A question that comes up over and over again when talking with clients about social networking media is, “How do we mitigate risk?”
The truth is, people are already out there talking about your brand, whether negative or positive. You can be observers or participants when it comes to the crowded social media marketplace, but by joining the conversation, you can set the record straight and reward your most dedicated brand loyalists.
The most valuable resources to share firsthand the value of your brand are your employees. However, the connection between digital marketing and social media participation by employees is not an obvious one for many companies. Employees can be your most informed and dedicated promoters. However, many of them do not use their relationships on social networking sites like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and dozens of others to effectively promote the success of their company.
Sharlyn Lauby writes about 10 easy ways for your employees and key stakeholders to engage in intentional, effective social networking around your company. It’s called a “social media policy.” For your staff and stakeholders, it provides clear guidance on how to strategically and effectively use the social media space. The key is for employees to understand the vision for engagement in this space and how, by participating in the conversation, you are empowering them to become brand advocates. Here are a few concepts to remember:
- Social media policies and guidelines are not meant to be documents that provide all the “don’ts” to social media engagement; they are meant to empower employees to be part of the conversation about your company, product, or service.
- The policy should focus on encouraging employees to engage others in the social media space and provide them with the tools to do so in a way that protects both the company and the employee.
- Allow employees to share their enthusiasm for the brand. Encourage creativity and tap into what “makes them tick.”
- The policy should be intuitive and easy to understand for employees. You don’t want employees to have to reference a document every time they want to dialogue about the company in the social space.
- Create policies within your marketing and human resource departments to openly share topics that employees can discuss within their social environments.
- Most of all, provide them with the tools to be brand evangelists. Give them quality inside information that is appropriate to share with others. Help them see the big picture about your brand, and engage them regularly in dialogues about your strategic approach to the marketplace.
So, while having a social media policy in place will certainly mitigate your risk in venturing into the social media space, the policy is only one component of your company’s overall social media efforts. Before thinking about putting together your policy, you must first have a solid social media strategy in place.
Have you adopted a social media policy? Was it successful or are you encountering problems? Did you develop the policy as part of a larger strategy? Let us know what you’ve experienced.
Social Media Policy Enables Employee Brand Advocacy
A question that comes up over and over again when talking with clients about social networking media is, “How do we mitigate risk?”
The truth is, people are already out there talking about your brand, whether negative or positive. You can be observers or participants when it comes to the crowded social media marketplace, but by joining the conversation, you can set the record straight and reward your most dedicated brand loyalists.
The most valuable resources to share firsthand the value of your brand are your employees. However, the connection between digital marketing and social media participation by employees is not an obvious one for many companies. Employees can be your most informed and dedicated promoters. However, many of them do not use their relationships on social networking sites like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and dozens of others to effectively promote the success of their company.
Sharlyn Lauby writes about 10 easy ways for your employees and key stakeholders to engage in intentional, effective social networking around your company. It’s called a “social media policy.” For your staff and stakeholders, it provides clear guidance on how to strategically and effectively use the social media space. The key is for employees to understand the vision for engagement in this space and how, by participating in the conversation, you are empowering them to become brand advocates. Here are a few concepts to remember:
So, while having a social media policy in place will certainly mitigate your risk in venturing into the social media space, the policy is only one component of your company’s overall social media efforts. Before thinking about putting together your policy, you must first have a solid social media strategy in place.
Have you adopted a social media policy? Was it successful or are you encountering problems? Did you develop the policy as part of a larger strategy? Let us know what you’ve experienced.