts touching on social events, campaign announcements and replies to complaints. How to build the checking flow is in how to set up an approval workflow.
Photos and rights
For photos, write that you get permission when customers or employees appear, and that you check that documents, screens or car license plates aren't visible in the background. State clearly that you don't use photos taken by others or images found online. When featuring a customer's post, decide to ask the person first.
Emergency contacts
When a backlash or accident happens, write who is told, who pauses the schedule, and who decides the statement, and attach contact details. Writing that whoever notices may go as far as stopping things, even at night or on holidays, prevents delays.
Employees' personal accounts
Include rules for employees writing about work on their personal accounts. The basics are not to write about internal matters, customers or unreleased products, and not to write in a way that looks like speaking for the company. When employees introduce your products on a personal account, have them write in a way that shows their relationship with the company. From October 2023, Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency regulates, under the Japanese Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, advertisements that don't look like advertisements. More is in social media campaigns and Japan's premiums and representations law.
A first-page template
Your first set of rules can fit on one page. For a local builder, it might start like this.
This example has one line each for purpose, what to post, what not to post, checking and emergencies. Don't aim for perfection at the start. Begin with these five lines and add to them when you run into situations where people hesitate. That's how you build rules that keep getting used. You can add tone and reply rules when a second manager joins or when replies grow.
Keep growing them after you write them
Operating rules aren't finished when written. Add one line each time a situation comes up where people hesitated; that's the best way to keep rules in use. Once every six months, reread the whole thing, delete rules nobody uses and fix parts affected by changes to networks.
Pick one place to keep them where every manager can see them, and have anyone newly put in charge read the document first. Share the idea that if a problem arises while following the rules, you fix the rules, not blame the manager, so managers can make decisions with confidence.
What you can do with SNS TOWN
Some of your operating rules can be turned into SNS TOWN settings. Decide who can do what in Members and roles. There are three roles: admin, editor and viewer. For each company, you choose whether admins and editors, or only admins, can approve, post now and send replies. Who did what and when stays in the activity log.
Frequently used replies and set phrases can be shared across the company as Templates and inserted from the compose screen. When the AI writes drafts, it reads your company profile and key messages, so writing your tone and what not to post there is reflected in the drafts. Before anything goes out, the pre-post check finds and flags things like URLs in the body, two or more hashtags, requests for reactions, and text very similar to recent posts.
In an emergency, pause all scheduled posts stops all schedules for that company or brand at once.
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Commencer gratuitementFrequently asked questions
Do I need operating rules if I run the account alone?
Yes. Even when you run it alone, having your standards of judgment written down helps when you're out or hand over the account. A one-page document with just three items, purpose, what not to post and emergency contacts, is useful to start with.
Can I use a large company's social media policy as a reference?
Its structure is a helpful reference, but copying it wholesale adds rules that don't fit your size or industry, and no one reads them. We recommend borrowing the headings and writing the content from situations that have actually happened at your company.
Should I make our operating rules public?
You don't need to publish internal operating rules. Publish only the parts you want customers to know, such as your reply policy or a contact point, on your profile or website.
What should we do if a post that breaks the rules goes out?
First review the post and, if needed, delete it or issue an apology. Then look back at why it happened, whether the rule was unclear or the checking flow missed a step, and fix the rule or the flow. Blaming the individual manager alone will lead to the same thing happening again.
Should an outsourced agency follow the same rules?
Yes. If you outsource, give them your operating rules and have them run the account by them. Resolve any differences from the agency's own rules before signing the contract. How to approach this is in outsourcing or doing it in-house.
