Social media in the office

Gary — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:38:52 +0000

Social media is so prevalent in people’s lives now, that many companies will be tempted to rely on the skills their staff have developed in their own time. While use of social media outside work does create a good basic skill set and understanding of the various technologies involved, it is not enough to implement and execute a full business strategy within the office. This is where social media training for business comes into play; but what are the main home / office differences?

Audience: Personal accounts on social media tend to be aimed at people you already know, work accounts are aimed at attracting attention, especially from your potential client base. Training can help employees adjust their social media mindset to accommodate this change of focus.

Accountability: What is appropriate to tweet as a personal opinion is not appropriate to say under the banner of a business. The lines can be easily blurred and social media training in the workplace is an excellent way to set and disseminate strong and easily followed guidelines.

Strategy: There is no real need for a strategy in personal use of social media as most people are not aiming to meet sales targets or establish reputations. Business use relies strongly on a far-sighted strategy to succeed, with all angles of social media use tied into this. Social media training can help your staff to understand this strategy and how to best work towards its goals.

Training can and should fit around your business needs, whether it’s an ongoing course in short bursts, or a condensed one – two day course. Regular refresher courses and an ongoing open dialogue within the office will also ensure that you, and your staff, get the most out of this powerful internet tool.

Providing real value makes social media sing

Gary — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:48:23 +0000

Social media works best when it provides potential customers with something they’ve never seen before or the opportunity to jump into a conversation they wouldn’t otherwise be able to have.

The weakest social media campaigns are purely sales-oriented, every blog written and tweet published has a single aim – advertising. That generally means their content is very one-note, can be repetitive and has a clear agenda which puts off many readers.

That’s not to say social media should obscure your business’ involvement entirely; just that it should explore different avenues by which to raise awareness. For blogs – is there an industry issue or debate you want to become involved with? A key business question you’d like to discuss or some information on a key area you’d like to share? Addressing these sorts of topics via blogs not only positions you as a business of intelligence and free thought, but also encourages engagement with your brand through debate and conversation.

If you are more interested in social networking, then the word constraints obviously come into play. However, there are still plenty of characters to ask a question and open a debate, or, just as importantly, respond to someone else’s work. Conversation is a two-way corridor and the more you interact with others, the more you’ll find come back to you!

NSDesign Blog » social media training

Social media in the office

Providing real value makes social media sing