Nancy B. • When it comes to training your staff on social media, I think a smart place to start is with a clear, succinct (yet, First-Amendment-conscientious-written) social media policy. Every company should have a very clear understanding of who is involved in representing the company - and who isn't. Every company should have a very clear understanding of a social media crisis communication plan (in essence, who's involved AND what happens when there's a social media crisis). Every company - and all departments involved (i.e., HR, IR, PR, marketing, etc.) - should have a very clear understanding of the goals and objectives of a social media strategy. All of this would be ideally covered - and should start - in a social media policy. Any company that simply takes the "hands off" approach (i.e.g, "no training" - as you cite) is asking for trouble. Social media, for as much as it's talked about, is still in its infancy, and even if you do understand today's social media landscape, it changes so regularly it's hard for anyone to keep tabs on things. I could be biased, but I strongly recommend bringing in the pros on this one. They simply have the best kind of insight into this world and can certainly take a lot off of an organization's plate when it comes to strategy, training, policies, etc.

Axel S. • Thanks Nancy - I agree that companies should have social media guidelines and a strategy that is purpose driven etc. but it here is the catch 22 - How do you and your team get to know all this?

Nancy B. • I think the buy in, support, and communication has to come from the top down. And by that, yes, I mean the c-suite. You can't have all of the things I mentioned above without having a CEO who fully buys into and supports social media. After active listening, while the strategy and policy are being noodled out, and before any proactive efforts begin, communication should come from a CEO to an organization detailing what initiatives will happen, when they will happen, and perhaps most importantly, who will be involved. Does that make sense? In other words: The general, "We're getting involved with social media, this is how it will happen, and who will be responsible for the execution" communication comes from the CEO. The details come from specific people within the organization (CMO and staff, HR and staff, IR and staff, etc.).

Arturo F. • Axel, training staff on social media is like training them on public speaking. Some will not want to do it. Some will take on the challenge and be lousy at it. Some will embrace the thought and do nothing. Some will become one with the audience after a little taste of the elixir. Through it all, Management will be sweating bullets at what anybody is saying that is not part of the approved company script, which will be perpetually behind schedule in getting published and will be obsolete by the time it arrives to the staff's hands.

BUT...

If some visionary internal communicator cuts the chords of corporate zealotry by hand-picking other gifted communicators to educate a team who incorporates into its way of thinking the personality of the company, and this team is able to speak with one voice not a mantra but a core set of beliefs about how the business distinctly benefits the customer base, and if they're permitted to elaborate on these beliefs in response to feedback from those customers, without constraints that stultify dialogue, then this social media team will become a crucial extension of public relations and sales as public speakers that they are.

Really, the way I see training staff on social media is not much different than how I'd train public speakers to represent the company to customers, prospects or the media.

mark S. • actually, my staff and associates train me more than the other way around.

Gail C. • Arturo, I agree that social media should be looked at as an "extension of public relations and sales". It can be critical to the awareness building piece of your marketing plan. It should be managed carefully and like Nancy says, "supported from the top down". It just makes good sense! In this free eBook, The C-Level Guide to Growing Awareness, Leads and Revenue, Part 1 there are some chapters about using social media: http://fusionmarketingpartners.com/resources/ourresources/download-this-complimentary-ebook/
Hope this helps!

Eric E. • We did several hours of in house training and created a social media policy so that our our whole 800 person team understood what we do online impacts the company just like it does in person. Training was led by our in house social media team in marketing. But we did training by functional business unit and talked about Joe social media applied to them. We then asked for volunteers who wanted to be ambassadors on social media and got a good number of volunteers. This approach worked for us.

Akhmat F. • easy to give train our staff if them have dream to success in digital era...i think the fist is motivation of staff.

Matt H. • Having a clear policy that openly talks about what to do and what not to do is critical. Facebook is the most-blocked website in the US, but it is impossible to block on a mobile device. So instead of blocking Facebook, I would advocate long-term strategic training.

When issuing a policy, it should come with mandatory training. Some people above have talked about the training, and some have talked about a policy. I think it is critical that employees be aware of what is expected, why it is expected, and what the consequences of not adhering to the policy are. Because consequences aren't just to the individual, there can be consequences to the brand or company from wayward social media platforms.

Eric talked about finding people in the company interested in being ambassadors, and that's one key objective that can come out of training. Kodak found their Blogger by asking inside the company for people who blog. She answered and has successfully authored a company blog since. Finding and identifying experts, as Mark siad, can help you set up reverse mentoring systems that allow a fruitful mentorship in both directions.

Start with a policy, then have a strategy or training that never ends. From the training, have reverse mentoring objectives and expertise lists. Know who plays World of Warcraft, who blogs, who has a podcast, etc. Then, if the brand decides to tinker in those tactics, it will have people to turn to.

Create other metrics for training and do random tests (for example, you could create fake personas and try to befriend employees). I know of complines that test vulnerabilities by leaving thumb drives in the parking lot, hoping someone will pick it up and plug it in. Generate training, some key metrics, and then how to measure.

Good luck.