Do I Let My Staff Use Social Media?
Social media allows better communication and engagement with customers when done right, but it can also cause problems.
Blocking your employees entirely from social media during work hours may lose you some valuable connections, but you should have a social media policy in place so everyone knows the rules.
Workplace Social Media Stats
According to the Social Media & Workplace Collaboration report by Silk Road Technology, 43% of North American respondents are allowed to use social media in the workplace. Only 23% of respondents said their employers had a specific social media policy in place, and only 10% received any social media training from employers.
Without a social media policy in place at your company, you risk employees using the technology in a way that reflects poorly on your business.
Your Social Media Policy
The first step toward properly harnessing social media for your company is to come up with a clear policy to outline what’s appropriate and what’s off-limits.
Outline for your employees the rules about things such as tweeting during business hours, using your company logo on their personal social media profiles, and how to interact with customers and others who may respond to their tweets or posts.
Your policy should also clearly define the consequences for breaking the rules. You should also go over any compliance regulations your company has before giving the final okay for social media use.
Trust and Support
Once you’ve made the rules clear, trust your employees to use their social media accounts responsibly.
Showing this trust will make them more willing to use social media to tell the world all the great things your company does.
At the same time, put a plan in place to give employees a means of asking you or an experienced co-worker about how to use their social networking accounts responsibly. An occasional short seminar can provide a quick refresher course for new and existing employees on best practices for social media use.
Encouraging Social Media Use
Finally, once you’ve got your plan in place, encourage your employees to talk up your company on their profiles.
This is a great way to show customers and the public your company’s personality, so encourage your workers to do just that.
Another great way to use social media in your business is to set up a specialist or two who can look for and respond to customer complaints and other comments.
An official response from your company to a customer’s complaint on social media can show you’re dedicated to making them happy – especially since a lot of businesses don’t interact with customers in this format.
Social networking can be an illicit activity that your employees engage in on their mobile devices while you’re not looking…or, you can harness their enthusiasm and turn their profiles into more marketing avenues for your business.
With the right plan in place, you might be surprised at how much social media can help your company’s image.
About the Author: Freelance writer Angie Mansfield covers a variety of topics important to small business owners for a range of websites, including Reputation.com.
Image Credit: 1.
Social media is very important to contact with each other. But there should be some guideline which should be followed by everyone.
I agree with your point
Thanks for your reply, Osho! Yes, it’s definitely important to have guidelines so it doesn’t turn into a public relations disaster.
Such a great yet interesting post. Thank you very much for sharing this helpful stuff.
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