Working with clients in both public and private sector organisations, one of the common features that has been apparent over the last twelve months has been an ever increasing demand for access to social media in the workplace. This has placed many business leaders in a difficult  position, weighing up the pros and cons.

We have all heard of examples where irresponsible use of social media  has led to an organisation receiving negative publicity, yet there are many benefits, too, to utilising an increasingly important  channel (in all its various forms) to communicate with shareholders. The key is to do it in a responsible manner and the basis of doing so has to be built upon a clear understanding of what a workforce expects to get out of using social media.

This does not mean that business leaders must give carte blanche to the use of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc, but it does mean they must establish clear strategies and policies that have taken account of what the users anticipate social media to be used for and married this to the business objectives of the organisation.

business leaders must establish clear strategies and policies

Once the business leaders understand the expectations of their staff, they can work with them to achieve a balance between the constructive aspects of using social media and the adoption of essential guidelines that the leaders require to ensure the use is responsible and positive from the organisation’s perspective.

So, when we work with clients to establish how they will use social media we start with a survey of the entire workforce. While all organisations have individual views, the prevailing theme we identify is that staff in almost all organisations want access to social media.

 

The key elements our staff surveys have identified are as follows:

• A demand for access to be provided to social media tools for facilitating research, communicating with new audiences, professional networking and raising awareness of the role of the organisation.
• Knowledge of social media tools, and the purposes which these could serve, is often limited. A common comment is along the lines of “we would like to use [a specific tool] but we need to test it to see how it can fulfil our requirements”. Often it appears that there is demand for access to a controlled collaborative environment and the perception is that tools such as Facebook and Twitter are the most appropriate option.
• There is broad acknowledgement of the risks associated with providing access to social media sites to all staff and that there is a need to protect their organisation’s brand. However, this is countered with the need to recognise that staff should be trusted.
• There is often frustration amongst the majority of interviewees that they are unable to access social networking sites for professionals/specialists e.g. LinkedIn. It is commented on by many that they felt embarrassed at not being able to accept invitations and interact with colleagues/peers.
• There is some concern that their organisation could be seen as being a regressive, rather than an innovative and creative organisation, by not adopting social media.
• However, some parties believe that there is a risk of trivialising the company by extending the organisation’s work into non-professional environments.
• While a significant number feel there is no need for a corporate Facebook page there is belief that tools such as Twitter could be used to raise awareness of news about the organisation e.g. new guidance/training advice being available/published etc. or LinkedIn to interact with like-minded professionals
• Often it is considered that there is scope for using more video/audio-related content within their organisation for training purposes. This could be done via a dedicated YouTube page or by making better use of an existing website.
• There is demand for increased use of collaborative environments/communities of interest.

Business leaders we work with value this type of information as it enables them to establish the parameters within which the adoption of social media can be considered. 

Contact:

Robert Mackenzie, Partner
Business, Technology & Consulting 

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