Using Social Media as a Tool, Not a Distraction

There has been some debate as to the productive aspects of social media in the workplace.  Some see a periodic tweet or Facebook wall post between filing, coding, or other tasks as a much needed break and stress relief while others see it as a distraction.

The truth is, social media is a tool and just like any other tool, it can have a great impact in the right situations, but it can also be a harmful time sink.  Thus, the goal should be to utilize social media as a powerful tool, so here are some tips on how to most effectively employ social media for your business:


Make a Plan, Set Goal, and See Your Goals Through to Execution

More often than not, businesses set up social media campaigns without a solid plan in place.  It seems to be the expectation that tweeting and uploading videos to YouTube will automatically generate more traffic to a company's website and translate into more sales.  I am here to say that this is not the way that social media works!

To effectively harness the power of social media for your brand, you need an plan.  This plans needs to come from an understanding of your company's needs.  Are you attempting to generate more traffic to your website?  Do you want to prevent bad press?  Are you looking to create a community that will result in good press?  Do you want to generate more brand awareness?  Define your goals before you begin your social media endeavors.

Once you have established a goal and developed a plan of attack (using the same strategies you would to establish any other business objective), the next steps are defining success and deciding how success will be measured.  You will want to measure the ROI of your campaigns, which you can do with tools like bit.ly, Facebook Page's analytics, or Google analytics.

Finally, execute your plan.  Keep in mind that most companies don't get it right on their first try and realize that mistakes are a part of the process.  If you try something that isn't working out, change your approach and be sure to remain transparent to your customers about mistakes and mishaps you make in social media.  They will forgive you, I promise (as long as you don't do something appalling or unethical).


Prevent Social Media from Becoming a Distraction

To avoid social media as a distraction for your company, follow these guidelines:

• Be sure to have a clearly defined social media policy so employees are not left wondering what is acceptable online behavior and what is not.
• Give employees challenging and engaging work so they are not bored, and therefore not temped to turn to social media (as we so often do when we're bored).
• When concentration is required for a task (like filing or coding), close social media tabs (and even e-mail!) and you will be amazing how much more productive you can be!
• Also, be sure to prioritize your business needs.  At times, social media outreach may need to be put on the back burner for more urgent needs.