Over the last few weeks, I’ve been asked to talk to some companies about helping them with their social media implementation. As the conversation starts to deepen, it appears that these firms have already done some social media training in the last 12-24 months. This is when an alarm bell starts to go off in my head…

If you look at the introduction of social media into a firm in an abstract and theoretical way, this is a classic example of change management. 

Ultimately, by embracing social media, companies need to change their staff’s behaviour. If you want to get sustainable behaviour change, you need staff who are informed, willing and able. Let’s look at this in more detail.

1. BE INFORMED

In order for any change or project to be successful, the people impacted by the project need to be informed about it. In particular:

• The reason why
• Their role
• What they will be required to do differently
• The timescales involved

I have seen many firms roll out social media training sessions in isolation; there has been little or no expectations for staff to behave differently in their day jobs. I’ve yet to see a competency framework which shows in black and white how staff are expected to integrate social media into their day job.

CONTINUE READING ON PAGE TWO…

Share this story