Businesses have always had many reservations about social media: Anxiety makes them above all the lack of controllability of their Employees. But the managers will have to swallow the pill because the new forms of communication are breaking up old hierarchies and structures.

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The fears of business

Understandably, a company has to pay more attention to legal requirements such as imprint requirements, data protection regulations or liability issues than private individuals. In addition to legal concerns and security issues, companies fear above all the lack of security Control about what their employees do.

These are fears that are slow to break out and that go much further in some companies: In many places, firewalls are used to prevent employees from using social media services such as Twitter at all because they do not want to waste valuable working time.

Control prevents information flow!

Apart from that, these schemes with smartphones light can be circumvented - unless you also carry out bag checks - companies cut themselves off from the flow of information Internet away. And from that growing group of professionals who Digital-Native generation, for whom social media is simply part of it - as a working tool. Because Twitter enables a much faster exchange of information than, for example eMails and is not just limited to sender and receiver. In addition, tweeting happens spontaneously - that's exactly what makes it work Communication so authentic.

It goes without saying that this open communication behavior among equals clashes with the hierarchical control and instruction structures of traditional companies. Because in many companies, the blessing from above has to be obtained for every message that is given outside. Even if, of course, hastily tweeted internal information could influence the share price or justify third-party liability claims: It would be better clear to specify defined rules as to what may and may not be tweeted, and then to let the employees act independently. However, trust is required here. On the other hand, control frenzy and lengthy approval processes practically prevent Twitter in companies. Because, of course, real live communication cannot work that way!

Example: Daimler

An example of good approaches that are not yet optimal Solution represented was the Strategy von Daimler: The group regularly tweets the latest from the company on a news channel, but completely refrains from dialogue with the followers. There is also a second account on which three employees regularly tweet accompanying live events and also respond to inquiries.

The reason for the division was certainly that in an international group, a handful of employees are not all Ask about the company as a whole - on the one hand because of the clarity, but on the other hand for sure also because they are not every Information to release freely. Therefore, you limit yourself to a specific area and a manageable number of followers. They also appreciate the efforts: The interest in the dialogue channel is far greater than in the pure one Company-News. For Uwe Knaus, who launched the first corporate blog of a DAX company at Daimler two years ago, social media and Twitter also offer other advantages.

Krisenkommunikation via Twitter

In an interview that appeared on a blog a few months ago, he said: “My personal Opinions is that the 'social' in social media doesn't mean social, non-profit or even charitable. Rather, what is meant is the diverse conversations that take place in a network and are not always easy to locate. This development requires professional listening – some also call it monitoring.

Now that I know where and how my company or brands are being talked about, social media offers me numerous opportunities to participate in these conversations.” An opportunity that the group recently made use of when Daimler was pilloried by the media because the group took blood samples from applicants. Daimler responded to the many critical inquiries with a blog post that was published on Twitter, among other things. Crisis communication probably did not provide everyone critic satisfied, but the positive reactions in the social media scene showed that the company's efforts to be open were generally appreciated.