Think your company has an air-tight social media policy?According to experts in the field, there may be no such thing.

Whether it's fakeLinkedIn accounts,Facebookmessage-scanning tactics, or improperuse of email addresses, every single social media platformcomes with risks. Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, chief marketing officer atBrandProtect, held a webinar on Jan. 15 that addressed some ofthese issues.

The webinar centered on guidelines(PDF) from the Federal FinancialInstitutions Examinations Council, which say that eachcompany should have a risk management program that focuseson the different issues that can arise from social media. Andaccording to Mancusi-Ungaro, those issues can arise fromanywhere.

“Don't ignore the potential for third party-initiated risks,” asa company remains exposed through dialogue that happens across allsocial media channels,” Mancusi-Ungaro said, accordingto The Wall Street Journal.

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He also said that companies should not put their full trust inthird parties hired to handle social media, as risk even occurswhen the issue is out of the company's hands. “They need to beguided and monitored,” Mancusi-Ungaro said. “These third partiescan be the source point for a social media event.”

The webinar mirrored what experts have beentelling InsideCounsel recently concerning socialmedia. Especially when miredin public litigation, social media can be helpful… if you takethe correct precautions. If the media is piling on, says GeneGrabowski of public relations firm LEVICK, an ongoing goodwillsocial media campaign will lead “the consumers, shareholders oreven the news media look at it and say, 'Wait a minute, this isn'tthe company that I know…maybe I need to investigate further beforeattacking.'”

But undertaking that type of social media does not need to bescary. According to Cohen & Gresser attorneys Robert J. Gaviganand Maria Granovsky, there are multiple ways to succeedon Twitter without courting disaster. Among their tips are toremember that all tweets are public, to not trust direct messagesbecause of the likelihood of mistakes, and to not be afraid toexpress opinion or to let your personal life shine through.