Why Social Media Training is Important for Every Company
Krista Neher
Jul 11 2012
Training in social media is important for organizations of all shapes and sizes.
Every company, regardless of the size has the opportunity to take advantage of social media – they also run the risk that what their employees do in social media could come back to haunt them. Today over 80% of businesses have some presence in social media, which means that employee training is key.
Social media touches all aspects of an organization, and so too should a social media training program.
Consider the following:
60% of employees want to share content through their social networks to help grow their employers business
8% of companies have fired someone over social media posts that were not appropriate
20% of companies have disciplined an employee because of social media use
Only 40% of companies have a formal social media policy
Additionally, the Ethics Resource Center’s 2011 National Business Ethics Surveyshowed surprising statistics about active social networkers—defined as those employees who spend 30% or more of their working hours on social networking sites.
42% of those networkers indicated they would post negative information about their employer or co-workers
46% of networkers said they had no qualms about using company software on their home computers
What You Should Do:
Create a social media policy – The first step is to create a social media policy that outlines what employees can and can’t do in social media marketing. This makes sure that all employees are on the same page in terms of what is and isn’t appropriate for them to represent your brand or business. This is the baseline for social media.
Build a Strategic Plan – Consider how you can strategically use social media for your organization….. in addition to a social media policy it is important to consider how social media can benefit your entire organization, and incorporate this into your social media training program. Consider all of the potential benefits of social media, and create a strategic plan for your organization to guide your training.
Build a Social Media Training Plan – Begin the steps to build a training program for your organization. In building a plan, it is important to consider what you want to achieve. If you believe (as over 80% of companies do) that social media can benefit your organization, it is vital to understand how the people in your organization can help and to build a plan to achieve it.
Provide Training – Regardless of the size of your organization some sort of social media training should be on the agenda. It may involve sending a few people to targeted programs, or a training for your entire organization. Either way, given the proliferation of social media marketing, training is vital to be sure that your organization is poised to understand and make the most of social media internally and externally.
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Training in social media is important for organizations of all shapes and sizes.
