How to harness the power of employees’ social media and manage backlash?

Everyone is an influencer today. Four thought leaders share insights on the power and pitfalls of employees’ social media.

By now, most organisations recognise the power of social media, and have invested in official channels. But we also know that a large part of a company’s branding, culture and reputation is built outside of official messaging. And this can feel like a wild card.

Does a company have a visionary leader or a dictator? Does it have the best benefits, a cool cult culture or poor work-life balance? What is actually going on behind the brand?

These are things you would usually not gather from an organisation’s official channels, but amongst the general online chatter.

This is where your employee’s social media posts come in.

“Employee social platforms are great avenues for employer branding as well as personal branding, especially with companies that actively manage and grow their social presence,” noted Jason Huan, CMO of Endowus.

“The amplification through employees’ network can greatly benefit a brand’s voice, especially for one that may have had the good fortune of employing a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) in the midst,” Jason reflected.

Positive social media posts not only shape company branding. “This helps in employee retention by creating pride and social status for employees, as well as in attracting potential talent,” said Zed Li, COO of Lazada Malaysia.

How can you harness the power of your employees’ social media to amplify your company culture, and at the same time manage backlash from negative posts. Here are four insights and tips. 

#1 Employees as the new KOL 

“The best cases I’ve seen of employee social media use are of those who are invested in the mission and vision of the companies, share their views authentically, and drive conversation especially on LinkedIn,” said Jason.

Joanna Yeoh, VP People at Nansen for instance shares that she regularly posts about the company’s AI learning and experimenting for community building and to attract crypto and AI talents to the company.

Some companies even craft social media messages, with photos and captions, and encourage employees to post on their private social media acocunts, shared Zed. This is usually more effective when combined with a guerilla marketing approach, he added. 

“Estee Lauder does a good job of using social to run guerilla marketing for their warehouse clearance sales, branding it as an invite only friends and family sales, which is amplified via employee's sharing of social posts,” Zed elaborated.

However, when it comes to employee advocacy, spontaneous sharing is usually more effective than crafted messages. “Such sharing is seen as more authentic,” Zed explained.

To activate employees, it is important to listen to what they actually need and want, and direct resources towards that, suggested Daryl Tan, People Partner at Pendle. 

For example, if the organisation has a lot of parents with young kids, the company may consider extending childcare leave. People will talk about it when the leave extension is announced, and also when they are accompanying their kids for school events, he elaborated.

#2 How should employers moderate private social media usage?

“Set some guardrails on what looks good and what doesn't. It doesn't have to be boring. It’s just so employees don’t get themselves or others into trouble,”

- Joanna Yeoh, VP People at Nansen

Joanna observed that the use of satire and irony are very common among the crypto and tech community. Daryl for instance shared that he personally leans towards dark humour.

However, “there are occasions where innocuous posts or conversations may have generated divisive views but are not well-moderated or brought to proper closure. These should be amicably resolved, or directed to appropriate channels for resolution,” stressed Jason.

There have also been cases where individuals have expressed sensitive and polarising views – unironically and in earnest – and these have been linked back to their company. These may include racially, religiously or culturally incendiary comments.

One of the key issues here is how to navigate the blurred line between an individual’s freedom of speech and company branding.

“If this is shared on public accounts, or somehow made public and goes against company's values, it warrants a conversation followed by a warning or disciplinary action,” Daryl opinionated. 

Joanna suggested that all companies, including startups should think about building social media guidelines into their Code of Conduct early. “Set some guardrails on what looks good and what doesn't. It doesn't have to be boring. It’s just so employees don’t get themselves or others into trouble,” she said.

She shared that at Nansen, some general guidelines include avoiding discriminatory, harassing remarks, threats of violence, disparaging or defamatory remarks or doxxing.

General guidelines can also be useful in preventing information leaks. 

Daryl recalled a case where the MNC he used to work for was under cyberattack and the whole system was down and work was halted. Some employees started to post about this on social media but were told to take their posts down because the company had yet to make an official announcement about the situation.

At Endowus, “case studies are shared broadly when there are prominent positive or negative use cases that arise in the media so staff are reminded on the policies,” Jason added.

#3 Should employees be blacklisted for airing of dirty laundry

“I see social media as a symptom. The severity of the issue, or how the story pans out may be twisted. But it shows us a little bit of the core of what's going on within the organisation.”

- Daryl Tan, People Partner at Pendle

If this is done deliberately, individuals usually choose to do it anonymously via channels such as Glassdoor, so there is not much employers can do about it, noted Zed.

But most cases are less deliberate. Because some platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are viewed as private domains, employees may sometimes vent work frustrations, discuss work issues, and seek advice and commiseration there.

“At the end of the day, it is your life and it’s fair for you to share it with your friends,” Daryl said.

Though most companies do not track their employees’ social media accounts, such posts may nonetheless be picked up as part of the company’s standard social media monitoring of customer posts and experience.

“Any negative sentiments are typically flagged out for immediate action. In the case where negative comments arise as a result of poor experience with the company, it does warrant a reflection on the actual reported issue and for the employer to take remedial action should there be a need to right a wrongdoing,” Jason said.

Daryl added: “I see social media as a symptom. The severity of the issue, or how the story pans out may be twisted. But it shows us a little bit of the core of what's going on within the organisation.”

He added that rather than addressing “symptoms”, in such cases, having regular in-person conversations with employees can be more effective in addressing any potential issues upstream before they end up amplified on social media.

#4 Navigating the private and professional space: Tips for employees

“An experienced professional will know how to effectively navigate the use of these channels in a way where they can offer value to people on their network, or leverage the network effect of working with said company,”

- Jason Huan, CMO of Endowus

For employees, a good rule of thumb is to make your account private if you intend to share private experiences and opinions, said Daryl. He believes that when a social media account is made private, it should be generally viewed as a private space.

Joanna however believes that personal social media posts can still reflect on company branding, especially if the company name is appended to an individual’s profile name. She suggested that employees who intend to post controversial remarks may distance their posts from their company by stating explicitly that all opinions are their own.  

That said, in our highly connected world today, employees should for their own sakes learn how to harness the power of social media so that it does not call into question their character or professionalism.

“At the end of the day, the way an employee uses their social media reflects more profoundly on their personal brand. An experienced professional will know how to effectively navigate the use of these channels in a way where they can offer value to people on their network, or leverage the network effect of working with said company,” Jason stressed.