Success with social media for employee benefits Jun 9, 2010 By Jennifer Benz

Please send the poster, Social Media and Benefits referred to in this article. My address is - 7181 South Campus View Drive, West Jordan, UT 84084

Thank you very much

How do you use Social Media to communicate about stock plan benefits? When benefits are not broad-based, can social media still be used? ESPP plans may be offered in one country and not another or some employees may receive stock options and others may not. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Jen

I love the poster. If anyone is doubting the power, or necessity, of using social media as part of an overall benefits communication strategy, they must be in denial.

Because of the rapid pace at which technology moves, we have the most diverse workforce in history. The life experiences, expectations, and preferred communication mediums of our employees could not be more varied. While social media isn't the end all be all, it should be an integral part of every benefits communication strategy.

Gary -- It is on the way!

Kevin -- Thank you! Great to hear your feedback!

Elizabeth -- Great question! When benefits differ significantly by country, it's often best to target your social media channels by country to ensure you're delivering relevant information to your audience. For example, a benefits blog could be built on a by-country basis, and so could a benefits-related microblog. If an employee population isn't big enough to justify multiple blogs, just be sure you're really clear about identifying your posts.

Same is true for benefits topics where not all employees in a given country are not eligible to participate: be up front about who is eligible just as you would in any online or paper-based benefit content you provide to employees.

Hope that is helpful. Please let us know if you have more questions!

Jen,

You have great articles on this blog and I appreciate all the insight! We're thinking about starting a Benefits Blog at our company (a Media company in NYC; so it's quite fitting). I'm in the researching stages and am wondering if you have a Top 10 of what NOT to do or a Top 10 Thing to Think about Before Starting a Benefits Blog?? Any help is great!

I still haven't been able to get in touch with anyone I know who started a B.Blog at their workplace. Do you have any info on a company's experience with one?

Thanks

Hi Brooke! Thanks for the feedback. We have a TON of tips on launching and maintaining a benefits blog and have done so for many many clients. The social media poster (above) has some tips. AND, we're about to launch a toolkit to give you the full scoop--and a content subscription so you don't have to do all the writing yourself!--but in the meantime, please email me for more info: jen@benzcommunications.com

Thanks so much!

Hi again, this is open to anyone who reads this...

We're looking into starting a Benefits Blog as our company (see my post above). I'm having issues finding exactly what I need at common blog creation websites (word press and blogger.com). We need it to be private so only employees can view it, but we don't want them to have to create an account somewhere to remember yet one more username and password! Is there a way to do this?

Thanks!

Hi Brooke, Yes, lots of options for where your blog lives. Happy to set up a time to chat with Leslie and get all your questions answered.