Knowing the risk levels of your social media operation makes sense – but how do you do it?
SOCIAL MEDIA RISK MANAGEMENT
REGISTER NOW
29 JUNE
08:30 – 11:30AM
No universal fit
Social media risk cannot be assessed generically, based on company size and type of operation. There is no universal risk profile because company cultures are so different. And the company culture is to a large extent the most important factor determining your social media riskiness.
Risk and the company culture
Measuring your company’s social media risk profile means understanding the company’s culture and how that culture translates into employee:
- loyalty
- satisfaction
- diligence
- retention
On a simple level: A high-risk social media situation can be expected in companies with low employee retention, low loyalty and low satisfaction. The opposite should be the case were employees are happy, stay for years, are diligent and fiercely loyal.
Generation problems
But the picture is always more complicated. One of the key complicating factors are the differences between the various generations now found in many work-places and their different attitudes to digital media.
And the generational problem is not only a problem per se, but carries with it a risk definition problem: What one generation considers risky is normal behaviour for the next one. Who’s to say what’s really risky social media behaviour in such an environment? And if the conservative generation decides what’s to be understood as risky, might that not alienate the younger employees and raise the risk profile even higher?
How to measure social media risks, step by step?
In order to overcome problems of risk definition, problems of generation and problems of assessing company culture, it makes sense to work up a risk profile in incremental steps.
The following list of steps is provided here as a suggestion, and each company might find that the steps can and should be reversed or moved around, depending on the “situation on the ground”:
- Create a company generation chart. How many employees are over fifty? How many are generation Y or Z? Etc.
- Create an employee satisfaction survey. Find out if your different generations are seeing the company the same way. What do they like and dislike about their situation? Where and how are they likely to vent steam?
- Assess the company culture. Based on the findings of your survey, how can you describe the company culture? What are retention levels like? Do most employees “get” what you are essentially about?
- Assess the complexity of your operation. How complex are your internal organisation and communications? How easy is it to communicate well with everybody? How does this translate into social media strategy and activity?
- Assess social media activity so far. How have your employees been using social media thus far? What are the key points of contention? What are the key external reputational pressures?
- Based on your findings, draw up a risk profile
Tailored policies
Establishing a company-culture-based social media risk profile will help you avoid the pitfalls of applying generic policies.
You should always therefore write social media policies that are immediately applicable to the work-situation of your multiple and differently organised teams.
It might be easy and attractive to base your policies on lists of the most common company social media risks, but chances are these policies will feel very alien and further push your risk profile in the wrong direction.
Social media is ultimately about trust and well-being. A healthy, open, warm and elastic company culture will always be your best policy against any kind of risk.
Want to find out more about social media risk management? Make sure you sign up to the DSMLF meeting on 29th June and join your peers for a lively debate on the matter.