This article was posted by a LinkedIn/Facebook connection of mine. If you are in the business of marketing or selling your services through online channels, you need to read this.
And if you are in HR, then you REALLY need to read this; if you read between the lines, there are important implications here for how companies should approach their online presence. Namely:
- Honesty rules. Just as an individual who posted bogus claims would be outed, so too would a company.
- No one likes a bully. Want to make friends? Show interest in others, be honest about who and what you are, and control your temper. Trying to dictate the terms of a conversation, in real life or online (say, by deleting negative comments), will fast-track you to a reputation for being a jerk with self-confidence issues.
- It’s personal. Online communities put people in touch with one another at a very personal level… online, I don’t interact with a company, I interact with individuals from that company. This implies that employees need the latitude to (1) engage, and (2) mix business and pleasure in some cases.
- Consistency matters. The only way you can really maintain some semblance of order over your message is to make sure that everyone in your organization (1) knows it and (2) buys it.
- Culture matters now more than ever. Fighting is too primitive to be a sustainable interpersonal strategy. If you want your employees to engage online in a respectful and thoughtful manner, then they need to be treated by the organization in a respectful, thoughtful manner.
- No more assumptions. The pace of business today is such that we are grappling with technological, generational, geographic, cultural, economic, and organizational changes all at once… so before you tell the person you’re dealing with what her problem is, as a question or two first.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.