Karlie Justus at SocialMediaB2b Discusses Pros and Cons of Blocking Social Media at Work

Can your employees access popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter? Karlie Justus, in her article “Pros and Cons of Blocking Social Media at Your B2B Company,” at SocialMediaB2B.com, cites a new report from Purdue University that says more than 80% of the businesses surveyed restrict the use of at least one social media site, while another 13% restrict all such sites.

The concern, said the survey, wasn’t so much that people were using their social media presence to socialize, but that classified information was being entered into the public record, at an average cost of $2 million per incident.

However, another report from McAfee, which also commissioned the Purdue report, says that 40% of businesses that allow their employees to use social media in the workplace have seen a measurable increase in productivity.

So what exactly are the pros and cons of blocking social media at work? Justus sheds some light on both sides.

Pros:

1. Your business needs a singular tone and voice for its perceived image. Many B2B companies use a singular image and voice to represent their businesses. In order to maintain the image and feel you want throughout your communications, you can’t have more than one or two people writing what you release to the public. Too many voices muddy the waters.

2. There may be industry specific concerns about social media. For example, if your company makes helicopters for the military, and their current project with you is top secret, you probably don’t want somebody accidentally spilling this information out on the internet. Justus says marketers in these areas should ask their customers whether social media is a part of their marketing plan before planning to use it yourself.

Cons:

1. It silences your biggest fans – your employees. Who knows your products better then the people who make them, sell them and want you to be successful, so that they can be successful too? If your employees can’t talk about your product, what better forms of free advertising do you have in mind?

2. Justus says that few companies tend to stretch the boundaries of how social sites can be used in the office beyond the marketing department. She questions why more companies don’t use Twitter, for example, to provide public relations opportunities for their sales teams. She asks why more companies don’t allow Facebook to be used by Human Resources to help fill a position. And LinkedIn is a proven source for leads. If your employees can’t access all this, however, these are all moot points.

3. A company that can’t access social media is a company that continues to live under the idea that social media is a waste of time, Justus says. If your company uses social media to attract new accounts, but you don’t let your own employees use it, how does that look to your customers?