chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Nofel Izz — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:06:50 -0000

I think that an employee should always know how to show gratitude to their company if it was giving them a good time, and this can be done through web presence. but if not having a blog can also do some nasty things to degrade the reputation of the company :D

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

CarlosX360 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:05:20 -0000

"Do you specifically mean having your own blog by establishing a web presence? I agree that those involved should be on the web. But if they have a Facebook account, LinkedIn account I would consider that to be a very good web presence. Twitter would even be one step further."

To this comment, i don't agree that going just "one route" will just do it justice. Twitter is cool and all, but you need more than that to build a "web presence." Web presence merely means that your "brand" or company is wide and far. I see a few people that are doing the same exact thing I am doing, and they have a really good idea what "web presence" really means; personal platform. PERFECT definition.

But what really bothers me is that employers DON'T want this for their employers. I don't care what you read, I read a few websites saying that employers don't want their employees to be blogging, whether it be good things about the company or bad. And even if that person isn't doing anything surrounding the company with regards to blogging, they still don't want it. They don't even encourage it; they're creating rules on not blogging, ESPECIALLY during work.

That's not all, I've read newspapers saying the same thing, what's worse is that, what they say about blogging is kinda leave it, or embrace it. On top of that, they seem to imply that the person's brand is tightly connected to the company's brand. And they say that "when a company employee spews negativity, the brand is a jerk." Its not exactly like that, but similar.

It is a very good concept if you want to take control of what people say about you. But you have to be 'there' first. That is, your brand has to be present FIRST.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Whitney — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:14:54 -0000

I agree. It opens more lines of communication to those in and outside the company, as well as reinforces how Web involvement is a give/take, multiple channel kinda deal.

I wrote a post about social networking in journalism here: http://blogs.courierpostonl...

Why are employees saying no? I find it's because they're afraid of posting things they might regret. I come from the generation that grew up on these tools and I've seen everything from naked, drunken photos to hate symbols to 'I hate my boss' tirades. Good thing to leave those off ... but do you really need to avoid these services completely to keep from embarrassment? Why not try some tact?

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Richard Arblaster — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:46:49 -0000

Now that I'm starting to get into this whole social media thing especially through twitter. I find myself looking for companies blogs when ever I go through a website.

It can give you a great insight into the way a company is thinking or what they are doing, even more so if an indivudal from that company is blogging, that way you get a more personal perspective.

If a company has a blog I tend to want to purchase something from them.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Josh Peters — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:21:37 -0000

So long as it falls inline with the corporations overall vision and strategy then yes they should. If the company as a whole is not involved in social media you run the chance of running into more Bob issues.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

John Carson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:22:51 -0000

Hey Richard (Millington), do you mean something similar to this?

http://www.lisapmaxwell.com/

JC.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Richard Millington — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:21:04 -0000

I think it makes so much sense for front-line employees to have an online presence. Imagine if customers could choose which front-line employees they wanted to speak to in future based upon their online presence?

Might make things interesting.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Brett Tilford — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:47:18 -0000

Absolutely. My new company is attempting to help people do this very thing.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

John Welsh — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:25:32 -0000

I so agree with you.

I was recently blogging at a conference ABOUT social media and the majority of the speakers had no blog while a small minority had such a small digital footprint that they were not even searchable on google.

I had to link my blog to their LinkedIn profile or even their company website so some of the speakers had no way of being alerted to the social media buzz around the conference.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Rebekkah Hilgraves -- SheTech — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:51:13 -0000

AGREE! Particularly, as another commenter points out, a major media conglomerate such as Gannett should not only require their executives and outward facing employees have a Web presence or two, but they can and should be linked and cross-linked in as many ways as possible.

One of the drums I often beat in this argument is that a Web presence such as a blog or other personal page puts a name, a face and a personality to an otherwise frightfully anonymous corporate presence. I *always* recommend LinkedIn and Naymz for an excellent professional presence. We want to know who you are; we want to know who it is we do business with on a regular basis; and in this case, we want to know who it is we're trusting with the news on which we rely so heavily! If your personal politics don't match mine, for example, do I find that your organization slants its news in that direction? Or, if we agree, do you have research avenues that I might want to know about?

By the way, you can see my LinkedIn and Naymz profiles here... ;):

LinkedIn
Naymz

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Howard Greenstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:06:28 -0000

Got called recently by a Law Firm (not one I'm working with) who asked if they could get help with SEO for their lawyers bio pages, because people were typing in these lawyer's names and getting articles they've written, conference write ups, everything except their pages at the firm.

The problem was, the firm was separating the lawyer's bios from the work they had done - no links on their main site pages to lawyers, just to articles, and no connection between the lawyers and the articles they've written.

Some firms do get the value of having a presence for outward facing employees - but execute it incorrectly.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Debbie Weil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:38:29 -0000

Chris, you make a key point for "why" a senior exec should have a Web presence... cuz she is already Googling herself. As are colleagues. And they want to be happy with the results. So it's clear they *get* the WHY of a blog or other Web presence. But fear and lack of experience seem to hold many execs back from the WHAT or the execution. A surprising number seem to think that blogging and twitter (if they know what it is) are for other folks. They care enormously about their digital footprint. But they're too busy (and important?) to work at creating and managing that footprint. Interesting, huh?!

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Debra — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:44:06 -0000

Should have a Web presence? In an ideal world, yes.

In the realistic world, no, because some folks simply don't know what to do with it. And it's not so much an age thing -- I'm 44 and people keep trying to write me off -- as a "gets it" thing. I guess I fall close to what Julie said -- it's a gene. But, as she also said, it's something that can be learend if you're willing.

