Business
Corporates befriend the Facebook crowd
Instead of ignoring social media, organisations of all sizes should begin to define their strategy, and most importantly, the rules for employee engagement. Photo/FILE
Posted Monday, March 15 2010 at 00:00
Its potential for advertising, public relations, communication, marketing, client support and service is huge.
So how can social media-averse organisations systematically overcome their inhibitions and begin to tap into their huge potential?
Pundits have recommended the establishment of proper governance structures for usage of social media within organisations.
They say most companies, in both early adopters and sceptics, did not have a proper social media governance structure in place.
Besides articulating how to or not to use social media as well as ownership and responsibility, a proper governance structure gives a clear picture of where organisations are, where they want to be and how to get there.
A proper governance structure should provide guidelines on how to safely and effectively interact across any social utility or channel, which is a great start.
Guidelines
Where an organisation finds enough of their customers and employees using a particular social utility, it might also help to provide guidelines that differentiate the organisation and also protect those employees in those social utilities.
Having done that, organisations can venture beyond the risks to the opportunities.
Instead of ignoring social media, organisations of all sizes should begin to define their strategy regarding social media, and most importantly, the rules for employee engagement.
These rules for creating and implementing a social media policy are, however, not universal.
They must take the form, substance, philosophy, and culture of the organisation to which they apply.
The bottom line remains: The policy must state the desired goals and objectives for use of social media while advocating responsible and secure use.
It is well to remember that even anonymous content can be traced back to the original IP address, what is published will be around for a long time and that Google has a long memory!
Caleb Musau is a consultant in IT assurance and advisory with PKF Consulting Ltd. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the firm. He can be reached on cmusau@ke.pkfea.com for comments.
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