When it comes to social media are your employees getting as involved as they could be?
A report published by TechCrunch revealed that research conducted by ÜBERCEO on the worlds largest companys has uncovered that:
- Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.
- 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections.
- 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.
- Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.
- Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.
Some people may consider these CEO staying well away from social media is for the best but I would have to disagree, yes social media is not for everyone but the company CEO should be setting an example for the rest of the company and making themselves available online is the new digital equivalent of the open door policy, non? Well its an idea…
Anyway, its not just the responsibility of the CEO, or the marketing department, to get involved with the social media marketing. Employees across the board should be getting involved, not only to bolster the success of a campaign but to put across a strong front. There is nothing more impressive to potential buyers or customers than seeing employees demonstrating an involvement and it can really communicate a solid and reliable image.
One company that has really used their employees enthusiasm to boost their image and reputation is American airline Southwest Airlines, whose impressive social media campaigns are devoutly supported by the employees. From employees posting their own Southwest related videos, responding to customer comments to CEO Gary Kelly openly discussing plans to abandon assigned seating on the company blog (plans which were then quickly dropped after a barrage of comments from customers), the involvement of employees from every department has done nothing but benefit the company.
How Southwest Airlines manages to get employees involved in the online activities of the company in the first place I’m not too sure, the company would like us to believe it is because they have such a close relationship with all employees and the employees really do feel pride in their employers, and I kinda believe them- the social media and marketing is obviously working!
But in all seriousness getting employees involved in your online social activity has to start with them being happy in the first place. From there incentives and even some training, showing them how to use all the various bits and bobs online, could get the ball rolling.
Here are some small ways employees & coworkers can get involved with your company social media:
Contribute to the company blog by writing a post relevant to their specific department and commenting on existing blog posts.
Connect with the company on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, although remember that potential clients will be on the company profile pages so no naughty comments or office gossip, and it is worth remembering that these clients may then go onto employees profiles, seeing pictures of the post boy fat necking a bottle of Buckfast at T in the Park may be somewhat offputting.
Respond to any comments or queries that customers are posting online, again keeping it clean and professional.
Talk about your brand, don’t be scared to say nice things about work on Twitter or Facebook.
Send any offers and exciting news to friends and family, viral marketing on even the smallest scale can have an effect.
Many people may believe that social media is only for the experts which I believe is untrue, it is the experts job to plan and to put it into motion, when you get the full support of the employees then a social media campaign can really come to life.
Tags: marketing, social media, web design
