Is your employees’ social media activity damaging your brand?

Social media is now one of the most powerful marketing tools around. Companies of all shapes and sizes use social media networks to promote their products, boost brand awareness and run marketing campaigns, with a lot of businesses enjoying increased success in the process.

However, though social media can bring businesses valuable publicity and allow them to connect with their target audience, when it goes wrong, it can damage brands irrevocably. If your employees post damaging or inappropriate content about your business online, it could seriously harm your reputation and impact on your company’s customer relations. So is your employees’ social media activity putting your brand’s reputation at risk? And what steps can you take to protect your business and ensure it stays on the right side of social media?

Risky behaviour

If your employees are using Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platform to send or post inappropriate content, it could damage your company’s reputation. Even if they’re using their own personal email account, the statements they make and the content they post will reflect on your business. If their views are controversial or if the photos, videos and content they’re posting is less than family friendly, it may put customers and businesses off of working with your company.

Confidentiality

Another important factor to consider is confidentiality. If your company is working on a new product, a corporate takeover or another big business move, you probably won’t want competitors, or the general public, knowing about it. Employees who carelessly or thoughtlessly post confidential information about your company operations on social media could be putting your profits at risk, potentially impacting on your long term success and business dealings.

B2B relationships

As well as being an essential aspect of your company’s relationship with the public, social media is increasingly important in B2B communication. Occasionally, employees can take it on themselves to bad mouth other companies or products in a misguided effort to drive customers to your business. Not only is this unprofessional and unproductive – most customers will see through the ruse – it can seriously damage your business relationships and create bad feeling between you and rival businesses.

Social media policy

The best way to ensure your employees don’t damage your brand through their social media activity is to create a clear and concise policy for all staff to stick to. This will help to avoid any misunderstandings and should help your business to maintain a professional online reputation. Ensure all employees read and understand the policy and remind them regularly about the importance of your company’s social media status.

To find out more, explore our site or contact a member of our team today.