Social media can play a wonderful role in HR, as well: encouraging employee engagement, finding and connecting with new recruits, and even helping with retention efforts.
A word about governance: Depending on the culture at your organization, your HR department might need to play a part in any implementation of social media, and regardless of the culture, getting their buy-in is always a good idea. Working with your HR professionals during the development of your social media policies and governance can help ensure your organization is protected from risk while empowering its employees. Definitely get in touch with them before pulling other employees into your efforts; this is one area where you’d rather ask permission than forgiveness.
Beyond those governance considerations, though, social media can be a remarkable tool for HR professionals. Some of the areas you may be able to grow your efforts into HR include:
Recruiting
Social channels are the perfect place to reach new applicants. People search for job openings online, and chances are that some of them have already “liked” you, so why not reach them where they’re already spending their time? Given its interest, your community will also be more apt to share these openings with its networks. Social channels can be an incredibly fruitful place to find new talent and publicize job openings. Job seekers are increasingly using social media as a way of learning about companies and their open positions; it’s a match made in Internet heaven. Get those listings out there and be sure to highlight the most important ones.
Internal social networking
There are some social networks that are designed to be used entirely inside an organization. Some people like Yammer. Some prefer Chatter. Heck, some even use Basecamp or Jive. Whatever flavor you pick, social networking tools used internally can be incredible for knowledge sharing, building a sense of camaraderie, and increasing cross-functional collaboration. Internal social networks can also be valuable for governance and policy awareness efforts.
Career advancement
Being active and fully aware of the “hows and whats” of social media is quickly becoming a mandatory skill in today’s workforce. This skill cannot be overlooked, especially for HR professionals. Social media can also be used to network online and learn about trending topics in a specific field, discovering new areas of opportunity for the business that might include niche communities for related professions.
Social media is not something that should be solely utilized by any one team within a company. Ideally, the entire organization is involved in some facet of the company’s social media and has a deep understanding of their customers through participation. Cross-functionally distributing the social media effort also helps ensure the right people take the helm at the right time.
At the same time, it’s important to maintain consistent voice and branding for every aspect of your company’s social efforts, so you’ll want to at least create a set of basic guidelines for everyone involved.
As more people throughout your organization realize the benefits they’ll receive from social media, you’ll be better able to focus your efforts on marketing instead of on being a help desk or a go-between. Additionally, you have the added benefit of scaling some of the costs associated with social engagement, and you will have multiple teams of people on your side helping to make the business case for investments in engagement evolution rather than going at it alone. This is a foundation for success.