I have been immersed in the social web for more than three years. It’s a big part of my job.  I teach about it. I consult about it, and of course I write about it. And here is a conclusion that I can confidently make: Social media marketing can be very, very difficult to do successfully.

Why force social engagement?

So why do so many people insist that we should be shoving social media down the throats of employees at every level of the company?  This is like forcing me to do accounting.  It would not be a good fit … I just don’t have that mindset.  Not every person has the right mindset, ability, or openness to succeed with social media but that doesn’t mean they can’t still fit in your company.

Of all the people I interact with on the social web, I would say I am most in-tune with Jay Baer. He is a true intellect and I highly recommend a regular dose of his blog Convince and Convert. But we disagree somewhat on this point.

I’m not picking on Jay … his viewpoint is widespread.  But his recent post Speak No Evil – Why Trust Isn’t a 4 Letter Word in Social Media, is a good focal point for the issue.

A hiring problem?

Jay concludes that “it’s everyone’s job to represent the company on the social Web” and that if you don’t have employees who can represent you, ”you don’t have a social media problem, you having a hiring problem.”

The underpinning of this hypothesis is that every employee should be both skilled and trustworthy on social media or you are not running your company well. This logic gets further twisted for me with claims that people are communicating stupid things to the outside world in emails any way … so why not trust them to put it out into public on the social web?  Seems like apples and oranges. Emails don’t go viral.  Just ask NFL player Rashard Mendenhall.

Should everybody tweet?

Jay uses the example of Mendenhall and his recent litany of tweets that were outside mainstream American thinking.

Let’s look at the Mendenhall example. Yes, he was out of step with mainstream thought.  But who isn’t to some degree? The man was hired to carry a football toward a goal line, not necessarily to “stay on message” during a news event.  So did the Steelers make a ”hiring mistake” because he sends out stupid tweets?  No.  The guy is one of the best football players on earth.

Part of the ”social media is for everybody” myth is that we should humanize our companies — trust people to be themselves and everything will be OK. Again, this is just too simplistic and disconnected from reality. You just might get what you ask for, as the Steeler ownership discovered.

I work with an extraordinarily gifted man who is one of the best sales people I have ever met. He is kind of “folksy,” maybe even leaning toward redneck.  But he is a perfect fit for his marketplace and there is nothing he would not do to serve his customers. The man is a star and he has single-handedly built up his business — he’s probably the most valuable employee in the whole company.

Putting this fella into the public social media spotlight 140 characters at a time would be a disaster.  I imagine his tweets would come across as incredibly embarrassing — taken out of the context of the individual and his environment. Does this company have a “hiring issue?” Of course not!  His customers understand and love his quirky humor but that doesn’t mean the whole world would.  Here is what I would say to him — “You just keep selling your heart out buddy. Don’t worry about Twitter.”

Uniform political correctness is impossible

When consultants pontificate that every employee should have enough common sense to be on the social web, what they are really saying is we need to hire people who are always politically correct. Which of course will create the most boring, ineffective companies — and who would even want to work there?  Not every employee has good judgment about everything — especially when we are turning them into public spokespersons.

Before you drink the Kool Aid on this perspective of “cover the world with social media,” ask yourself one question. Think about some of the best bosses and employees you have ever had. Would they take naturally to the social web? And if not, does that make them a bad hiring decision?

Let’s put this into a practical context

Theoretically I agree with Jay. But I think applying social media effectively requires business sense and balance. We wouldn’t force everybody into a sales role. We wouldn’t put everybody into the glare of the six o’clock news in a PR role. Why would we set an expectation that everybody should be able to have a role in social media or that is a sign that we have a “hiring problem” if we don’t?  Being adept at social media is NOT EASY for everybody. And we should be able to live with that human diversity.

Instead I think it makes sense to encourage social media participation in the context of the goals of the company, the available resources, the competitive environment, and the talents of the employees:

1. I agree with Jay that the PR or marketing department hasn’t cornered the market on social media greatness. Certainly employees can become online ”beacons” for your brand, but don’t force them to do it or dismiss it as a “hiring problem” if they don’t want to blog or participate in Twitter.
2. Acknowledge that social media participation is going to occur, sanctioned or not.  An explicit social media policy is a must.
3. If employees do want to be formally active on the part of a company, give them the training and guidelines they need to do it well. Explain how it connects to strategy and the implications of representing the voice of the company.
4. With the increasing importance of social participation, start adding this to the job requirements of new employees, if that is key to their role in the company.  For example, I certainly would not care if a star engineer doesn’t want to blog. You know, some people have to be about the business of actually making stuff.  Again — “context.”

