Aug 6, 2010

The Social Media Celebrity Employee and Employment Branding

This is a great article on a trend that we will see more and more. Currently, it's media organizations who face this situation - but as more and more organizations move to being content and community creators - leveraging social media we'll see this happening in more and more across industries.

As business move from social media marketing to becoming social-enabled business - more and more organizations will grapple with these issues. Also see earlier post on "when your employee brand ambassadors leave"

Dealing With Employees Who Are Social Media Celebrities
The irony in most cases is that the employee attained “celebrity” status in large part because of the company he or she worked for. The company name backing them gave immediate authority to the public.

The employee’s own abilities, however, took the company name and endowed authority to the level that made it truly beneficial to both the company and the employee. They need each other more than they think they do.

The pressure social media and employee celebrities bring to the workplace is mostly positive. It changes the dynamic from “human resources” to “talent management” and that’s really a good thing for everyone.

Businesses will get better people, employees will be better people, and customers reap the benefits from the whole arrangement. Employee celebrities will be viewed as a threat in some companies, but they’ll be rock stars in other companies. Social media gives every organization yet one more thing to consider for the future of their business.