How to allay the fears your employees have about social media

Many feel daunted by obstacles and overwhelmed by the scope and time commitment

I’ve read hundreds of articles on how to corral your employees in social media. Posts on how to make sure they don’t reveal too much, waste too much time, or annoy people to the point that customers hate you.

However, all that assumes that your employees and your team are comfortable stepping into social media and that they want to be there. It doesn’t account for the people who aren’t and don’t. The people who are fearful of the new tools, of casting bad light on the company they work for, or, even worse, accidentally getting themselves fired.

While attending CapitolCamp in Albany last week I was reminded that not every employee is socially savvy and dreams of waking up to 15,000 Twitter followers. Some are still coming to the terms with the idea that our job means engaging with people in a brand new way. Some are absolutely terrified.

If you’re responsible for a team skeptical of social media, how do you calm their fears? How do you comfortably bring employees into the social media mix so that they see it as an opportunity instead of something that may get them fired? Here’s a roadmap.

Remove the barriers