Social Media! I'm Sick of Hearing About It

You can't go anywhere these days without seeing or hearing about social media.  But what does it mean to a business owner?  The marketing people will tell you it is a "must have" and is really a "BFF" in order to reach your customers.  Lawyers will tell you it is something that could virtually kill your company.  As I have found in similar situations, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Yes, the old days of newspaper, TV and radio advertising - if not dead have a drastically new face and you should consult a web or social media expert to help you get up to speed to attract customers.  But your current, "ex" or potential employees as well as customers being able to post information about you is cause for alarm if it doesn't show the value of having a good strategy.  In the past, if I wanted to say something bad about my ex-employer I could take out a newspaper, TV or radio ad but it would cost me money and the media outlet would censor my comments to protect themselves from libel.  Today, on social media I can post anything I want about an employer on FaceBook or LinkedIn and there is limited censorship, if any.  I have 797 contacts on LinkedIn, who are connected toanother 157,861 contacts.  That is a pretty big reach for free if you ask me.

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say. . .

The old Bonnie Raitt song called "Let's Give'em Something to Talk About", isn't a good idea these days.  The best offense in this case is doing things in a positive and above board manner.  Developing strong relationships and creating and maintaining a positive work environment will help ensure the comments your employees make about you on social media are nothing but glowing.