Still struggling with your business’s social media plan? Well, like your first-grade teacher might have said, maybe all you need is a little structure to get you started. Or so are the thoughts of Social Media Examiner this week, who has lent us several ideas on creating social media guidelines for your company.

What can these guidelines do?

Well, for starters, they can help you form and carry out a social media strategy. And for those non-20-somethings out there, knowing how to use social media –for your business or otherwise— might be the hardest part.

You’ll also want to school your employees on how they are using social media – whether job-related or personally. Let them know what company information can and cannot be shared on their personal social media profiles.

And if you have a social media team, make sure they are well-versed in the industry lingo and practices. Cover defamation, intellectual property and what they can and can’t say about competitors.

Now, if only there were such structured guidelines for other social situations.