Social Media Will Ruin Your Corporate Image
According to some recent statistics (eMarketer.com/Deloitte), 74% of US Employees agree (50%) or strongly agree (24%) that social media usage CAN damage a company’s reputation. I do not know why anybody would disagree, but welcome to the future of business. Welcome to the age of transparency and accountability.
Employees are accountable for what they say and companies are accountable for the ways in which they treat employees.
Maybe I’m living in a dream world, but if social media can damage a company’s reputation by sharing truth from the inside, it can also promote the company positively. Are there any Google employees complaining about their work environment or their horrible boss? Not that I have seen. Social media has been great for companies that treat their employees, clients and colleagues like rock stars.
What is it that you are doing that you do not want your employees or clients to share? And then why are you doing it in the first place? There is no need to outlaw social media use in the workplace if you are able to hire trustworthy employees and you are able to treat your trustworthy employees well.
This all brings me back to my original thoughts about Facebook. Everybody says use your privacy settings and remove pictures that portray you negatively. I agree, use your privacy settings so there are no surprises about who has been checking you out. But, if the act you are participating in is questionable to the point that you do not want others to see it, you need to ask yourself why you are doing it at all.
Clients are smart. If they can’t find any of your employees on the internet, they’ll suspect something is up. There is no reason to hide anything if you are proud of what you are doing.
Great Post!
In my public relations class we recently discussed the use of privacy settings on your Facebook account as well other social networking or profile sites. My teacher agreed that you should not have information posted on the internet that you aren’t comfortable with everyone knowing or seeing. My teacher also stressed the importance of maintaining a professional online presence, which focuses on maintaing what you place online, rather then hiding it, using it as a tool to present yourself as a potential employee or knowledgeable person. I also agree with allowing your employees to utilize social media. Employees that have positive things to say about your company can be great for business, while having a policy against employee blogging could definitely raise a few questions. Some companies have even gone a step further and are offering social media training to their employees, allowing them to become knowledgeable about how to handle certain social media situations.