The Pros and Cons of Using Social Media in the Workplace

12 Jul The Pros and Cons of Using Social Media in the Workplace

Social media, while a completely unheard of concept 20-25 years ago, is a staple of our personal and professional lives in 2022. It’s a great way to connect with people and share information, but it can be a tricky tool to perfect when it comes to companies using it for recruitment and employee engagement purposes. There’s a fine line to walk to use it effectively and avoid the risks of being taken out of context or having well-intentioned posts go viral for all the wrong reasons. 

Here are a few pros and cons to keep in mind when considering social media for your workplace. 

PROS

• It allows a direct method of communication with your potential clients and employees alike. Who better to tell your story to the world than your company? Social media is a direct conversation to anyone who cares to listen. You can announce things immediately — new hires, new open positions, new initiatives, the return of a favorite product or effort; you can share exciting news without having to wait for the news cycle to pick it up. 

• It’s an easy way to share recognition. If your company wins an award, social media allows you to share that good news through reposting — you’re not tooting your own horn, you’re just letting the world know you’ve been recognized for your excellence. Good reputations and reviews are helpful when it comes to recruiting new employees as it shows that your company is innovative, or supports worthwhile causes, or invests in its community, etc. 

• It’s a great connection to the rest of the world. Utilizing social media as a tool to help troubleshoot or answer customer or client questions can do wonders to improve your company’s publicly visible reviews. Supportive staff earn kudos and shout outs on social media — a helpful employee can be a great PR boost if they’re named, or if your company is named, in a social media post and that’s the kind of reputation builder you don’t have to pay for. People often turn to social media when they have a problem and this gives your company another avenue to step up and help. 

• In crisis communications situations, there’s no faster way to respond. We all know things sometimes go awry. Being able to jump on social and address the problem and talk about how you’re fixing it, controlling your own narrative and being responsive instantly to questions that are circulating on social, is a good way to help shape the conversation as it’s happening, in real time, instead of waiting for a more formal response to be drafted and released. 

• It’s a great, free recruitment tool that finds people where they live. By publishing and announcing job openings on social media — not just LinkedIn but Facebook and Twitter too — you’re casting a very wide net for people to find, and share, your information. That information will be in front of people quickly and someone who follows your accounts can easily send the post to a qualified friend who might be looking for a new job. Using LinkedIn does allow for the possibility of someone sending their resume faster and easier, encouraging more applicants for each position with few extra hoops to jump through. 

CONS

• Productivity can take a hit. If your company utilizes social media for any of the reasons stated above, that means your employees will have access to social media while at work as well. There are days when the world outside the workplace is far more interesting than the work in front of you; it’s very easy to lose productivity to social media at all levels of the company. “Just one more scroll” can become “where did the time go” pretty quickly. 

• A well-intentioned post can backfire. Creating a social media campaign to celebrate an industry-related holiday sounds innocent enough. But if those pre-scheduled posts come across as tone-deaf in light of what’s going on in the world when they publish, it can create really poor optics for your company, coming across as insensitive or foolish. The language used is important too — the need to use inclusive language and be equitable in what you celebrate and promote is even more important, and visible, on social media. 

• Consider the security problems. Social media platforms are open and available to anyone. This creates an unintentional backdoor for hackers to try and access your networks and share viruses or malware, leading to possible ransom attacks that could shut your operations down for hours at a time. Allowing, and using, social media for your company probably means you should invest in additional cyber security protection. 

• Bad reviews or comments are there for the world to see. You can delete your own posts, but you can’t hide or eliminate the opportunity for people to respond to what you share on social media. A social media manager within your company might have to dedicate time to monitoring responses to your posts, which can take them away from their other responsibilities. You can’t control what other people say about you nor can you stop them from saying whatever they want, even if it’s unfair or without context. 

• Consider the competition. If you’re sharing something exciting on your social channels, your direct competitors might be able to take advantage and release their own exciting news at the same time. If you’re working on similar projects and your company is set to make an announcement, your competition might beat you to it, leaving your company to look like a follower rather than a leader. 

There are many factors to consider about whether embracing social media — and to what extent you want to do so — is the right step for your company. But consider this: Lack of a presence on social media can also be a big drawback for recruiting new employees, who will see that absence as an indication that your company is behind the times and falling short of communication and innovation. Doesn’t matter if that’s true; that’s how it will look to young employees who have grown up in the digital age. 

Not sure what to do or want more advice on how to use social media as a recruitment tool? Call LeadingEdge Personnel today! We can help walk you through the decision-making process and take steps that are right for you. Call LeadingEdge today and let’s get things sorted.