Employees are brand advocates of an organization. They are the voice of your
company, delivering the brand promise to your customers. With the advent of
social media, your employees are engaging in online conversations a lot more
in ways that can hugely impact your Business. Willfully or otherwise, your
employees may be divulging confidential information. You may have a PR
department and an official spokesperson, but you have very little control on
what is being shared by your employees on their personal facebook pages,
twitter accounts, or blogs. We often hear instances of employees being fired
because of inappropriate online behavior that's damaging to the company. The
key is to steer correct online engagement behavior by defining a social
media policy for your organization.
The crucial questions for any organization are:
How do you define a social media policy that protects and enhances your
company's image?
How do you empower employees to promote your brand in a positive way?
Do you have trained experts in social media who can engage employees on what
to say in social media circles on an ongoing basis?
The primary focus of a social media policy would obviously be to protect
your company's confidential information. A best practice adopted by most
innovative companies is to empower employees and trust them to be your brand
advocates.
Here are three key elements of a Corporate Social Media policy
Defining the social media policy
Most Corporate policies are written as a legal document but when it comes to
social media, most companies are adopting a conversational tone to
communicate key messages of the policy. It is important to seek your legal
team's input, but steer clear from using typical legal language if you want
your employees to fully understand the policy. The social media landscape is
huge and it changes every day. You can only have general guidelines listed
around social media usage. The best way to do that would be including
examples of what is preferred and accepted and what is not, thus eliminating
ambiguity. If you have a stringent policy, it may discourage your employees
from participating. The key is to have a subtle balance such that employees
feel empowered yet responsible when they act as brand advocates in social
media circles.
Dell does a brilliant job of inculcating a social media culture in the
organization. They have fairly simple yet effective social media policy. You
can refer to the information here.
Personal versus professional persona
Gartner's social media policy states, "You may adopt the persona of a
Gartner associate or a personal persona unconnected to your professional
work life. It is important for associates to recognize the difference, and
to be careful when crossing from one persona to the other in any particular
social environment."
Encourage your employees to participate across your company's social media
platforms. Employees need to identify themselves as your company's
representatives when they do so. Educate them not to share private company
information on their profiles or anywhere on the web. Stating examples of
what kind of discussions employees can participate in can eliminate
ambiguity. While employees may maintain personal social media accounts, it
is important to provide them with a general guideline on what kind of
company information can be shared on their personal profiles as well. For
example, it is okay to share product announcements or news of a new branch
opening. Make it clear that the company reserves the right to track any
company-related information that is shared by the employees anywhere on the
web.
Encourage employees to be authentic, respectful, and open
Social media provides a great opportunity for your company to interact with
your customers. Through your social media interactions, customers get an
insider view of your organization. Social media success lies in being seen
as an authentic brand. Encourage employees to be authentic on social media.
List some instances of great customer service etiquette. Ask them to use
respectful language while letting the conversation be transparent and open.
Why corporate social media training programs are important?
While you may do everything to build a great social media culture in the
organization, periodic review and continuous improvement is key for its
success. Identify team members from each function who can be trained and
designated as social media experts and encourage employees to approach them
in instances of doubt.
Internal policies define and shape the culture of an organization. Most
organizations strive to inculcate a culture of innovation and creativity.
Social Media complements these objectives as it offers valuable tools for
sharing ideas and information. In order for this to happen, companies need
to have trained social media evangelists who serve as subject matter
experts. Social media is a specialized field. Social media tools might be
intuitive but social media strategy and execution needs commitment and
focused effort. This is where social media training plays a crucial role.
If you have any questions or comments please contact me.
Regards Gerald
Website: http://www.webcraft.ws
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws
Twitter: WebcraftGuru
Facebook: Webcraft Guru
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