Our team at Refinery Lab is frequently asked to conduct social media training for the companies with which we work. While most people have a basic familiarity with social networks, not all of your employees will have a strong background in which channels are most useful in a professional setting, and how they can be best managed.
For executives, our training usually focuses on LinkedIn. This can include:
- coaching on how to build a strong profile
- ways to reach out to your current customers
- when to connect with new prospects
- how to amplify good news from customers
- easy ways to find content that establishes you as a thought leader
- hashtags, and when and when not to use them
- understanding what should and should not be shared within the framework of nondisclosure agreements, trade secrets and rules affecting publicly traded companies
These same key elements are generally part of a good sales team training, as well – plus more ideas on group participation, finding prospects based on title, experience and industry and more. They can also form a foundation for training other groups at your organization, like customer service and marketing teams.
We’ve also recently added an element to any social media training we do that highlights ethical behavior, even in an employee’s personal posts. Social media channels are highly visible and public, and organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of hiring employees who are committed to ethical standards, putting social media policies in place and taking action when employees’ behavior on social channels is inappropriate, even when they are not operating in an official capacity as an employee.
In general, we find that social media training has helped the leadership and sales teams of the companies we work with to be more comfortable on social channels, make more connections and share more of their expertise related to their company and their industry. If you’d like to learn more about social media training, please contact us.