How can you train your team to use social media effectively?

I recommend assessing two ways. First engage the audience to understand from them where they see their skills and knowledge level, what their strengths are, what they want to focus on and see as their gaps. I always ask the audience to share questions they want answered or specific things they want to learn so that you can ensure at a minimum they leave having all acquired that information to action. Equally important is to research each person on the platforms. Look at their profiles, what they are sharing and the conversations they are having. This together with their input will give you the needed clarity to set the training at the right level, not to overwhelm them, and leave them with a reasonable and meaningful set of steps to action.

90% of the businesses we train on LinkedIn has one superstar on social media One person who understands the power of social media and lives & breathes the brand Companies often have anywhere from half a dozen employees to 50+ that hardly ever touch social media. These people don't touch it for various reasons, but often down to lack of understanding, lack of confidence or ideas. Employee Advocacy is spreading the risk and not relying on just one person to promote your brand because the promotion is spread equally. If it's in the companies culture and DNA and one person leaves the business, you still have the visibility and promotion in place If your number 1 sales person left how would your business be impacted over the next 12 months?

Molding your team into social media masters takes patience like coaching a youth soccer team. Set guidelines for branding, content formats and crisis response. Train through simulations and role play tricky situations. Review successes and flubs - all teachable moments! Recognize all-star plays demonstrating skill. Encourage creativity and camaraderie. With ongoing guidance they'll gain confidence to pass, shoot and score social media goals like champs! Get out on that field coach! Hustle, have fun and lead your junior league to social media victory!

I break down goals to a quarterly time frame. It helps to pave a clear trajectory for each team member. Start with your goals and that of your manager, share those. Now have conversations with each team member to discuss and outline how their work connects into your goals. Write their goals to align. Work through how you can progress each goal, what milestones can be documented to act as steering posts that you're on track. I find when you start thinking through these milestones team members really get engaged because that's the 'aha' moments where they truly connect. Spend time here, this way you both wrap up the session really motivated, with clarity, and knowing how you're going to measure success.

This can be a huge issue when dealing with executives who believe social media is critically important, but then fail to support it, with tools, time, or commitments. Many opt to embrace the "shiny penny" - for example, they say, "Let's get on TikTok, we need the views!" And it works for a couple months, but then the social media person needs to post to this channel, and other channels lose engagement. Before long, that social media person realizes it's a 60-70 hour work week, not only posting, but responding to comments and questions. A good social media expert is a copy writer, designer, photographer/videographer, etc. At $20 an hour, for a salary, they burn out and their goes the voice of the company. Please folks, pay them more!

After a social media training session don't expect immediate results and complain that social media doesn't work if you don't get extra sales in 24/48 hours or even 7 days Start to measure the impact of what happens 30 days / 90 days / 180 days / 365 days after your team are consistently posting on social media The actions of many deliver a compounding effect where results multiply

By empowering your employees with social media skills, you're turning them into passionate brand advocates. They become your most valuable spokespersons, amplifying your company's message with authenticity and enthusiasm. Investing in social media training for your employees is a win-win situation. They gain valuable skills that benefit their professional growth, while your company harnesses their collective power to boost recruiting, referrals, visibility and business development.

You need to allow room for tests, innovation and failure. Make people understand how people absorb content, what to learn when something doesn’t grab the right attention and how to react when something wins on engagement. Algorithms change but so can your audience and how they want their content - so experiment, repeat what works but don’t expect it to work forever.

Not everyone on your team wants to post on social media. You can no force them or it won't be authentic and their audience will be able to tell. Find the group that wants to engage and have them champion the initiative within your organization. Provide them with the resources and training they need to be successful such as a budget for content or access to the marketing team.

Encourage employees to post more by creating a centralised place for them to access content that they can post from their personal accounts. This could include content related to products, blogs, company announcements etc. This way they have a library of content they can choose from and makes it easier for them to post. Just make sure you emphasise that they need to tailor the content so it sounds authentic. There are a number of third-party SaaS platforms that you can use as social advocacy boards which empower employees to connect their social media profiles and view content. You can even gamify social advocacy with fun leaderboards and quarterly prizes for the employees with the most engagements/new followers etc.