Today: Are there any side effects?

Social Media use does have side effects. Some of them are desired – and the reason why you want to participate in Social Media to begin with; some may seem a disincentive to you at first. Some of them are ongoing; some of them will turn into positive side effects after a while. Today I will introduce you to an incomplete list of side effects:

Frequently mentioned side effects of Social Media – the good and the bad.

Social Media participation is time consuming!
The main reason preventing people from participating in Social Media is the time it seems to take up. Especially new users often state that they can get lost online, spending hours per day browsing from one link to the next, reading up on interesting blogs, trying to create interesting content and dealing with responding to other users comments.

The good news is: this usually passes. It doesn’t take us very long to get the hang of a new medium, and to filter which information is important to us and which information we can discard. We also figure out very quickly the best time for us to engage in these media. The great thing about Social Media is that there is no schedule given to us when to participate. The news are always on, not just for half an hour in the evening. This gives us the freedom to incorporate them into our day as it suits our needs. The only challenge may be for you to decide when to go offline!

Stripped to the bone
Social Media use means transparency for your organization. This may sound scary for some. But in order to achieve credibility your organization will have to strip. Transparency means that you share ideas, processes and thoughts with your peers. It doesn’t mean that you need to reveal all your development and trade secrets, but to fully benefit from the pool of ideas that you can tap into you need to open up more than you might like. It is the best way to get people to submit ideas, and your insurance against embarrassing and damaging reports about your business practices. For example, laying open that you are far from operating sustainable but you are constantly improving your practices to get there will take the wind out of the sails of those accusing you of greenwashing. Even more so if you ask people to contribute to your policies.

Loss of control of the message (NOT!)
This one I hear a lot. Organizations are scared to lose control of the messages they are communicating if they, for example, let employees blog or post videos of their daily job routine or allow people to comment on CEO blogs. Here is an interesting bit of information for you: you were never in control to begin with. On the contrary: you were even less in control than you are in the sphere of Social Media. In traditional media you have gatekeepers: journalists who decide in which light they will write about you. And their audience will not only talk about what they wrote – they will share their opinions about you, and there is no way for you to know what is actually going on in those conversations. In Social Media networks you can participate in the conversations. You can state your point of view and get an idea of how people perceive you. Never before did you have a better opportunity to communicate YOUR message, and get feedback on it!

Self-reflection
Expressing your thoughts in a medium of your choice will help you / your organization to reflect upon them and take them further. The encounter with your peers will further aid this introspection and may just broaden your view on the topic at hand. It is a valuable side effect of any form of communication, and by taking it online your trail of thought becomes archived so you (and anyone else who is interested) can revisit it anytime. See also ->

Online Archive
Social Media networks are archives of communication; and they are open! This is very useful for internal communication – an archive of topics can easily be accessed by new employees or used to refresh the memory on what has already been discussed on a project.

Gain influence
By taking part in Social Networks you will gain influence in your area because you can display your expertise. You can get your stakeholders involved in conversations that will show them that you know and care about what you’re talking about. Furthermore, issues that are being talked about in Social Media are increasingly spilling over to mainstream media and audiences once they have generated enough buzz. They can therefore also reach people who aren’t following your issues in Social Media.

Savings in communication spending
Because you are moving part of your marketing and promotion into Social Networks, you will reach people who are really interested in your products and services.Word-of-mouth and viral marketing are being used more and more, and are in some aspects replacing traditional, more expensive and less effective marketing efforts like for example direct mail. And this has a positive effect on your balance sheet.

Motivated employees
Employees that are encouraged to speak their minds in Social Media forums are not only helping the company in giving it a more personal appearance, they are reportedly actually more motivated in their jobs. Openness and participation are cornerstones of employee motivation, and allowing free speech in internal as well as external communication through Social Media is a great way of achieving that. A great example is Microsoft’s Channel 9 (I can assure you that you’ll be reading more on Channel 9 here in the future).

Dedicated customers
Binding customers to a brand is one of the main goals of every organization. Social Media networks fulfil part of this task with great effectiveness! Your customers can get to know a side of the organization that is more approachable, and they can also interact with the people behind the product or service you offer.

There are many, many more where these came from. Be sure to keep checking back in for more.

Next time on Social Media 101: Which Social Media should you use? Stay tuned!