Engaging Employees in Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the newest craze in the marketing industry. Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are connecting people in ways never before imagined. Your employees are part of the phenomenon and if you’re not taking advantage of it, then you’re missing out a potential profit windfall.

Blissful employees will naturally promote your business through positive interactions with their individual networks. Your job is to harness this power and engage them even more.

Steps to employee social media engagement:

Clear Strategy - You must outline a clear strategy for social media. Social media does not allow for push and pull traditional marketing measures but more of a nurture and massage formulation type approach.

Blogging Program - Research and employ a best-practice corporate blogging program. Blogging allows employees to formulate and structure their ideas while enhancing communication skills. Additionally, blogging allows your company to get your story out and shape the conversation as it pertains to your reputation.

Video - Video is more powerful than words. Employees really collect excited to participate in videos. Have team competitions (teambuilding employ) and provide insight into your corporate culture.

Wikis - Includes sites such as Wikipedia, Wikianswers, Wikihow, and so forth. This is worthy for your more analytical employees. When a customer asks a question, employees can look at these sites to see if they have been answered accurately. Maintaining accuracy on these sites is within your control so control.

Social Media Communities - Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin offer a expansive base of possibilities initiate to exploration. Creativity and ingenuity can take your company to the top rather quickly. Engaged employees can reach more people and spread excitement just by reaching out to their individual networks. However, the consume must have sure and concise guidelines to protect both you and the employee.

A prime example of a company though-provoking their employees in social media was recently instituted by McDonald’s, in QSRMagazine.com. “McDonald’s is taking a stab at increasing both employee morale and customer engagement at the same time. It is holding its third Voice of McDonald’s competition, an “American Idol”-Style karaoke contest for employees that is being integrated with McDonald’s social media and will culminate in a $25,000 grand prize for the winner and a headline performance at the chain’s global conference in April. McDonald’s franchisees reportedly love what the contest does for employee satisfaction, and their enthusiasm spills over into customer engagement.” (QSR Magazine, June 2010)

The use of social media to engage employees and increase their morale can be a double edged sword if not handled properly. “I did not know” should never be uttered when the employee is trained properly and thoroughly. Make sure, before implementing any social media program, that all your social media strategy and plan are written out for every employee to read and understand. Engaging employees in positive social media marketing is fair a tool and does not ensure employee morale increase but is a good step in the right direction.

REFERENCE:

QSR Magazine.com, “The Morale Boost”, June 8, 2010, QSRMagasine.com