Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube. Even though use of these social networking channels is booming across the corporate sector, the Society for Human Resource Management found that only 40 percent of businesses have a policy ragarding social media. When considering companies with fewer than 100 employees, that number drops to 26 percent, the survey reported.

Everything from innocent mistakes to rogue employees can have dramatic consequences for an agency, and in the online world, regrettable tweets and poorly planned blog posts have a long lifespan. The potential damage from an exposure is becoming more widely known, and insurers are rolling out cyber liability packages that include social media coverage. The days of spontaneous posting are over, and if your agency is part of that 40 percent, it's time to control your online presence.

Agents need to protect their brand. As trusted advisors, producers' reputations particularly are critical to building and maintaining solid books of business. Unfortunately, an agent's credibility could suffer if social media use isn't well managed. "If they do it incorrectly, reputation is going to take a big, big hit," said Christine Marciano, CIPP, president of Cyber Data Risk Managers in Freehold, N.J. Information travels at lightning speed across the Internet, and an agency's standing could go from hero to zero overnight. Protecting their reputations are so important that Marciano said she has seen a number of larger insurance firms take additional steps to ensure their social media channels are handled correctly. "They actually hire public relations firms to take care of it," she said.