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Social Media: Set Your Employees Free
| Guest post by: Todd Jamieson |
Article Overview: Every morning while I’m getting ready for work, my two little boys get to watch some TV. My wife and I have decided that a little Disney Channel in the morning is not going to rot their brains, and we limit their TV time to 30 minutes each morning and evening. Today, I asked my three year old son what his favorite show was, and I was a little surprised to find out that Phineas and Ferb had replaced his previous favorite, Mickey Mouse. However, it quickly dawned on me that this Disney snub was hardly the result of the fickleness of youth. Since his exposure to television is quite limited, my son only watches five shows in total. Of the five shows he watches, two of them had already been “favorites” leaving him with only 3 actual choices (so Mickey shouldn’t take it personally).
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Free Download - How Bob lost the sale and didn’t even know it. By Todd Jamieson |
Social Media: Set Your Employees Free
Every morning while I’m getting ready for work, my two little boys get to watch some TV. My wife and I have decided that a little Disney Channel in the morning is not going to rot their brains, and we limit their TV time to 30 minutes each morning and evening. Today, I asked my three year old son what his favorite show was, and I was a little surprised to find out that Phineas and Ferb had replaced his previous favorite, Mickey Mouse. However, it quickly dawned on me that this Disney snub was hardly the result of the fickleness of youth. Since his exposure to television is quite limited, my son only watches five shows in total. Of the five shows he watches, two of them had already been “favorites” leaving him with only 3 actual choices (so Mickey shouldn’t take it personally).
Of course I have nothing against Phineas and Ferb (or any of the other thousands of kids’ shows out there), but my wife and I (like many parents) are choosing to restrict our children’s TV exposure. This is because our boys are still young and lack the skills and experience necessary to make a choice on their own. Unfortunately, many businesses also seem to operate using this parent/child dynamic within their organizations. While parents impose limitations on their children to protect them, businesses seem to do it out of a deep seeded misconception about competency or possibility.
Traditionally, most businesses relied on their IT departments to maintain any and all technology associated with running the organization. As a result, the IT department may feel that the finance department lacks the experience to edit the website, or that the marketing department is unqualified to engage in social media conversations. This is a major error because it limits the business’ online participation to only a fraction of their employees. The reality is of course, that many employees possess the skills and experience necessary to engage with clients (and potential clients)using “new” channels of communication.
So, while limiting your children’s participation in media may help them grow, limiting your businesses participation will surely do the opposite. There are more opportunities than ever before online, including additional ways to generate leads and get new sales. Just because your business has always operated on the outdated assumption that IT are the only ones capable of web based tasks doesn’t mean it should stay that way. Of course that is not to say that you should simply unleash your employees on the social world – give them some guidelines (much like we are doing with our children) but allow them to grow a bit on their own. After all, who better to be online advocates for your business, then your own employees? Move your business forward and stop sheltering your employees from technology. You could be hiding behind a wall at your organization and limiting your opportunities.
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Article Tags: collaboration, strategy
Referred by: http://www.brymarkpromostore.com
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About the Author: Todd Jamieson RSS for Todd's articles - Visit Todd's website Click here to visit Todd's website   Dont Hire a Web Developer to Build Your Website Is Your Routine Making You Stupid How Bob lost the sale and didnt even know it Is Your Business Thinking the Right Way There is no such thing as a home page |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas
- Hi,
I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing.
I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO.
Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas
- [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi,
I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing.
I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO.
Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g]
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas!
- GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though!
Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists.
Overall the new categories are:
- Looking For, Networking and Events
- Review My...
- Social Network and Media
- Brags and Rants
These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts
- Hi Shri,
Thanks for posting this.
I also read it and I believe Social Media is here to stay, until the next best thing comes up. Social media proved to be useful for me many times and I think everyone should use it for their business.
Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance
- [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl]
I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it.
There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input.
As for Jennifer,
You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook.
The only way to know is to try it.
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