You’re all set to begin a social media program in your organization, both internally and externally to customers. You’ve carefully developed your messaging, and have decided on The Big Three— Twitter, Facebook and YouTube —to start meaningful conversations.
Time to pull the switch. But wait, not so fast. If you’re just beginning to implement social media into the mix, do your chosen communicators know what to say and how to say it? Are you confident enough in your employees to let them go carte blanche into cyberspace, without guidelines as to how to treat customers, how to adhere to legislative digital media edicts and how to technically perform social media tasks?
The short answer is, you shouldn’t be that confident, and neither are most organizations that are going full-bore with social media. They are, however, taking different tacks in the breadth and depth of their social media training. Online shoe/clothing company Zappos and global PR agency Edelman are two organizations that approach social media training quite differently—yet both have attained high levels of social media proficiency.
CORE VALUES AT WORK
Any mention of social media in the consumer space usually leads to a discussion of Zappos. The company utilizes social media to its fullest, getting nearly half of its 1,500 employees in on conversations with customers, and is totally wacky in the process.
In fact, Twitter and Facebook are the only outlets used by Zappos for marketing, says Loren Becker, pipeline team supervisor at the company. It helps that Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh is a social media hound himself and that the company tends to hire young people with new media mojo.
But with all the tweeting and friending going on, Zappos surely has comprehensive guidelines for its employees to follow, right? Think again. Becker says that social media training isn’t a stand-alone function at Zappos, and there are no specific guidelines to follow—just Zappos’ 10 Core Values, which are introduced during four weeks of new-hire training. They are:
1. Deliver Wow Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble
“It doesn’t matter what position you have,” says Becker. “Everyone goes through the same four weeks of training, which includes the core values and the importance of good customer service, among other things.”
The one social media component covered is Twitter, which is Zappos’ vehicle of choice. Twitter is so prevalent that it’s introduced on Day 1. “We talk about why Twitter is important and how it helps build relationships for different areas of the company,” says Becker. The new hires then create their own Twitter accounts, learn about Twitter tools and sign up as followers for other Zappos accounts.
At the end of the four weeks, it’s their choice whether to continue with Twitter, says Becker. Invariably, most do.
But specific guidelines? None. “We hope they follow the core values and apply them in their decisions,” says Becker. “Granted, I’m one of the trainers, and we do say never to attack a customer or say something negative to a customer.” Becker recalls that happening only once.
But why take the chance and be so non-specific about the use of social media? “Zappos is big on personal relationships—we’re like a big family, but yet we’re not a huge family,” says Becker.
BELT SYSTEM SUCCESS
Global PR agency Edelman has a much larger family to introduce social media to. With some 3,200 employees worldwide, a training program would require careful planning, collaboration and a rigorous process. Hence, the Social Media Belt System was born.
As social media began its rapid ascension as a effective communications tool, Edelman began to think about ways to get its employees up to speed, which, in turn, would be of value to clients. A basic questions was posed, says Phil Gomes, Edelman’s SVP of digital integration: “How do we make social media a seamless part of our organization?”
It was an opportune moment, because Edelman’s HR leadership was revising agency job descriptions and the time was ripe for experimentation with distance learning. Gomes and his team began by making a list of specific social media skills and then worked with HR to match those skills with job descriptions. “An assistant account executive, for example, would learn digital conversation tracking,” says Gomes.
The challenge was how to present the program in an understandable and motivational way to employees. With a number of components, they decided on the belt/martial arts system. And who wouldn’t like to have a black belt?
Soft-launched in May 2008, the program, says Gomes, generally covers three areas:
• Point-and-click: How to set up a Twitter account; how to track blogs
• Philosophical: Basic tenets of online citizenship; positive communications
• Procedural: Mediating conflict on Wikipedia; planning a successful meet-up
Employees can earn belts (white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black) by completing a set number of learning modules and passing a test. The challenge: training fatigue, so to learn a module requires no more than four minutes of attention (belts consist of six to 12 modules).
It’s fair to say the Belt System has become an integral part of Edelman’s employee development, says Gomes. “Belt attainment factors into promotion and advancement,” he says. In addition, there is homegrown analytics on the back end. “If I’m putting together a team, I can check your bench strength according to your social media capabilities,” says Gomes.
EXTERNAL BENEFITS
While Zappos’ and Edelman’s social media training philosophies are radically different, they are similar in one very important way: the impact on customers and clients. “This program would be wasted if it didn’t significantly impact client service,” says Edelman’s Gomes. “We created many social media experts that our clients can count on.”
The positive buzz from Zappos’ loyal and growing customer base speaks volumes about the company’s social media skills. And while some amount of training is valuable, says Becker, “It’s really about who you hire and common sense.” PRN
CONTACT:
Loren Becker, twitter.com/bigLB; Phil Gomes, [email protected].