SOCIAL MEDIA DAMAGE LIMITATION: TIPS AND POINTERS

While business leaders and their marketing teams agonise about whether or not to get involved in social media their staff have taken the lead and are already doing it.

Young professionals, eager to boost their contacts, are among the biggest users of social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Ecademy.

Meanwhile a larger proportion of other staff are active on sites like Facebook, creating groups specifically for them and their colleagues where they can exchange views and discuss their employer.

Often members of those groups are posting negative and unhelpful material about the companies and organisations they work for.

And, while most of the time this is being done in fun, the fact remains that certain anecdotes, jokes, images and video content are potentially very harmful.

What‘s worse, some of these networks are “open access” – making them accessible to existing and potential clients, customers etc through a simple Google search of your organisation‘s name.

Are you tracking this? Do you have a policy in place? Do you have a response strategy ready?

Here are a few steps you could take to try to minimise the damage in the first place.

1.  Recognise that your employees are using social media and integrate it into your company culture.

By fostering a positive and open relationship with your staff they are more likely to become brand advocates, spreading the word (both online and offline) about the good work you do rather than knocking you. If your staff are happy they are more likely to deliver good service to your customers and clients.

2.  Train your employees on the proper use of social media.

The internet and email have been around a long time now and most organisations have protocols in place to let staff know what is and isn‘t acceptable use of these tools. Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, so make the acceptable use of these online platforms clear to staff. Try including this information in your “new starters” induction programme.

3.  Create an environment which encourages feedback.

People often air their grievances via social networks only after the traditional channels have failed, and what may seem like a little harmless “letting off steam” by one of your employees online could do untold damage to your business‘s hard-fought reputation. Try to nip this in the bud by positively encouraging a culture of feedback where employees feel they can safely approach someone senior to them if they have a complaint or feel the company could be doing something better (and don‘t forget your customers are just as likely to go online with a complaint if it is not dealt with correctly through the traditional channels).