What do you think?

So I absolutely recognize and appreciate the opportunity that Jay and others put forth, but I think this nuance is important –  It’s not that everybody SHOULD be a marketing voice for you company. It’s that everybody COULD be a marketing voice for your company depending on context.  This approach simply recognizes human diversity and that an employee can be extremely valuable … even if they don’t participate in the social web. What do you think?

Originally published at {grow}

This stemmed from a quip Gary had made to an event attendee who was asking a few times about the ROI of social media, to which Gary replied, “What’s the ROI of your mother?”

A throwaway quip, but one I thought was indicative of why so many people are confused (or afraid) when it comes to using social media for business. I said as much in the comments, and Chris Theisen raised an interesting point with his question: “Do companies actually measure whether each employee has a positive ROI on the company?”.

If they don’t, then they should.

What’s the point in running a business and employing the folks you need if you’re not measuring their impact? Questions you should be asking (and measuring) include:

• Does John the sales guy bring in enough sales to cover his costs? Great, he may be bringing in $100,000 worth of sales, but if they’re to 100 different customers and I need to hire more customer service advisors to handle their queries, John’s value immediately diminishes.

• Does Karen the customer service advisor upset my customers? She may be awesome in the office, but if she’s caused 10 customers to leave in the space of twelve months, and they each spend $5,000 per year, her salary of $30,000 per year is now actually $80,000 per year.

• Does Peter the marketing guy piss off fellow team members and lower their morale because he thinks he’s “all that”? If so, does that stop them doing their job properly and cost me sales, or quality service for my customers? Does it make my employees want to leave, costing me more money to train new hires (not to mention losing the team spirit that had been fostered before Peter’s arrival)?

These are just three examples of where you could start looking, and measuring the impact each employee has on your business. There are many more, and some that are unique to individual businesses and industries – but they’re good starter points, and a pointer for a full organizational development analysis. This can then tell you how to make sure your employees feel as valued by you as they are valuable to you.

If you’re not already measuring the ROI of your employees, then are you really measuring the success of your business?

image: TruthOut.org

Originally published at dannybrown

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How strict are you when it comes to employee social media use? Have you taken the time to develop a social media policy? Guidelines for staff to follow? 

Deb Schultz, a partner with the Altimeter Group shared some advice on things to consider when crafting such guidelines in a recent interview with WebProNews. 

"One thing that’s really important to keep in mind is that this is all a very new exercise for large businesses or even medium-sized businesses," she tells us. "Companies traditionally deal very much in sort of ‘telling and selling’ and one-directional yelling – one to many. And really what the social web and social media is all about is an ongoing connection/dialogue/conversation. It’s a whole new way for companies to think about the role of the employee, their role in the marketplace, where they want to be, and so it’s very important for companies to think about what kind of connections do they want with their customers  - is it an ongoing one? Is it with all of their customers? Is it customer service-related? Is it product related?"

"Truthfully, at Altimeter, we don’t love to use the word ‘policy’ so much because it sounds very heavy and sort of legislative, and really it has to be about…" she adds. "Charlene [Li - founder of Altimeter Group] loves using the term sandbox covenants – I think about them as experiments, and it has to be fluid, so companies need to understand that the policy isn’t written in stone. It’s something that’s going to change over time."

The lines between personal and professional interactions are often blurred when it comes to social media. Even something as simple as a status update or a photo upload can be considered a representation of the brand, depending on the environment in which it is broadcast. For example, how public it is. 

"It has to be flexible," says Schultz. "It has to come from within the employees themselves and within the company and what works for the company, and it also has to understand that connecting and conversing with customers in a business context is very different than [in] a personal context in some regards because the motivations are different, but in other ways it’s really not. I mean the social web is about our human selves. It’s about being very real and transparent and open."

"It’s important for companies to realize also that since this world today – we’re all networked together – sort of weaving this global network of connections – understanding that…the relationship between company and employee and customer and employee is very porous," she adds. "So I might work for Altimeter and be a partner there, but I’m also Deb, and those walls are not as solid as they used to be, so that’s something that needs to go into it."

