Getting social: Four easy tips

So you want your employees to be your social-media advocates?
It’s surprising more companies don’t do this, noted Josh Bernoff, co-author of Groundswell and senior VP-idea development at Forrester Research, in an e-mail interview… “Employees speak for the company often at conferences, on sales calls and the like,” he said. “Companies need to extend their policies to social media, but the principles are the same.”

Whether you have a structured program like Smokey Bones or are just facing the reality that your employees are out there — and talking about you — here are a few pointers.

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. This is a tip cribbed from Intel’s employee social-media guidelines. The company encourages full-timers and contractors to have a social-media presence but urges them to “stick to your area of expertise and provide unique, individual perspectives on what’s going on at Intel and in the world.”

BE HUMAN. If a big reason for social communication is to “humanize” a brand, for goodness sakes don’t babble on in marketing speak and inside lingo. Encourage employees to speak in first person and be real.
KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRANSPARENCY AND ANGST. Everything an employee says could be heard by a customer, including the last one. So remember, being transparent and authentic doesn’t mean they have to say everything on their mind. It’s the difference between ‘It’s so hot outside,” or “Do you think we should paint?” and “I hated those guys who just ordered lemonade,” said Terry Dry, president of Fanscape, a Los Angeles-based digital word-of-mouth marketing agency.

BUILD AN ARMY. Make it part of people’s jobs, said Forrester’s Mr. Bernoff. “It’s great for somebody to have a job as a tweeter. [It's] much better if tweeting, Facebook, blogging, etc. is part of lots of employees’ jobs.”

– Emily York and Abbey Klaassen

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