Scrub your social media of offensive content.

These days, it's essential for most businesses to have a social media presence. That means your employees will be engaging with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, not to mention the customer interactions on your own website.

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But companies that live by social media can also die by it if they don't police what's happening on their platforms. That's especially true if you allow anyone to leave comments without prior review. Social media comments could be putting your reputation at risk-or-worse.

If someone bombards your social media outlets with racist, sexist or just plain offensive comments and materials, you need a plan for quick action to delete the material.

But that's not enough. It's inevitable in today's fast-moving social media environment that someone captured a screenshot and circulated it. You also need to get out there and explain.

Recent case: A United flight attendant sued the company, alleging it didn't do enough to police its social media presence. As a result, she claims she was subjected to offensive and...