Dangers Of Social Media Marketing – The People
January 26, 2010 – 1:17 pm | by Daryl TayAssuming you’ve got your product sorted out and implementing a social media programme won’t be a one way ticket to exposing all your product’s weaknesses, the next thing you need to worry about is the people who will be engaging in the social space.
Early this month there was an article in the Straits Times titled “Social networking at the workplace” where 2,008 employees were interviewed. Here’s a scan of the paper (click for larger image, pardon the poor quality, newspaper doesn’t keep very well).
Dangers of Social Media Marketing: Social Network Research
A quick glance at the statistics shows a few alarming statistics:
22% of companies have formal policies that dictate how social networking can be used – This means about 3 in 4 companies will invariably have an employee saying something inappropriate online because there are no guidelines to guard against it.
Only 40% of people “always” considers what their bosses might think when posting something online – So about 1 in 2 employees will run their mouth on channels like Facebook and Twitter to other members of your staff, your clients and maybe even your competition.
And to round it all off, only 17% of companies have a monitoring programme to manage social networking risks – 4 in 5 companies are letting these conversations go on unnoticed, and more importantly, unchecked. By the time they realise this, it will be too late.
The social space is not the place for untrained staff to “play” in. If no one is monitoring internal chatter about your brand and no one is actively educating staff how to behave on social channels, your biggest threats may ironically come from within – your own staff.
What measures would you put in place to prevent something nasty from happening?
Tags: biggest threats, engaging in social space, formal social media policies, guidelines, implementing social media programme, manage social networking risks, monitoring program, monitoring programme, product, product weakness, product weaknesses, social channels, social media policy, social media program, social networking, social networking at the workdplace, social networking risks, straits times
4 Responses to “Dangers Of Social Media Marketing – The People”
By Isman Tanuri (@groovygenie) on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
Interesting and totally relevant post in these times, Daryl. Just to add on to your thoughts, I personally think it is crucial to set out the ground rules early, especially numero uno: only authorised employees are to officially speak on behalf of the brand/company.
I still think rank-and-file employees are the best spokespersons and ambassadors for a brand/company, especially on a social media/community level. However, they must also make it clear that they are speaking on their own accord and of their own opinion, especially when not in an authorised capacity. Yes, it is a fine line to thread, but still a good guideline to avoid confusion and further brand damage in a crisis.
By Daryl Tay on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
@Isman: Yes and sometimes it’s not even as a representative – often it’s like the random tweet or facebook update that lands someone in hot water. There needs to be tight guidelines to say “you do not post anything about how shitty your job is” in public!
By Kelly on Jan 28, 2010 | Reply
I like this post. I found myself thinking this exactly when I was at PAHEF.