So I’ve been doing a lot of research on incorporating more people at my work in our Social Media Plan, right now I answer 95% of questions and comments on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. The main message of the extended plan in one in which our employees feel empowered to talk about the college and answer questions to which they are experts at. I’ll admit, I don’t know much about a recording studio or music theory, but I know there are lots of people I work with who do.
The idea of anyone from an instituion having the power to answer a question scares the living heck out of our Marketing and PR Departments (I try to remind them that anyone could now if they wanted, we can’t stop social praise or complaints from happening). Their first idea was, “Well, we’ll create a list of approved things to say.” This of course scares the living heck out of me, people on social networks usually aren’t there for a scripted response, they want a human, someone they can make a “real” connection with.
In my internet searching, looking for ways other companies handle this open empowerment and encouragement to participate in social networks I came across two very different companies, first Zappos.com. Many bloggers and companies have talked about their success with social networking, their CEO/COO blogs feed into my Google Reader, and I follow many of the employees (from the CEO to every one else) on Twitter. The other example was the exact opposite of open discussion. The Air Force has what they call an “Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment V.2″ for the Emerging Technology Division to consult whenever they come across a web posting. They have 3 phases to their map, plus a section for “response considerations,” talk about a list of approved things to say. Below is a copy of this map:
Which makes me wonder a couple things, first, will this post be considered a “concurrence” and be left to “Let Stand” or “Share Success?” The second thing I wonder about is, what sort of actions (if any) does your company have in place for social networking?
2 Comments
February 2, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I have to admit that the Air Force has made up a great scheme. Hope they are not building a social media terminator! lol
March 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I say let chaos reign. Every company should let go and let God. As you say, people are going to talk, regardless of a company’s “rules”. At this point, it is against a company’s best interest to impose a set of canned responses. Screw that. I am violently against such self-defeating heavy-handedness. More letting go, less holding on. Please.