Part of being flexible is that there has to be room for growth and change. "The important thing is for them to realize that number one – it’s going to change," says Schultz. "Number two – it’s got to smart small. Number three is that it has to be very simple up front. It can have a lot of complexity behind it, but it has to be written in plain English. It’s got to be something that’s not just put on paper and thrown on the back of the website, but really discussed with employees, and allowed for a period of back and fourth dialogue around the issues, and most importantly – the best way to do a social media policy…is to use examples – case studies. For instance goes a long way."

"I always joke that companies are now in relationships with their customers, and relationships are ongoing, and every relationship is different," she says. "So examples, case studies – what does work – what we think is right – what we think isn’t right…doing this on your Facebook page/on your personal account vs. not. And the truth of the matter is, when I was at SixApart, we used to joke that blogs don’t get people fired. People get people fired. Let’s not blame it on the technology. Just blame it on a good set of standards, practices, and behavior."

If employees are the ones that the policy is constructed for, it makes sense that they should be very familiar with it and, and understand the implications that come with it. For that reason, perhaps they should be heavily involved in the creation of the policy, whether that come from feedback, or a more proactive approach. 

"The one I always love to bring up is IBM because they’re one of the earliest ones who actually asked their employees to write their social media policy for them," notes Schultz. "So it was a blank slate, and they said, ‘Ok guys, what do you want the policy to be?’ and they’re a really large company, so that’s really indicative. If IBM can have an internal process then anybody can." 

"I love the way they do it, and it really depends on the company," she continues. "Zappos is a really personal company, so they allow employees to really be themselves no matter what way, shape or form they are…regulated industries have a whole different issue. If you’re in the pharmaceutical industry or if you’re in the financial services industry, you probably have to be a little more cautious and careful about how you think about the role of employees and going out."

"And you also have to understand the way your company is organized," she adds. "So is it a very top-down company, very decentralized? Those are some of the things that I think about."

What are some of the things you think about? Do you give it enough thought at all? Share your opinions with us. 

Related: How SHOULD Employees Use Social Media?

In a recent press release, the Board explained:

A complaint issued by the NLRB’s Hartford regional office on October 27 alleges that an ambulance service illegally terminated an employee who posted negative remarks about her supervisor on her personal Facebook page. The complaint also alleges that the company, American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc., illegally denied union representation to the employee during an investigatory interview, and maintained and enforced an overly broad blogging and internet posting policy.

When asked by her supervisor to prepare an investigative report concerning a customer complaint about her work, the employee requested and was denied representation from her union, Teamsters Local 443. Later that day from her home computer, the employee posted a negative remark about the supervisor on her personal Facebook page, which drew supportive responses from her co-workers, and led to further negative comments about the supervisor from the employee. The employee was suspended and later terminated for her Facebook postings and because such postings violated the company’s internet policies.

Based on the NLRB’s position, the Facebook postings are considered “protected concerted activity”. The ambulance service’s Internet policy, the organization says, contained unlawful provisions, prohibiting employees from making disparaging remarks when discussing the company without company permission.

The story picked up steam after the New York Times latched on, and is now drawing a great deal of attention throughout the Blogosphere and controversy regarding free speech.

It’s not hard to understand the logic of the company in its actions. You’ve got to protect your brand, but it looks like in the long run, firing an employee may due more damage to the brand than any negative remark about a supervisor could’ve done. It’s certainly gained a great deal more attention.

More importantly, for the rest of us, it places the need for the right corporate social media policy heavily in the spotlight. Of course we’ve yet to see the outcome of the case, but when there’s even the threat of legal action, you know this is something you’re going to have to put a great deal of thought into.

A hearing for the case is supposed to take place in late January. As Curt Hopkins at ReadWriteWeb notes, the outcome could have big implications on how such situations are addressed in the future.

What do you think? Should this person have been fired? Let us know in the comments.

A lot of companies are afraid to let their employees use social media freely, but they’re also afraid not to. On the one hand, there are obvious reputation and brand issues that could come up from irresponsible employees social media use, but on the flipside, some of those issues can be avoided with responsible employee social media use. Of course there are many other benefits as well.

