Maria Ogneva, writing for Mashable, offers useful advice for businesses worried about employees whose tweets and blog posts might reflect poorly upon the company. Instead of threatening employees with disciplinary action, Ogneva says education, empowerment and an easily accessible social media policy are more effective.
Ogneva, who is in charge of social media at Yammer, a free private social network for business, says companies should spend time understanding the internal culture and employees’ facility with social tools, then commit to ongoing education. She says it’s important not to hammer on the “don’ts,” but to help employees realize that the proper use of social media can be good for their individual careers. One thing she doesn’t suggest: blocking social media altogether in the office. With more and more employees sporting smart phones, they’ll just take it to a smaller screen.
It might be wise to create a social media policy for your employees. A social media policy outlines for employees the corporate guidelines or principles of communicating in the online world. Do you need an explicit social media policy? This article by Inc.com senior producer Tiffany Black outline steps to make that decision, as well as what to include and how to implement the new policy.
Read more at Mashable.
