There is a lot of fear that if you talk about your workplace online you’ll end up looking for a new one in no time at all. The experience in B2B and B2C differs dramatically, but it still seems that companies fear their team talking about their working lives online and vice versa. But, they shouldn’t stop people talking about their jobs online, here is why… They shouldn’t silence your team because positive communication builds trust.
The Benefits Outweigh the Cost
I’m not saying that those who talk poorly about a company shouldn’t be held accountable for their speech. There are strong opinions all over the internet and I’m a strong believer in free speech. But, this article is written with marketing and sales in mind.
I’ve seen some of the biggest factors for companies marketing success come solely from a clever marketing team or team member making the most from social media.
I love to see it. Silence your team and you’ll miss out on incredible marketing opportunities.
Those people who jump on trends, make trends of their own and genuinely love their place of work, and want to shout about it to everyone.
On the other hand, you will have those who aren’t happy within their roles and want to point the finger right back at their place of work. If you’re afraid of your team speaking out about aspects of the role they hate without coming forward in-house first, you’ve created that culture where those team members feel unheard, so they voice their opinions elsewhere.
Everyone knows that once you put something online it’s there forever, so to so publicly attack your company something has gone wrong down the line. Silence your team and you’ll never fix underlying issues.
How To Stop Online Hate
This headline is misleading I apologise, but I have to let you know it is impossible to stop online hate. It’s like asking the internet how to get everyone to like you. It just won’t happen.
Much like employing policies to stop your team from talking about their roles online. It may limit some potential reputation damage, but it won’t stop them from talking about it to their friends and their friends, etc. It would however cancel out a high amount of reach for your business.
In government roles and high-security roles, these policies would already be in place for data security. But, you can talk about your work without going into the finer details.
Giving Them Something To Talk About
The best deterrence is to give your team something to talk about. Upskill your team to post, promote and talk about your business from a business development perspective. Posting about helping clients by solving their problems. Promoting charitable events and exciting moments and milestones. They won’t be your content drones, but they will be your best brand ambassadors.
You can create a culture where everyone is happy to post about their business, what they contribute and how people can get in touch with the business to help.
People expect managers, marketers, and salespeople to talk up their businesses. But, if the entire company is pushing and promoting your brands’ message you have a powerful marketing force backing your business when you do not silence your team.
