Effective social media in the workplace

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses because it helps employees stay engaged, increases the likelihood of positive employee relationships and is useful for reaching people. However, employers may have concerns about the productivity of distractible employees when social media is allowed in the office. 

To use social media effectively, some social media has to be permitted while at the workplace. Being strategic about social media marketing, branding and public relations can also be beneficial for growing your business online. You might also consider social listening tools to help create more effective marketing campaigns, respond to customer issues and tailor policies to the needs of your employees.

Benefits of social media in the workplace

Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of social media at work can help you better manage the situation. Some of the benefits your company could gain from using allowing social media at work include:

• Employee breaks: A quick break from daily operations should be encouraged during the workday. Allowing social media use gives employees a way to take small mental breaks without leaving their desks, which can lead to greater productivity.
• Connections: When used appropriately, social media can strengthen employee relationships within the profession, company and industry. This makes for better-networked employees who have stronger relationships with coworkers and others in the industry.
• Getting answers: If you run into a challenge that’s particularly hard to solve, turning to social media can help you get answers from other professionals who might have experience with the same problem.
• Discoveries and curiosity: Hopping on social media can help your employees find inspiration, learn something new or keep up with trends in your industry. It can be a learning tool that sparks innovation.
• Increased productivity and reduced turnover: All in all, using social media effectively increases employee productivity and engagement while reducing turnover. This suggests that employees are happy with a culture that includes social media and are more likely to stay engaged with the job longer.
• Company promotion: Letting employees use social media to promote your company can increase brand awareness and help you reach your target audience. It can also help attract new talent by giving them a glimpse of what your company is like. 

Drawbacks of social media in the workplace

Using social media in the workplace can also have some potentially negative effects. Being aware of these concerns can help you create policies and procedures that minimize them. Some potential disadvantages include:

• Employee distraction: Whether employees are using social media for personal reasons or to promote your business, the time spent on social media platforms takes time away from other duties. It’s easy to get sucked into scrolling and lose track of time. This can hurt company productivity and hurt employee focus. 
• Harm to company reputation: Making mistakes is part of being human, but doing so on social media makes it a very public situation that can be shared widely. An employee who posts something inappropriate can damage your company’s reputation. Even if the employee posts something on their personal account, it’s easy for amateur online detectives to link that person to your company. 
• Security risks: Any online activity, including using social media, exposes your workplace computers and devices to cybersecurity threats. Training employees on safety and security issues, such as having secure passwords and using multifactor authentication, can reduce this risk.
• Employee conflict: While social media connections can build a stronger team, they can also create conflict or jealousy. Seeing someone post about a promotion at work or brag about a trip they took could cause tension. If employees post about their coworkers and it gets back to those people, this could also create conflict.

Social best practices for your business

Eliminating social media completely means you’ll lose out on its benefits. Instead of cutting social media in the workplace completely, put guidelines in place to make it more effective while reducing the potential negatives. Use these best practices to learn how to incorporate social media into your workplace and receive the most benefit:

1. Create a social media strategy and policy
2. Get employee buy-in
3. Encourage social media use for networking
4. Allow it to be a resource of knowledge
5. Use social media at workplace events

1. Create a social media strategy and policy

Creating a social media policy for the workplace helps you outline your expectations and control how your employees use the platforms at work. Your policy might include when and how employees can use social media at the workplace, how to maintain security, legal compliance issues and how negative posts will be handled. You might also discuss personal use, such as representing the company positively on social media or not posting about the company at all on personal accounts. Don’t forget to include consequences for breaking the social media policy. 

2. Get employee buy-in

To make social media a part of your company culture, all employees need to buy into the policy and procedures that drive social media use at work. The best way to create a policy and strategy that employees love is to include employees in the policy-making process. Consider including a policy that allows employees to use social media on their breaks. Using a fair and democratic leadership strategy, your employees will end up with rules they respect and appreciate.

3. Encourage social media use for networking

When leveraged for networking purposes, social media can be a very effective tool in the workplace. Social media is vast and allows you to connect with others in your industry, potential clients and people who could strengthen your connection with your company and the community of companies in your industry. Businesses leverage networking when they build vendor relationships, seek investors, look for media connections and more.

4. Allow it to be a resource of knowledge

Social media can be used to get answers quickly. Using business professional social sites, you can ask important questions and get fast insights from people in your industry. Employees who leverage social media to seek answers are more effective at doing their jobs.

5. Use social media at workplace events

Social media is a powerful tool for promotion. Using it to promote and broadcast workplace events can make your events more successful. Social media is a good resource for this because it reaches a wide audience and can be very targeted when you apply the right tools and strategies.

Frequently asked questions about social media in the workplace

If you still need more information about social media in the workplace, check out the answers to these frequently asked questions:

How do you handle someone who uses social media in the workplace inappropriately?

Address social media misuse immediately to prevent the problem from escalating. Set up a one-on-one meeting with the employee to give them feedback and correct the issue. Remind them of your social media policy, and point out the specific rules they broke. If it’s an issue with the employee wasting work time, let them know how their social media use is hurting productivity and affecting the team. Establish specific corrective actions the employee needs to take, and follow up to ensure they’re making the changes. 

Which social media tools are most useful in the workplace?

For networking, business and professional networking social media sites are effective. For marketing, the best social media tools depend on the demographics of your target market but often include Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Research where your target audience spends time online to choose the tools that will be the most effective. Testing different social media platforms and tools can help you measure their effectiveness and tailor your social media strategy.

Should you block social media sites at work?

Blocking certain social media sites on workplace computers can create a sense of distrust among your employees. They might see it as a challenge to get around the blocks, or they might spend more time on those social media platforms on their personal devices. Instead of blocking social media access, establish and enforce your expectations on social media use. 

How can you prevent social media fails on company social media platforms?

Your company’s social media accounts can be an effective marketing tool, but they need to be used carefully. Identify which employees are allowed to post on your social media accounts, and ensure they have proper training on using social media effectively. Create written social media guidelines that discuss consistent branding and quality. This helps all employees who post on your social media accounts to create consistency in their content. You might also have an approval system in place with one social media manager reviewing all posts before they go public.