Comments on: Will Your Company Introduce Your Baristas?

By: Business Culture that Inspires Your Consumers - Samir Balwani

Business Culture that Inspires Your Consumers - Samir Balwani — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:34:15 +0000

[...] trying to shift the culture. It’s all about promising to make every single consumer happy and empowering your employees to fulfill that [...]

By: KyleWith

KyleWith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:49:16 +0000

I love this, cause not only am I exploring the Social Media world, I'm also a certified barista. Just like the coincidence

By: Cause Marketing Success Begins at the Front

Cause Marketing Success Begins at the Front — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:57:41 +0000

[...] Falls wrote a great post recently on how a lot of companies are scared to death to allow employees to represent them [...]

By: Chris Dowell

Chris Dowell — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:15:44 +0000

Good employees can really help a company by using social media. Do you think the public would have a different perception about BP.com if the employees were using social media? The BP employees could discuss their daily battles, daily schedule, daily successes and so forth. Also, BP employees in other parts of the world could start discussions about preventative steps. Just an idea.

By: Facebook Development Agency

Facebook Development Agency — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:46:37 +0000

If your employees/representatives have complete knowledge of the work/services you provide, or if they are fully aware of what work you do, and you have faith in them that they're going to answer any question related to the company/firm/organization easily, then I don't think you should hesitate in making them your baristas! But similarly the question here arises that are they capable enough? Well, I think Jason referred the same point in the post "then your problem is not your employees, it’s you. Hire smarter"

Great post Jason!

Thanks!

By: Facebook Development Agency

Facebook Development Agency — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:46:37 +0000

By: JasonFalls

JasonFalls — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:59:52 +0000

That's a good question and one I've seen handled different ways, none
right or wrong. As long as you're transparent that many employees man
the account and speak for the company, I think your fan base gets
that. But I also encourage employees who WANT to, to also chime in to
show that they are an audience, too. It makes the business seem much
more vibrant and engaged when they voluntarily (or even as part of
their roles) participate on a Facebook page for work.

By: Locall

Locall — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:21:16 +0000

I have a question, tho. On facebook, employees are hesitant to post under their own names – they don't want to blend work and home – and instead are assigned the Admin role on facebook in order to post. Which is great – they post – but it doesn't build any other personas. What do you think – is that a detriment to our company to only post from one entity?

By: Sarah Carter

Sarah Carter — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:41:09 +0000

I guess we pay them their salaries to represent us in the real world…one would hope that they can accurately represent us in the online world too (with a little education of course..)

By: Nehal Kazim

Nehal Kazim — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:10:36 +0000

That's an interesting point Jason. The bottom line is that whether the employee is online talking about your latest product or at a business conference discussing the obstacles they're facing, employees are brand ambassadors no matter what the platform and medium.

Hiring smarter is a solution as well as trusting employees to make the right decision and creating a fostering environment where they seek help if they are unsure.

By: Daniel Hindin

Daniel Hindin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:55:34 +0000

Jason, you bring up a really good point, but when I started reading, I thought you were going to go in a different direction with it.

We all know that the majority of businesses remain skeptical about letting their employees represent them online, but the way I choose to turn that skepticism around on them is to point out that their employees represent them to the public every day -- in person.

Your brand as it exists in your customer's mind is more created and maintained by your lower-in-the-hierarchy, customer-facing employees than it is your VPs or Directors who are making the "important" decisions.

These are the employees your customers see every day, the ones they interact with and the ones who set the tone for your brand in the eye of the public. They already do it in person or on the phone every day. So why is it any different online?