I'm speaking mainly to media companies, because that's my most recent experience. In that industry, some folks understand that blogging/social media are NOT printing a newspaper via computer. It's not a one-down communication. It's interacting, it's listening to readers/customers, it's engaging them.

It's NOT posting a blog, dipping your toes in to comment only on co-workers' blogs or dropping the occasional drive-by bit of praise/criticism on other blogs. It's about immersing yourself in the online community. Being a part of it.

Until that understanding takes firm hold, media companies can Tweet (largely via RSS, how's that for interactive), Pluck or Facebook as much as they want. It won't help a bit until they make proper execution a priority.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Elliot Ross — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:13:47 -0000

@Steve

That is exactly the issue; Jeremiah Owyang - Web Strategist - whose 'Brand' is that? Jeremiah's or Forrester's?

If he leaves tomorrow (as Charlene Li did) does the brand follow Jeremiah or Forrester?

If it only follows Jeremiah, what value for Forrester.

Other comments state that marketing should be doing it - I have read that the average tenure of senior marketing offices is about 2 years.

So is that 'outward presence' having to be rebuilt every two years when JSmith leaves & JDoe starts?

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Elizabeth — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:51:59 -0000

I work for Gannett and I can tell you that these guys do have web presences. You can find it if you look for it.

BUT, I also recognize the fact that there is a huge difference between ‘transparency’ and ‘public craziness’.
Do I really want to read about what any of the Gannett guys have to say about their lives (professional or other wise) on their blogs(if they have them)? No.

In my world, ideas should go hand in hand with real actions. I don't want to read about it. gosh, what good is that?

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

williamarruda — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:40:19 -0000

Hello Chris,

With every presentation I deliver (I am a public speaker), I ask the audience to raise their hands if they have ever googled themselves and nearly 100% of hands go up. Then I ask them if they have ever googled someone they work with and the result is nearly the same.

Everyone in the company needs an online identity that is consistent with their real-world personal brand. In a world that is becoming more virtual, people are using the web to learn about colleagues, managers, prospective employees, clients, customers, etc. Rarely are we co-located with everyone we work with. People are using the web (and corporate intranets) to learn about and make decisions about their colleagues. It’s reality today.

In Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, we devoted TWO chapters to the topic of online branding (this is the topic of our next book). When we researched this for the book, we learned that people make decisions about your Google results based on two factors: The volume of results and the relevance of those results. If someone doesn’t know you personally, you ARE your Google results. SO deliberately managing your online ID is critical in the new world of work (of course, just like real-world branding, you need to base your online brand in authenticity – who you really are).

To help people understand how strong their online brand is, we developed the Online ID Calculator (It’s free!) and just through word of mouth, we have had nearly 40,000 people use it. So we know that people care about how they show up on the World Wide Web. You can use the calculator here: www.onlineidcalculator.

Thanks for starting this conversation, Chris.

William Arruda
www.reachcc.com

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Julie Roads — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:42:03 -0000

I agree AND I think it's incredibly hard to get people to participate and have a blog, though offering to help them set it up, manage it and write it helps!

Sometimes, I think that blogging and social media participation require a specific gene...some have it, some don't, some are willing to try even if it isn't in-bred.

As always, thanks for writing...

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

twitter Meryl333 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:03:24 -0000

Clearly an outward employee needs a presence. The question is how much of one? ... and where? The subject of further posts?

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Chris Higgins — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:35:12 -0000

Here in India many companies, let alone senior employees, have yet to establish an internet presence. For small companies its understandable, but these are big multi-store organizations with no online presence at all (not even a page with phone numbers) so if you want info then you have to actually go to the store.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Danny Brown — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:17:35 -0000

I feel any company involved in media - traditional, social or otherwise - needs to have an online presence.

This is the same Gannett that bought Ripple 6, right? To increase their social media presence?

It's a little bit harder to take a media company seriously if they're not utilizing media to its fullest. Hopefully the Ripple deal and their ability to let guys like you in to talk to them shows a more forward thinking mindset about to become the norm.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Matt | Small Biz Bee — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:57:11 -0000

I think you have to have an external presence, no questions asked. This is a great example of why old media is a dying breed...guys running these companies just don't it. Does not suprise me at all that a newspaper companies top brass don't have online profiles, while a cutting edge companies like Zappos do.

Matt

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

David H. — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:23:52 -0000

"Links Are Love" That's great.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Andrea Hill (afhill) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:23:13 -0000

This came up for me the other day: my organization is working towards being more engaged with social media. For most folks, the first step is to listen, and then to comment, and finally to start creating new content. It struck me that with each comment comes the opportunity to link to a URL.. and if my co-workers aren't yet blogging, where should they link to? Their bio on our site? Their linkedin profile? Or do they set up a blog in anticipation of their future activities.

I've had my own URL since 97, so I've never really had to consider this before. Should there be a default "web bio" for all?

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Ari Herzog — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:54:29 -0000

A media conglomerate like Gannett should include requisite profiles for its top executives, and managers/employees should be granted the right (presuming sites aren't blocked) to have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc to promote the company.

Smaller media firms, such as regional/local papers and TV stations, pose a different situation -- but one that is more troubling for me when trying to find editors and producers.

Re: Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence

Thao Ly — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:33:52 -0000

I think having an online presence is important. It lets people find you and makes it easier to network. Whether its having a blog or a Twitter account or a LinkedIn profile. An online presence makes it easier for people to get to know you.I don't have a blog, but I use a variety of social medias to establish myself online.