How employers can embrace social media and protect their business?
With over 150 million LinkedIn users, James Froud explains how employers can embrace social media in the workplace at the same time as safeguarding their business Social media is revolutionizing the workplace. With more than 1 billion people with accounts registered on Facebook, 150 million LinkedIn users and almost 350m tweets flying around the web each day, it offers a rich environment. The potential commercial benefits of using this cheap and instantaneous method of communicating with a global audience are obvious. But with opportunity comes risk.
To maximize the benefits of social media, employers need their employees to become part of the online conversation. It is estimated that 45% of employers are actively using the forum as a marketing tool and encouraging employees to engage, yet only 24% profess to have taken steps to control employees' behavior. This is asking for trouble.
Reasons Every Business Should Embrace Social Media
Is it true that every business, regardless of size, should be setting up a social media presence in this day and age? Well, there’s a caveat here. The simple answer is an emphatic yes, but an exception to the rule would be a business that’s already established. For instance, a brand like McDonald’s or Nike doesn’t need to be on Facebook or other social media pages to increase their business, but they still realize that being there is increasing their business.
For a smaller brand or even for a large company that’s just starting out, joining up with the Facebooks and Twitters of the world will put you in prime position to capitalize on the still-growing trend of social media. By the time the mobile market takes over the home computer market in terms of users, all companies are going to wish they were branding via social media.
When it comes to social media for