Social employees can transform your business

Anyone who is tech-savvy, has access to the social web, is social and has drive and passion can do wonders for your business. These rising stars should be encouraged and nurtured within your company. If you have social employees that are showing signs of promise, do not discourage the behaviour. Provide them with the platform to blossom and your organisation will reap the benefits. Here are a few things to consider doing for your “rising social stars”.

Find a place for them within your organisational structure

An employee who is proactively connecting and networking on the social web can very easily expose your company and associated content to a large and diverse audience. The reach can very easily extend to clients, prospective clients and the media across multiple geographies.

As a brand ambassador, the employee may be approached by potential employees, people in the media and clients (and prospective clients) requiring advice and requests for proposals. This multidisciplinary role being performed by the employee bundles recruitment, public relations, marketing and sales into one, which can create a problem if not managed correctly. Employees specialising in PR, recruitment, marketing and sales may feel that the rising star is muscling in on their territory when in fact the employee is merely enhancing the function and adding value.

Do not attempt to push the proverbial square peg into a round hole because this will not work. Acknowledge that the employee plays a unique role within your organisation and treat the person as such. Silo behaviour holds organisatoions back. If need be, create a new position within your organisation where you can place the new function.

Empower your employees to become brand ambassadors

As you start to realise the benefits from your rising stars who are socially active online, do not dissuade the individuals. Encourage them and provide them with the resources and support they require in order to flourish. Give them access to tools and online platforms which you blocked from employees in the past. Remember that there are platforms which you do not allow your employees to access which are being used by your clients, prospects and the media. As the benefits and successes roll in, share these with the whole organisation and encourage other employees to follow suit. Develop appropriate performance measurement and reward structures. Incentivise staff members to engage and interact online and reward them when they produce results. Build this into your employee’s employment contract. Reward for attracting new recruits, having articles and thought pieces published by the media, invitations to present at conferences, meetings that are set up, revenue generated through new business deals and new clients acquired.

Summary

Research shows that social businesses perform better in all respects so encourage your employees to get social. If you identify rising stars, encourage them, find a place for them in your organisation, give them the support and resources they require and protect them from the nay sayers in your organisation. Create an environment that will allow the role to proliferate and put a decent reward programme in place.

If you do not have any "rising online stars" in your organisation, my suggestion is that you create the role and start employing. If you go the employment route, make sure the candidates "walk the talk". This will be relatively easy to identify because it will all be visible online!

This article was written by David Graham, Digital Engagement Leader at Deloitte Africa

David is a thought leader in the Business to Business (B2B) digital marketing, relationship marketing and content marketing space and is the “go-to” person at Deloitte Africa for businesses who wish to connect, interact and influence business decision makers online, in order to initiate offline engagement. David has more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing roles at leading global software and management consulting organisations, engaging with executive decision makers and providing them with solutions to business challenges.

If you would like to have a more detailed business-to-business (B2B) online marketing discussion with David Graham, connect on LinkedIn, follow on Twitter or email at davgraham@deloitte.co.za