Be mindful.
Executives and marketers must recognize the distinct gap between a consumer’s age and his or her use of technology. Recognizing the vast differences in how each generation approaches technology and how they each use technology is key to targeting and captivating their respective target markets. Moreover, we must also remember that different generations means different learning styles as well.
Bridging the gap.
Social Media excites companies, and for good reason. But the age/technology gap must be considered to ensure the effectiveness of any social media initiative. This means that effective training is a must, and that the training effectively reaches every member of the audience. This is the only this way can the initiative succeed.
Social media provides a platform for employees to connect. When companies encourage employees to utilize social media to connect with their peers, overall communication increases which is beneficial for the employees as well as the productivity of the company overall.
Give employees an R.O.I on their meeting.
Creating an online forum for employees to collaborate fills them with a sense of purpose, encourages a high-level of involvement, and a great sense of ownership. This again is a win-win for both the employee and the organization.
Engage.
Here are some ideas to consider prior to adopting any social media initiative:
1. Host training sessions:
Expect that everyone is a novice and steer clear from technical jargon, which may discourage some people. Create multi-level tutorials for beginner, intermediate, expert users. By doing so, everyone will welcome the opportunity to be exposed to the same material.
2. Create a variety of training materials such as:
- Best-Practices or Industry Standard series
- How to use Social Media for networking and sales
- How to use Social Media for collaboration in terms of resources, projects, and ideas
3. Reward those who set great social media examples, for instance:
- Whoever gets the most followers → gets Friday off
- Whoever receives the most responses to an announcement/ad gets paid overtime for a day
- Whoever generates a sale using a social media channel gets the boss’s tickets to a concert or sporting event
We’ve implemented initiatives following these guidelines and have noticed a remarkable amount of enthusiasm. What are your thoughts? Have you seen social media initiatives succeed or fail? What do you think leads to success?