This week, FaceTime Communications introduced a new tool called Socialite, which is a security management and compliance solution for social networks. Available in Software-as-a-service form or as on premises solution, its aim is to give companies control over social media features and communications for users on corporate networks.

A rep for the company says key benefits include the ability to: track users across multiple social media platforms; prevent data from leaving the company, either maliciously or inadvertently; empower IT admin to manage access to Facebook and its thousands of “applets” by category or individual application; manage access to features (ie, who can read, like, comment upon or access 95 distinct features on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter); control Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, so content is required to be pre-approved by corporate communications or other third party; empower IT admin to capture all posts, messages and commentary in context; and export to an archive of choice for eDiscovery.

"Organizations in regulated industries are faced with the need to manage the features used and content posted on social networks in order to protect themselves and their customers," said Erin Traudt, Research Director, Enterprise Collaboration and Social Solutions for IDC. "FaceTime’s heritage in the IM and Unified Communications markets should play well as communications move into the social arena, but still require security and compliance controls."

A lot of companies are simply creating social media policies and hoping employees abide. There’s no telling how often or how strictly these are actually enforced. I would guess that a lot of infractions get overlooked until they cause real damage.

Earlier this month, Megan C. Winter with law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP, suggested these 10 tips for employers who want to be proactive about employee issues arising out of social media:

1.  Get familiar with Facebook, LinkedIn or other sites that are popular with your employees.
2. Update current company policies.
3. Consider whether your company environment needs a specific social media policy.
4. Prohibit use of the employee’s company e-mail address.
5. Discourage your managers from "friending" their subordinate employees.
6. Immediately get a copy of any post that is the subject of a complaint.
7. Only use social media for employment screening in a consistent way.
8. Warn managers to follow standard policies for recommendations on LinkedIn or other professional sites.
9. Be aware of possible protected, concerted activity.
10. Above all, use common sense. 

Mashable posted another 10 tips for social media policies about a year ago, but they’re still relevant today:

1. Introduce the purpose of social media
2. Be responsible for what you write
3. Be authentic
4. Consider your audience
5. Exercise good judgment
6. Understand the concept of community
7. Respect copyrights and fair use
8. Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info
9. Bring value
10. Productivity matters

It will be interesting to see if more services like FaceTime’s start being used in corporations as time goes on and social media continues to become more unavoidable.

Would you use monitoring software to track employee social media use? Do you already? Let us know.

Among the findings are that the most common communication vehicles organizations use to engage employees and foster productivity are email and intranets, 83% and 75% respectively. In addition, half of employers are communicating through Facebook, IM, and Twitter.

"This year’s respondents reported slight increases in use of social media tools, and more of them say they have established internal and external policies for appropriate workplace use of social media," said Robin McCasland, past chair, IABC Research Foundation. "When managed effectively, social media can be a great addition to an existing employee engagement strategy. Employees and job candidates alike can read employer news and anecdotes that reinforce a strong, positive culture."

"Listening to employees is essential to employee engagement and retention. Yet surprisingly, 32 percent of survey respondents indicate that their organizations rarely or never conduct employee listening activities," said Bruce Spiegel, principal at Buck Consultants. "This is a huge opportunity for organizations to mitigate their risk of employee turnover and diminished performance."

The survey was given to about 900 communication professionals. It did find that most top executives do not participate in internal or external social media.

"Facebook’s stunning growth is pushing the entire IT industry to think social," the company’s Chief Marketing Officer tells WebProNews. "At salesforce.com, Facebook inspired us to bring technologies like profiles, groups and real-time feeds to the enterprise with Salesforce Chatter, leading enterprise collaboration into the modern age."

Salesforce.com has also posted its own social media policy to the public domain so other companies might be able to us it to formulate a policy and training program of their own.

"With the rise of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter, virtually every employee is engaged in some form of social media," the company says. "And regardless of the activity, the line between your personal identity and your professional identity is blurring, especially when you publish something in the public domain. "

Salesforce’s policy encourages employee participation, but also setting clear rules about what is "in bounds" and what is "out of bounds". The policy includes five basic rules: 

1. Don’t share company or financial secrets
2. Be honest and transparent
3. Be respectful
4. Don’t make forward looking statements
5. Don’t register channels without consent

There are more details outlined within each of these, as well as other tips for posting online in a slideshow presentation featured here.

What do you think of Salesforce’s social media policy? Good guidelines? Share your thoughts.