4 Reasons to Give Employees Access to Social Media

The ongoing debate as to whether or not employees should have access to social media at work has yet to be settled. There are valid arguments for both sides; but ignoring a powerful marketing channel altogether may not be in your company’s best interest. If you err on the side of caution, take a quick look at Mike Volpe’s opinion post on “Why a Social Media Policy is Stupid.”  

Of course, it is easy to believe social media is risky and for this reason among others, you may be choosing to ignore it.  However, if you have not done your research on the pros and cons of leveraging social media for your company, you may be doing more harm than good by blocking access.  Consider these factors:

1. Current Smartphone Penetration: As of today, September 1^st 2011 40% of U.S. mobile users own a smartphones according to Neilson. This means that on average 4 out of every 10 employees have full access to social media at work via their mobile device.
2. First(ish) mover advantage: The percentage of companies who do not provide employees access to social media varies from source to source, but it is safe to say that over 50% of companies in the United States block access to social media at work. Seize the moment and take control of the conversation! Need some ideas how? Check out HubSpot’s Social media Marketing Hubs.
3. Expanded marketing scope: Your employees are some of your best brand advocates and are a “free” marketing resource to expand the overall reach of your brand. Even enterprise companies who are typically the slowest to respond and implement new strategies are diving head first into social media. Dell, as an example, took it a step further and announced this week at DreamForce that they certified 5,600 employees to speak on behalf of the company via social media.
4. New channel of Communication: Nearly every department can benefit from having access to social media.

• Sales can use it to share remarkable content with prospects and clients
• Marketing/PR can use it to promote your business and generate leads
• Human resources can use social media to recruit talent
• Employees in other departments can use it to advocate your brand and company news

You may be thinking to yourself “So this is all well and good, I now have a few reasons why I really need to have my employees engage in social media on my company’s behalf … but where do I start, how do I organize this, I don’t have time for all this right now!” No worries, Content Camp has identified and covered these steps for you!

Four week Blog series: Each Thursday in September Content Camp will publish a post related to this blog series. The goal of this series is to help you implement the foundations of social media at your company without increasing you or your employees’ workload. Each blog will provide a kit with everything you will need to communicate with your employees and to set up your company’s social media including emails, “how to” instructions and more!  Get excited!

Check back next Thursday for the first post or subscribe to the Content Camp blog to get the post automatically emailed to you!