Are your social media records safe?

Social media is a common tool among business of all sizes. And while social media is typically seen as a marketing tool, messaging can also be part of business operations and require records management.

It’s no longer just about keeping records of emails, it’s time to think about preserving information on wikis, video sharing sites, blogs, photo libraries and social media.

Why retain social media records

Information shared on social media may be required if your organization is audited or involved in legal actions. Despite this, recent research found that only 31-34% of organizations are retaining official social media content, and even fewer are keeping records of “unofficial” social media content.

The social media you should keep

Deciding whether your organization should keep records of social media is one of the first challenges of social media records management. To decide if records need to be kept, your organizations should ask and answer a few questions about your social media content:

• Does it contain evidence of policies, business or mission?
• Is the information only available on the social media site?
• Is social media being used to convey official information?
• Is there a business need for the information shared on social media?

If you answered yes to these questions, your social media messaging should be preserved. However, a number of issues creep up when it comes to preserving these records. First, the content is controlled by a third-party so while you may own the content that is being put out there, you don’t always have control of where it is stored or how to access it for the future. Using social media analytics is one way to capture your messages on a recurring basis and capture the content that you provide online. Content calendars are another way to keep organized in terms of which pieces of content appear on your various social media channels.

Your records management needs to include social media. Organizational information is being share on social media and causing customers to react in one way or another. Keeping records of what transpired is not only a good idea for legal reasons, but it also makes good marketing sense. And, while you’re thinking about social media, you might want to run a malware check on it too, another often overlooked but important piece of keeping your social media secure.

Do you keep social media content records? What have you found are some of the best ways to do this for your organization?