Page 372 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Creating the right culture

The right office culture is imperative if you want your employees to engage with
one another in conversations, be transparent about what they don’t know, and be
willing to listen and learn from their peers, including the younger or more junior
ones. Your culture needs to be one of humility and openness, and one that allows
initiative without punishing people too harshly for mistakes. The way you need to
behave in the social web to engage with your customers in a meaningful way
applies to the way you must engage with your employees, too. And it all starts
with culture.

Placing a premium on groups
with a purpose

A key ingredient to energizing employees for social influence is to put the right
mix of employees in a room (real or virtual) together to brainstorm, innovate, or
accomplish a specific task. Bring an eclectic mix of employees together and ask
them to collaborate on a specific task at hand. Their diverse skills and personali-
ties result in unique results and can lay the foundation for a more collaborative
work environment.

Collaborating in a work environment is very different from collaborating in one’s
personal life. You need clearly defined objectives for people to rally around; oth-
erwise, valuable company time may be wasted.

Avoiding excessive snooping

We’re always amazed to learn about companies that peek into their employees’
email accounts and watch what websites they visit. If you want to create a culture
of social interaction in which people in different offices or even countries come
together and share their insights and learn from one another online, you need to
make them feel that they’re not being watched, tracked, or evaluated every step of
the way. Treat them with the respect that you give your bosses, and they’ll deliver
amazing work. Whatever you do, don’t snoop around. You’ll lose their trust,
respect, and commitment.

356 PART 5 Old Marketing Is New Again with SMM