Employee ambassadors on steroids

Social media has turned employees into publishers of information … and heaven help you if those publishers are pissed off

It’s one of the oldest truisms in corporate communication: Your employees are either your biggest ambassadors in the communities where they live, or they are your worst PR nightmare.

People talk about where they work. They talk a lot about where they work. What’s the first thing someone usually asks you at a party? Unless you’re really good looking, in which case the answer might be, ‘Are you here by yourself?’, the answer is probably: “What do you do for a living?”

Think about how much time you yourself spend talking about your job, your boss or your organization.

That’s why smart companies have always tried to arm employees with information they can use to be unofficial goodwill ambassadors for their organization, so that when they do talk about work, they’re not spreading false information, fueling rumors, bashing the company or otherwise hurting its position in the community.