How To Get Involved In Social Media
When healthcare reform became law, HR and benefits professionals I spoke with had two reactions: surprise and annoyance. Surprise, because they thought reform was dead; annoyed, because the law was full of provisions that didn’t make sense to them. But it was partly their own fault.
Blogs and other social media were buzzing with healthcare reform talk for more than a year, and were more influential than ever. But HR and benefits professionals –- experts in the topic –- were mostly on the sidelines. They didn’t shape the debate, didn’t point out when people didn’t know what they were talking about, didn’t talk about how what was proposed would affect what they did for a living.
Don’t take my word for it. A study last year on social media use by HR professionals revealed some striking results:
- Only 13 percent use RSS feeds, tags and bookmarks
- Only 5 percent post original content to blogs and website
- Only 4 percent post ratings and reviews or comments on blogs and online forums
Reform shows there are real consequences to this failure to participate in social media. If you’re not part of the conversation, you’re marginalizing yourself, losing influence within your organization and the world.
So let this be a wake-up call: Get involved in social media. Easy to say, but how do you get started? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*