As recently as a decade ago, businesses struggled to handle a wave of social media platforms, unsure of how employees' personal posts — or scarier, personal posts about their professional lives — might reflect back on an organization.
Of course, they eventually got on board. Today, 97% of Fortune 500 companies rely on social media for marketing, and more than 50 million small businesses use social media platforms like Facebook to connect with customers, according to market and consumer data provider Statista. But once again, the rise of video-based platforms like TikTok is challenging workplace norms, and businesses are scrambling to build guardrails around workers who are livestreaming from the office and posting transparent stories about company culture.
Alexandra Anema, social media director at advertising firm Bayard Marketing, has watched this all play out firsthand. And while she understands the fear some employers may feel, she stresses that the benefits of new social media platforms likely outweigh the risks.
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"HR departments have to know the ROI of social media," she says, noting that what employees share about a business can hold more weight than a corporate-approved post. "They have to understand that in order to be able to recruit a younger audience, they need to showcase who they are on a different level. My entire career people have been saying this is just a fad, this is going away. And I have watched year after year as it's become more and more important."
Organizations from Morgan Stanley to Netflix have seen their own employees trying their hand at influencer life. But employers can get ahead of this trend, and even embrace it. Here are four things to consider: