[Chuck Hamrick]

Encouraging your staff to create a business related social media account is a great way to get extra coverage for your company. I agree with this article that we need to trust our employees. If they are not getting their work done due to spending too much time on personal emails and social sites then they work themselves out of their job. On the other hand if they can balance between personal and work related communication they are happier and more productive. If it wasn't for employees starting with social many companies would be years behind. I remember one such employer saying there was no way they would allow company promotion on Facebook so marketing staff did some guerrilla marketing and now its part of their daily duties.

No, You Don’t Need a Social Media Policy

[leeann]

I agree that you should trust employees to utilize social media in a responsible way. Presenting a "real voice" but maintaining a certain level of professionalism can be tough for some people to learn. So, with that in mind, I do think training is essential -- even for the most social savvy individuals out there. I believe companies need to set some guidelines -- since after all - the person does represent the company.

Trust is great, but a few wrong words can really damage a company's reputation quickly. To do damage control is a major expense.

[leeann]

It reminds me of when the management program "Fish" came out. I happened to be in management at the time and what I saw was confusion among managers who were expected to work with the Fish concept.

One minute we wanted them to pick a day to come in dressed like a fisherman with fish bait hanging off their hats and the next minute we wanted them to do disciplinary reviews. Managers were confused by the dual role of playmate and manager. Those who enjoyed "playing" got into too much and those who like straight management -- hated (loathed) it.

Maybe it would have been successful if we trained the managers on how to maintain a sense of "fun" and adding their own improvisational ideas to the mix without compromising their positions.

Regardless, the entire program was out the door in a year's time. It was too much of a juggling act for everyone.

Maintaining a work/personal/social media presence is also a juggling act that I've seen way too many people confuse and some simply can't survive. Letting all your employees jump into it is a risk without some training and boundaries set.

IMHO

(The Four Steps of the FISH! Philosophy)

Play
Make Their Day
Be There
Choose Your Attitude

Sounds sorta like social media.........

[Chuck Hamrick]

Trust is great, but a few wrong words can really damage a company's reputation quickly. To do damage control is a major expense.

I agree and the training can act as a touch point with non-sales/marketing people to learn more about their company.

[Convergence]

Interesting the way folks think differently.

When I first read the title of the article and as I was reading I kept expecting to see something different.

I didn't expect to see the author discussing a policy about how or what an employee should post on a corporate social account, but on their own personal accounts.

I have friends who work for some good sized companies and these companies have a different type of "Social Media Policy" - One that requires access by the employer of personal accounts so they can monitor if an employee is bad-mouthing the company. I have also heard from friends where their employers insisted that the employees "like" the company on FB, etc.

I was just expecting something different...

[Chuck Hamrick]

That site is dedicated to motivating employees to get maximum productivity. Contrary to last centuries management philosophy they believe you give employees specific goals then get out of their way. Not the micro management I lived through for 30 years!