Social Safety Net: Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Real Estate Company

Set some social ground rules to prevent your agents (or yourself) from getting into a bad situation online.In the last few years, social media has become an increasingly complicated topic. Like most tools, social media can be really great, or really problematic, depending on how you use it. For real estate pros, it’s an important tool for growing your business. Which means making sure you’re using social media in a safe, legal, and ethical way is essential. 

For agents, it’s worth reviewing your own behaviors (luckily, we have this handy guide to social safety to get you started). For brokers, company owners, and others in leadership positions, creating a social media policy is the next crucial step.

Before diving in, we have to state that we are not legal experts and this post is in no way a complete or comprehensive guide to social media policies. We’re providing you with a starting point and resources to consult as you draft your policy. Before finalizing anything you’ll want to talk to your legal team to make sure you new policy is in line with all relevant laws and industry regulations.

First and foremost, do we even need a social media policy?

Short answer: Yes!

Even for a small office, it’s worth taking time to review your social media usage. For smaller firms, a formal usage policy may not be necessary. At minimum, you should be aware of policies within the industry and all relevant laws to avoid a legal or ethical snafu. 

For offices with more than a few agents, formalizing a policy is essential. We would argue that once you have four or more people on your team, you should create a social policy of some sort. While this may seem like a lot of work, writing something now can save you a lot of time and headache down the line. If you have a policy early on, new agents that join the team can be onboarded and aware of it from day one. The sooner you set this up, the easier it will be to maintain and enforce.

For larger offices, having a social usage policy is even more important. Creating a policy helps protect the company and your team members from liability. It also ensures everyone is on the same page and takes the stress and ambiguity out of using social media.

Here are some examples of when a social media policy is crucial for real estate:

• Your marketing person wants to run ads targeting English-speaking families.

• An agent photoshops a listing and posts it to Facebook.

• Someone posts something false about your company on Twitter, and you want to respond.

• An agent retweets or posts another company’s listing.

• You want to use a screenshot of an email with a glowing review from a client.

Any of these scenarios could end with legal action or bad publicity. Set the ground rules for yourself, and educate your team, so it doesn’t come to that. Your team will appreciate these guide rails.

How can I ever be sure we covered everything?

This comes down to knowing when to be specific and when to stay vague. Social media platforms are always changing and new networks launch every day. Calling out specific platforms by name is generally not necessary and can quickly make your policy seem outdated. 

Defining what “social media” will refer to and allowing that definition to be open-ended ensures two things:

• Your policy will stay relevant longer and won’t need updated as often.

• Your company will be protected if something goes wrong since no one can say a specific platform wasn’t included and is therefore exempt.

Finally, the best way to keep your policy current and relevant is to review it once a year. The internet is inherently in a constant state of change. An annual check-in will keep you on track and ahead of the curve. 

Let’s do this! What should we include?

You probably expected this: there’s no one-size-fits-all social media policy we can provide. Like most policies, it should be tailored by location to and by company to fit your unique goals and culture. While no two will be exactly the same, all social policies should cover three main areas: industry regulations, legal considerations, and company policies.

Industry Regulations

A great place to start when considering industry regulations is the NAR Code of Ethics. Even if you have team members who aren’t Realtors, NAR’s policy is the gold standard for real estate pros. You’ll also want to check with any relevant local, regional, or state organizations to see if they have specific policies you should be aware of.

Identification

You’ll want to include language about how agents should identify themselves online and how they represent the organization. You’ll also want to cover the requirements for self-identification in all online interactions.

Professional Conduct

This is where you include the dos and don’ts of interacting online with others in the industry. Venting about other professionals, sharing other’s listings, and discussing commission are all things that can get you in hot water. You’ll want to be sure to include language to that effect.

Equal Housing Compliance

This could fit within industry standards or legal considerations. Wherever you decide to categorize it, you’ll need to cover Equal Housing. For example, you’ll want to mention the importance of choosing your words carefully when posting about a listing to describe properties, not the occupants.

Legal Concerns

Legal concerns will vary by area. You’ll want to consult your lawyer to make sure you don’t omit any important local, state, or federal regulations from your policy. There are, however, some universal concerns to be sure to include.

Confidentiality

Nothing online is private or confidential. You’ll want to include language about the necessary steps that must be taken to protect client and company confidentiality, including things like what can and cannot be discussed in social messaging platforms.

Laws and Regulations

We already touched on the Equal Housing issue above but you’ll want to include further language about legal considerations here.

Privacy

State that your team must read all platform privacy policies, understand different privacy settings, and ensure that they are taking reasonable precautions to protect company and client data. You can check out the privacy policies for the big four here: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter.

Company Policies

This last section will be the most custom since it’s unique to your individual organization (or franchise). While you can consult other example policies for inspiration, this section should be tailored to your company's best practices, culture, and goals.

Company Devices and Software

Are there specific apps that can or can’t be used on company devices? Are specific platforms banned from the office? This is the section to make these rules known. 

Company Branding

Do you have specific ways you want your company logo to be used online? Are there specific requirements for agents’ account naming? This is where you’ll want to define any branding dos and don’ts to ensure a cohesive online message across all of your agents’ professional presences. 

Other Company Policies

This is where you can include any other specifics as you see fit. Do you have an additional photo release for sharing pictures of clients? Are there specific dos and don’ts for online posting involving minors? You can check out our social safety post for more ideas of things to be aware of that you may want to include.

Bottom Line

Now that you know the key elements needed for a social media policy, you’ll want to start drafting your own. With the help of your lawyer, relevant industry resources, and a plenty of common sense, you can ensure that social media usage remains a positive aspect of your business. 

Ready to start writing? Check out these resources for further considerations: 

• NAR’s quick guide to get you started

• NAR How To Video

• NAR Legal Risks Video