While employees winding down their workdays refreshing their Facebook newsfeed or tweeting about everything but work is not most CEOs’ idea of productivity, accredited business communicator and principal of Holtz Communication + Technology Shel Holtz says executives should open social media channels and start reaping the benefits of this growing resource.
In his BlogWorld & New Media Expo breakout session Wednesday morning “Why CEOs Should love Open Employee Access to Social Media,” Holtz dispelled the myths shrouding employee access to social media and expounded on the many ways open channels supports and builds business.
Holtz discussed the impact of social media on employee productivity and company confidentiality by encouraging strong company policies and guidelines around social media use. He also prompted companies to invest in enough bandwidth to fully utilize social media, calling bandwidth the paper of the future. “You would never hear, ‘We would love to send out a brochure but we’re out of paper,’ ” Holtz said.
When addressing network security concerns, Holtz referenced the Department of Defense as a strong example of open social media channels. According to Jack Holt, senior strategist for new and emerging media for the DOD, the military views social media like a field of maneuver. They train military personnel to be safe in a social media setting the same way they would train a soldier in action.
Instead of causing problems, social media serves as a useful for recruiting, training, idea testing and decision making, building company or product knowledge, curating competitive intelligence, and cultivating company culture and values. Holtz identified Zappos as one company effectively using social media in work and life to build a strong company culture and promote transparency. He quoted Zappos CEO Tony Hseih saying, “By embracing transparency and tweeting regularly, Twitter became my equivalent of being always on camera.”
Stay tuned for more coverage of the BlogWorld & New Media Expo as it happens.
