Friday, March 4, 2011

Is Social Media Employee Training is overrated?

I stumbled across a very insightful blog post called Empowering Your Employees May Solve Your Content Problems.  It talks about the idea that employee training is overrated ... what is really needed is management permission to try things. 

Is employee training overrated?  My first reaction was that training is often touted as the mitigation to many social media risks.  Worried about leakage of confidential information?  Training is the answer.  Worried about inappropriate employee behavior that could impact your brand image?  Training is the answer.   You get the point ... training is often the answer to many Social Media concerns.  It can't be overrated ..... or can it?

When you think about training ...
  • is it about how to use Social Media?  The user interfaces are fairly self explanatory...  
  • is it about following Business Conduct Guidelines?  This should be about acting professionally, and not doing anything 'stupid', which should be expected of all employees...
  • is it about getting the majority of employees to have a consistent social messaging?  While this is valuable to a point, companies have to make sure their social conversations are not perceived only as glorified marketing channels...
If employees would take some time and 'jump in' to social media conversations, they would quickly be able to train themselves on most of the items above.  What is holding many of them back?   According to the referenced article: "What they need is ownership approval to practice, and the flexibility in their daily work agenda to have the available time to create digital content." 

So, maybe Employee training is overrated.  What IS needed is Management training ... at all levels. Maybe the focus should be on Social Media Management Training.  This does come up in various feedback, but is often not prioritized.  If we focus on Management Training, employee usage will follow.  Food for thought :-)

6 comments:

  1. Nice post. I agree managers need training. Employee's need guidance and some reassurance so they feel confident about engaging without exposing anything to firm they represent.

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  2. Good insights. Chances are, most of your employees know what is required to create social engagement. Give them ownership to practice and the flexibility and time necessary to create digital content.
    White Label SEO

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  3. Going social is something that should definitely considered by everyone who does SEM. Especially now that it's considered as an algorithm signal.
    SEO Reseller

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  4. I have not seen anything like this yet, and I think it's a great idea. I'm sharing it with the Social Media in Organizations Community. I'd love to learn more about the approach to social media training SalesForce is taking, as well as the responses you've received to this video.
    web design

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  5. "If employees would take some time and 'jump in' to social media conversations, they would quickly be able to train themselves on most of the items above." I agree with that. Instead of giving them in-depth training, make them use social media so they'd know how to manage it.

    seo perth

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  6. Management training is indeed very important in any aspect of a business. This will allow them to properly do and implement their talents and skills. On the other hand, employee training is also a must to enhance and hone their knowledge , skills and attitude towards learning and implementation.

    seo reseller

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