Social Media for Business: 8 Ways to Get Smart

Posted by Laura Bergells

June 17, 2009

When it comes to using social media for business, I often run into two camps of people. One camp views social media as a threat, and another camp views it as an opportunity.

Those in the threat camp have an alarming tendency to put knee-jerk policies into place. “No employees will be allowed to have FaceBook or LinkedIn profiles. Absolutely no Twittering. If you blog, use a pseudonym, and under no circumstances will you identify yourself as an employee of XYZ company.” (Yes, really. Well, pretty close, anyway!)
Those in the opportunity camp also have an alarming tendency to hurl themselves zealously into a zillion different social media activities, without any thought to potential communication, brand, employee, or reputation implications. “We just learned how to get 2,000 new followers every day! We’re popular!” (Well, popular with spammers, anyway!)

Those in the middle. Fortunately, I also come across folks in the middle of these two extremes. I meet a growing number of business people who understand that social media represents a huge opportunity for their organizations. They are also concerned about how reckless use of social media may lead to a damaged reputation or brand. They realize that without policy for acceptable use, it can be a major resource drain.

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

The Social Media Balance Challenge. These smart business people invest in growing their organization’s social media literacy. They realize a major shift is fundamentally changing the way they do business. They know that social media isn’t just a marketing thing, it’s not an HR thing, or a customer service thing — it’s an “everybody” thing. Appropriate social media use needs to be embedded into every aspect the the organization.

Here are 8 ways the smart organization proceeds with using social media for business:

They listen before they talk.
They do not participate in goofy social media marketing schemes.
They update their HR and communications policies to include appropriate employee use of social media channels.
Their brand guides include an employee section on appropriate tone and image to use in social media channels.
They build real relationships through authentic conversations.
They outline consequences for employees when they fail to live up to policy guidelines.
They do not outsource social media activities to marketing agencies.
They invest in employee training (after all, employees need to know more than how to use the technology, many also need communications training!)

Undoubtedly, there are more activities than the 8 listed here. What else does your organization do to successfully navigate the sometimes tricky tributaries of social media channels?