Are You Team-Player Enough to Let the Company Post to Your Facebook Page? Technology allows companies to easily post news on employee social-media accounts. It's an open question how willing employees are to allow it.
By Brett Relander Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
If you're like me, your social media accounts are personal and sacred. Posting company news isn't something I do very often, but I run my own business, so I am inclined to do a little self-promotion once in awhile. Recently I've seen more and more people mixing business with pleasure on social networks. LinkedIn for example is seeing an upturn of people posting personal stories compared to previous business-only content. Facebook is also seeing this mix.
Although some people share company news and social media posts on their own, most do not. LinkedIn did a recent study and concluded that only 2 perecent of employees post company messages and campaigns on social media. Which leaves a staggering number of employees who are not posting.
Choir, a new social media tool, is tackling this issue by providing employers with the ability to post on your behalf on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Employees need to give their permission first through a permission request email, but once that is done, your company could post from your accounts at will.
Related: The Secret to Higher Employee Productivity: Social Networking? (Infographic)
As companies try to enhance their social media presence and drive more engagement, Choir could be a scalable solution that many companies will use. I was able to speak with Chris Kubbernus, CEO at Choir, and he confirms that many brands, Fortune 500 and others, are testing the waters and discovering positive benefits with limited resistance from employees. He also mentioned that the resistance they do encounter is typically cleared up with good communication, trial runs, setting expectations and posting limits.
But post-on-your-behalf solutions like this one really raises some hard questions. Should companies be trying to use employee's profiles to get messages out? And should we be okay with it?
Related: Want Your Employees to Share Company Social Media Posts? This One-Click Tool Makes It Easy.
If you're lucky enough to work for a fantastic company, you will most likely see no issue in automating this task because you already do it manually to promote your company and yourself. However, it is a balance and a fine line between use and over-use. On one hand, Choir and other solutions like it could save a lot of time and increase productivity, not to mention remove the hassle of posting company news and messages manually on social networks. On the other hand, this level of "Big Brother" control over your social accounts could be seen as invasive and overbearing. Does this approach cheapen your personal profile or enhance it?
More and more brands have started to see the power of social media, and this leads them to look for ways to leverage all the opportunities they have available. Their employees could be one of the biggest untapped assets they have, and this is why I believe we will see an emergence of these kinds of tools and initiatives in the coming years. The elephant in the room is whether the employers who use these types of tools will overstep their bounds or add value to the employee and customer relationship.
Being a social media consultant and business owner myself, I am very curious to understand how you see this controversial subject. Would you let your company post to Facebook or other social networks for you? Please leave your comments below.
Related: Writing Social Media Guidelines for Your Company? Tread Carefully.
