6. The Social Media Why
• “I have seen how social media can spread
awareness about how we use business as a force
for good. It also allows me to share the lessons
I’ve learned in business, as people are always
keen to find ways to be better at what they do.” –
Sir Richard Branson
• “Extension of our store shopping experience for
customers” – Publix
• “It’s a dialogue, not a monologue.” – Food Lion
CEO
7.
8. Social media
• New communication channel
– Customer service
– Source of information and feedback
– Build community
– Marketing
– Brand protection
– Monitoring / Listening
9. Getting started
• Decision on whether to play or not
• Platform selection
• Preparation for launch – design, training, voice
• Tool selection – Publishing, listening
• “Blackhat” thinking
• Development of SMEs
• Who controls what messaging
26. The Bad
• Distracting
• Can be leveraged
against your brand
• Can bring
uncomfortable issues to
the surface
• Requires a commitment
• Difficult to control
• Can look unprofessional
32. The Bad
• Social Media Looms Large in Komen's Latest Decision
• As of noon on Friday, both "Planned Parenthood" and "Cure
Foundation" were trending on Twitter in the U.S
• Komen was inundated with negative comments via e-mails, on
Twitter and on its Facebook page. Many of the messages conveyed
a determination to halt gifts to Komen—organizer of the popular
Race for the Cure events—because of the decision.
• A photo and message "Still Standing With Planned Parenthood, Are
you? Share!", was shared 21,610 times , reaching millions on
Facebook alone.
• Not only did Planned Parenthood use social media to help turn
public sentiment in its favor, it also created a fundraising
machine, receiving more than $3 million in only three days.
36. The Rest
• Social media can be used by any size business
• It’s just communication
• Can be used for
recruiting, marketing, customer
service, collecting business intelligence, brand
protection, brand advancement
45. Social Media
• Brand is leverage
• Social media provides easy reach
• Choose to manage conversation or not
• Policy
• Identify influencers
• Listen to the conversation
• Consider how:
– social media tools might benefit
– social media tools might harm
46. Social media access
• Tough to control
• Blocking access at work
• Mobile, other device
• Consider Egypt, Libya,
Japan
• Better to manage
proactively
47. Getting started
• Consider starting w/ at least one platform
• Blogs are great for sharing information
• Facebook is great for conversation / events
• LinkedIn offers a semi-private platform
– Dialogue, Information, Events
• Twitter, YouTube, Flickr
• Policy and guidelines
– Establish a strong social media policy
– Communicate the policy to all employees
– Enforce your policy consistently
48. Thoughts on social media policy
• Pay attention to legal cases, especially
National Labor Relations Board
• Pay attention to who owns the accounts
representing your company accounts
• Tough to exclude groups from Brand dialogue
• Employees speaking as individuals still have
some level of responsibility to brand
• Google “social media policy examples”
52. Takeaways
• Social media is not a fad
• Your employees are using social media
• Use of corporate campaigns is spreading
• Legal concerns – monitoring, NLRB Facebook
case & concerted, protected activity
– Understand the platforms
– Develop appropriate policies and processes
– Train supervisors
53. Action plan
These steps can get you started in protecting
your brand with social media:
• Monitor your brand
• Stake your claim to social media turf
• Adopt preemption strategies
• Engage proactively in social media
• Have a rapid response strategy
Editor's Notes
Understand that social media is not the equivalent of rocket science. It does involve technology, but it is only a type of tool. Tools can be used for good or evil.Don’t make developing a policy the highest priority on your professional agenda. You need to develop at least a general understanding of the principal tools first. This doesn’t mean you need to develop the competency of a power user.Think about how social media tools might be useful within your organization.Think about how social media tools might be used against your organization.Think about identifying internal and external subject matter experts on social media who can offer advice and support.Think about doing this BEFORE you are called on to give advice. If you wait until then, you are already too late.Think of gaining social media expertise as an opportunity to develop your strategic presence at work, then think about taking advantage of this golden opportunity to enhance your career.
Why? It is part of the new way we communicate. Not everyone, but enough you can’t afford to ignore itThe major question that most companies must answer about this conversation is, how will you manage this dialogue, if you choose to manage it at all. Some companies choose not to. Being in social media is not the right choice for every organization.The choice your company faces is whether you want to do anything to proactively manage, direct or influence the conversation by taking part in that dialogue. My advice is that you should be, but that decision is not an appropriate one for every organization.HR professionals are also already engaged in the social media dialogue whether you know it or not., and frankly whether you like it or not. You face the same choices I just mentioned above.