Social Media challenges for a Growing Business

Many of the businesses we deal with are owner-managed, and the responsibility for business communication falls to one person at the top of the organisation.  But what happens as the business grows?  It’s time to think about how social media and email communication is managed in the workplace, so that employees know where they stand personally and when representing your business.  And this is not a new phenomenon – our forerunners in business had to handle the introduction of the telephone, the social media platform of its day.

There is a story, which may or may not be apocryphal, of a leading industrialist in the early part of the last century whose verdict on the telephone was published in the New York Times: “Under no circumstances will we allow this in the workplace”.  The concept of employees communicating casually in a business setting, potentially making or breaking contracts verbally on the telephone, was unthinkable.  These days formal written communications are for specialists, and the familiar telephone plays second fiddle to email and social media platforms, but the same concerns should be raised: there are legal, cultural and management implications to every communication that originates within your business or team.

Get your Social Media right

From the moment a new person states proudly on Facebook “I work HERE” they are representing your business.  If this catches you unawares, either set up a page which represents you properly and professionally and to which your employees can link themselves, or if you are in a security setting, for instance,  make it very clear from the outset that there should be no crossover from personal to business activity.  This applies to all social media platforms – making sure that personal and business Twitter accounts are not confused, being careful about pinning on Pinterest or sharing on YouTube, and exercising a degree of care on LinkedIn.  Whatever your attitude to social media – and this will  depend on its strategic importance to your business – you should have a clearly stated policy, formally laid out and included in your company handbook.   If you depend on social media communication for promotion, customer service and communication you are likely to have a fairly open policy, so as you grow staying in control is essential.

Company Culture Matters

When I started work, I learned exactly how to lay out a letter, and how to behave on the telephone, so whatever I said or did represented the busness properly.  There was a payphone for staff to use for personal calls, and there were no mobiles, so no difficulty drawing the line between personal and business calls.  The company’s cultural expectation was clear, engrained and enforced – and it was easy to control.
As soon as mobile telephones and office PCs with internet access came into the equation, the lines were blurred.  With smartphones, the employee controls the means of communication, and there is a whole generation who have grown up without understanding that there are different rules for work and play.  There seems to be a tradeoff between social engagement and corporate experience – the SE/CE curve – where the senior people who have the business experience do not have the intuitive social engagement of younger staff, but ease of movement in social media platforms can compromise corporate culture.  The trouble is that getting it wrong at work can have far-reaching implications.

The Legal Minefield

The workplace is governed by a raft of legislation which protects staff while at work – from eachother and from their employer.  Specialists at the Endeavour Partnership identify potential issues including harassment, discrimination, defamation, breach of confidentiality, accidental formation or breaching of contracts, data protection breaches, copyright infringement, and hacking or viruses entering the network.  These could all happen in the old days – but the ease and informality of email and social media poses a much bigger risk.  Employers may try to control the staff by tight monitoring – but this has its pitfalls: at what point is Big Brother watching you?

First Steps to a Secure  Workplace

It’s impossible in a short blog to cover all the bases, but we can help you in the right direction.  Galia Digital can help you consider what benefits your business can derive from social media, give you a greater understanding of how social media platforms operate, and define how you want your business to be represented online.  And we recommend the Endeavour Partnership to ensure that what you want is covered in your company policies, so that your business can reap the benefits of the internet, without reaping the whirlwind.