Social media is not limited to external audiences, according to Gia Lyons, an internal communications authority with Jive Software. Employees are also social media marketers, they just don’t know it yet, she said.

Lyons offers a blueprint for the launch of social media within organizations, identifying both pitfalls and best practices:

• Employees can and do commit social media gaffes, such as giving away company secrets or projecting an offensive corporate image. All the more reason to engage them as social marketers to be guided, Lyons said.
• Organizations should consider an organized approach to assist employees as social media marketers, such as creation of a common online space where they can share and where they can be led.
• Some employees will be more adept at social media than others and the challenge is to find these individuals and enlist their support. Identify existing bloggers, tweeters and Facebookers and recruit them to assist the company with social media.
• Social media is not top-down, so to be successful with social media means engaging, not ordering, employees. Seek out their input into social media guidelines that define best practices.
• Companies serious about social media should communicate with employees concerning plans for social media programs. Instead of just telling employees you’ll get fired if you commit a social media gaffe, offer them ideas on how to do it right.
• Social media is all about growth, beginning from the inside of an organization and extending to external communities. Engage and energize your employees to obtain the maximum results from social media.

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