Oct 15, 2013
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According to an article published today by Forbes magazine, including your employees in your social media marketing could be your best move. Up until now many companies have kept their employees from participating in social marketing for fear that they would misbehave (which unfortunately has been the case for some big companies). The fear that employees would speak poorly or inappropriately of the company, has often scared marketing teams from including employees in marketing schemes. But Forbes says these fears are old news.
Cheryl Burgess, author of The Social Employee: How Great Companies Make Social Media Work, says that “Going social is a chance to educate your employees; to talk about proper conduct, whether personal or on behalf of the company; and to discuss the impact even a single individual’s actions can have online.” She suggests that instead of just setting your employees free to post whatever they want, that through educating them, they can actually be very successful marketing tools. By investing the time and effort to teach employees how to represent themselves and the company they work for, you can see big improvements in your social media efforts.
Dorie Clark, author of the Forbes article, suggests 4 simple steps to help begin a social culture for your company. She advises:
1. Develop clear guidelines. Together with your employees, take time to establish guidelines and basic rules that will help everyone stay in line with company objectives.
2. Understand that mistakes will occur. It’s impossible to start something new and immediately see perfection. Remember that no one’s perfect and prepare accordingly.
3. Be patient. Just like any other marketing pursuit, the results may not be immediate. Establishing a social media presence is a long term process.
4. Create role models. Make your top executives into role models for other employees. Make these top executives’ social media accounts available for all other employees to see and imitate. This will help define your company’s social media expectations.
What are you doing to begin a social culture at your company? If you haven’t already started, get started now!