With more than 500 million active users on Facebook and nearly 200 million registered accounts on Twitter (as last reported on Jan. 29, 2011 in Forbes), it is likely that your company is one of the many to have a presence on either one or both of these social media platforms. And it is even more likely that the majority of your colleagues are also actively participating on these platforms – for personal or professional purposes or both.
With more and more people are using social media (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, etc.) every day in their personal lives, the line is blurring between what is public and private, personal and professional. And while most may appear to be using these tools appropriately, others may be unknowingly posting information about your company that is inappropriate and has the potential to quickly damage your company’s brand and reputation. If you don’t think anything bad can happen to your company from an innocent tweet of Facebook post, think again. Take a look at this chronology of brands who were “blind-sided by the Internet and social media” as captured by Industry Analyst Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter Group on his website, Web Strategy.
We have been collaborating with a number of our clients in the development of their social media strategy, identifying best practices and the appropriate channels to engage with their key audiences. For some, we are partnering with them and other departments to modify their existing social media policy to help employees use social media in a respectful and responsible way.
However, simply having this policy in place does not always mean that employees will understand them or incorporate them into their daily jobs or lives. It is important to develop a social media training program that helps to socialize your policy and provides your staff a foundation to help them make the right choices at work and at home when it comes to using social media.
Below are just few ideas to consider when developing your social media training program:
- “Engaging” Training Materials. If social media is about engaging with your community, why not make your training session interactive and engaging with your employees as well? You could create a PowerPoint presentation to share your social media policy and best practices. Consider including real life examples of appropriate and inappropriate uses in social media to create an interactive discussion. You can also develop a quiz that tests employees’ knowledge and comprehension throughout the presentation, and offer a prize at the end. In addition, you could also create a fun introductory video that opens the session with employees sharing what “social media means to them.” By engaging staff in these interviews in advance of the training session, it may help to drive buzz and excitement among other staff members who will be curious to see their peers in this video.
- Leverage Other Employees as “Trainers.” Depending upon the number of employees and office locations, it may not be practical or efficient for any one team to attempt to directly educate all of your company’s employees. Consider training a well-respected leader in each office location who will then train the employees in their office. Spend time with them in a ‘train the trainer’ session to review the social media policy in-depth, ensure they understand the need for the training and the social media do’s and don’ts. By doing so, they will be able to accurately communicate your new policy during their training sessions to their staff.
- New Hire Orientation. Now that your employees understand your social media policy, consider developing information for your HR team to present to any new employees as part of your on-boarding or orientation process. Whether it is a single PowerPoint slide or simple one-page handout, share a high-level overview of your social media policy with directions on where they can find more information and who to contact if they have questions. HR can also make this information available on your corporate intranet to serve as a helpful reminder for employees.
- Leverage Internal Communication Channels. Partner with your company’s internal communications team to help build excitement by featuring some of the key takeaways employees will learn at the training session and potential prizes they can win from their participation.
Afterwards, create a brief story to share in your employee newsletter to reinforce the key messages provided during training and remind staff of best practices when engaging in their personal social media channels. If your company has an intranet, consider creating a dedicated page to host the training materials, your social media policy and contact information if employees have questions or concerns.
Regardless of the methods you develop to train your staff, if it is done well, your employees will end up with a much better understanding of how to manage their personal social media activity, ultimately helping you to avoid future potential issues for the company.
If you have provided social media training at your company, what methods or tactics worked well for you.