Why You Need a Social Media Policy for Sales

People talk a lot about social media in selling, and one of the first topics that often comes up is a social media policy. What is it, and why might you need one? If you need one, what should you include? Imagine you have a salesperson who is very politically engaged. He keeps it out of the office, but you know he spends his spare time volunteering for campaigns and attending rallies. He talks about his opinions on Facebook and Twitter, social media marketing tips and in both of his profiles he clearly identifies you as his employer. Is that ok? Another of your salespeople is very invested in building her brand and reputation as a subject matter expert in your space. She is active in LinkedIn groups and other forums talking about your products, answering questions, and representing your company. She responds to comments and reviews, always clearly indicating that she’s an employee. Should she be doing that? Maybe a member of your team has a meeting with product development and talks about what he saw with his friends on Facebook. Can he do that? What if a your company is in the news and a member of your team hears from a journalist who found her and reached out via LinkedIn. How should that be handled? What happens if a salesperson leaves, social media marketing tools and all of his prospects’ contact information is in his LinkedIn account. Does that all go with the salesperson? All of these relatively common situations can be addressed by a social media policy. The purpose of the policy isn’t to restrict employees from using social media, but instead to clarify how they should represent themselves and interact in the social media environment as employees of your company.

The leader as producer: Creating compelling content

With video cameras achieving near ubiquity and film clips uploading in the blink of an eye to YouTube or other platforms, the tools for producing and sharing rich media are in everyone’s hands. GE’s Video Central now houses thousands of videos, many created by top leaders. More than a few executives have started to incorporate video streams into their blogs. As video communication rises in importance, effective leadership will increasingly marketing social media require the kind of creative skills we know from the world of “auteur” filmmaking—an authentic voice, imagination, and the ability to craft compelling stories and to turn them into media products that make people take note and “lean forward.” To engage in real time on a personal level, executives will also need the technical skills to master the basics of digital-multimedia production, including how to shoot and, if necessary, edit videos. Mark Begor, who runs GE Capital’s real-estate business, was nervous when he shot his first “unplugged” video message. “I was used to a studio environment where I could do several takes and have editors polish what I wanted to say.” That unease soon vanished with practice. He now routinely produces a weekly five- to ten-minute video for his division. “I talk about what I learned during the week, about a great deal we’ve closed, and the status of the business. I also add comments about employees that I want to recognize.” Begor says that this routine forces him to crystallize his thinking and that creating short stories people can relate to makes him more aware of his strategy and communication. As Begor and others have discovered benefits of social media marketing in this process, the logic of participatory media is strikingly different from that of traditional corporate broadcast media, where each and every piece of communication gets perfectly crafted. Too much perfection is actually a barrier to collaboration and cocreation, as it disinvites participation. To thrive in the world of social media, leaders need to acquire a mind-set of openness and imperfection, and they must have the courage to appear “raw” and unpolished—traits that may be as challenging for them as developing the creative and technical-production skills

India’s Modi talks with Zuckerberg about the importance of women and social media in democracy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Facebook today to chat about his country becoming a more digital society, investments in the country, and empowerment of women. In a short Q&A town hall session, the leader of the world’s largest democracy spoke about India’s continued progress in terms of technology and internet connectivity. All the questions from the audience were hand-picked prior to the event, and none mentioned Internet using social media for marketing After standard greetings between Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and PM Modi, the first question was how the Prime Minister views social media. Modi said that world leaders “wouldn’t gain from running away from social media” and should embrace it. “You’ll have a good government if you have many channels,” he added. We’re living in a new world of diplomacy. PM Modi said that not only are Indian citizens more connected via social media, but that he’s active as well. He remarked, as an example, that he recently wished China’s premier a happy birthday on Weibo, and that the message quickly went viral and was considered newsworthy. “No one thought this is what diplomacy would look like,” Modi confessed. Social media is “the new face of diplomacy,” he said, adding that if the world is indeed one big family, social media is playing a huge role in keeping it together. He then took three questions which Zuckerberg had collected from the audience at Facebook headquarters. The first was by an entrepreneur who asked about the digital infrastructure in India, and what Modi will do to ensure that all people are connected (likely in reference to social media marketing strategies the PM’s Digital India initiative). Modi responding by saying that connectivity isn’t about choosing between physical and digital infrastructure. Instead, it’s about working on these two simultaneously. India has 250 local governments and Modi’s hope is that over the next five years, these areas will be connected through the use of fiber-optic networks.