One of the things that I find very odd, is that companies allow their staff to answer the phones, use the email, give out business cards, all representing the company… But suddenly when it comes to Twitter.. Oh no.. We have to oursource that or your all banned from using it.. We dont want any of our staff going onto Twitter and saying something that may ruin or effect our business… What a load of tosh…
Your staff are your greatest asset, and you should treat them as such. If you have a large workforce, then just think of the visibility your brand, product or service could get if all of them were tweeting.. Now please dont get me wrong, I am not suggesting that they all abandon their day jobs and utilise Twitter instead.. But, done properly and in an orderly fashion, the benefits could be huge…
The first thing, in my view is to stop the crazy idea of banning access to Twitter. Staff can access it on their phones and will just find other ways to do it instead.. Instead welcome it and harness it. So, make an announcement that it is totally cool for all to tweet, but that there is a policy that they must adhere to.. Train them how to be effective with their time, and how to utilise the tools to make best use of their time. You may also consider having each of them be the company tweeter for a set period of time… This I hope would even involve senior management as well as the CEO…
You should also have a uniform Twitter name so that your brand is continually represented. Now, here is the fun bit.. If each of these new accounts got 1000 followers and there were 50 accounts, then suddenly you have access to a potential 50,000 people. People who may well advocate for you, and refer you. Think also how this may effect recruitment. New people could hear from employees on what it is actually like to work for the company.. Again if handled correctly this should be a massive win:win for all.
Now I can already hear the moan and groan of bosses not wanting to risk their businesses on their staff doing stuff that they should not. There are probably a million ‘what ifs’ that could happen… But you know what, to me it all comes down to training, support, and encouragement, with a provision of clear guidelines for each to follow…
What do you think? Do you let your staff tweet about your business? Or do you simply ban them access? Please comment, I would love to hear from you…
