There are so many different issues associated with social media for employers to consider, that I’ve divided these questions into two blogs. Stay tuned for more on this topic coming soon. For now, consider these questions:
How can we use social media to establish our brand? How can our employees use social media to establish their brand? How can we use social media to position our products and services?
What is a Brand? “Our Collected Definitions” by Derrick Daye (http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/brand_definitions/) has several definitions you can review. Regardless of the definition you use, social media can be a vehicle to help establish or build a personal or organizational brand. The best way to ensure success is to have a strategy for how you intend to use (or not use) the various components of social media to accomplish your goals.
How can we use social media to recruit candidates?
Social media can be used to communicate with many people very quickly, so it can be a great tool to get the word out when recruiting. However, you must recognize that this approach is not very targeted. Your appeal could go to many people who are not viable candidates, either based on lack of required skills or geographic location, possibly resulting in an overwhelming response that increases the administrative burden of sifting through the deluge to find qualified applicants. At the other end of the spectrum, this approach may be too targeted and result in a disparate impact on certain protected classes. For example, there may be fewer seniors using twitter (I don’t know if this is true), therefore, if all the recruiting for one position is done using twitter you may be unintentionally excluding seniors, which would be discriminatory.
How should we use social media for reference checking?
I’m sure this is a controversial area – whether a potential employer has the right to explore your personal life when deciding if you are the best candidate for a position. Employers have been doing this forever through reference checking, however, social media has made it so much easier now. Making good hiring decisions is not easy. If I want to make sure I hire the best candidate, I would be remiss if I didn’t do my due diligence. This would include reviewing all readily available information. My concern, from the employer’s perspective, is what you do if during your research you discover information regarding a protected class. What do you do with that information, and how do you prevent this from not becoming a potential discrimination lawsuit?
How can we use social media to improve communication in the workplace?
Many workplace surveys indicate that there is an opportunity to improve communication within the workplace. There are many ways employers could utilize social media as a form of communication to keep employees connected and informed. For example, it could be used to send information regarding new benefits, schedule events, roll out new products or services, or share employee’s personal milestones – a marriage, a new baby, or completing a degree. I think the employers who utilize social media to create competitive advantages – including with their employees – will lead the way in their industry.
Be sure to watch for my next blog for even more answers to questions about social media and its impact on the workplace and employees.
