This is how Adidas is unlocking employee conversation potential with 10 golden rules
Adidas, the sportbrand with the 3 stripes from Germany, has come up with an extensive guideline and golden rules project for their employees regarding social media. It’s always interesting to see how an A-list brand is considering the threats and advantages of social media. Do they embrace social media at Adidas? Do they give their employees a carte blanche on the web to tell whatever they want wherever they want about their beautiful company without any restrictions on social media? At Adidas, they don’t, certainly not. They made an extensive list of 10 golden rules, a list of popular errors, and some social media guidelines.
Find the 10 golden rules below, the list of popular errors include: “…for kids onlyâ€, “… not for big companiesâ€, “… a waste of timeâ€, “… just a fadâ€, “It is too difficult…” and: “It’s not for us”.
1. You have a voice!
(…but please remember: only very few people are official spokesperson for the Group or its brands)
2. You can contribute!
(… by publishing a post on your blog, editing a wiki article, raising a question on the ATM. But remember, you are also responsible for all content you put up)
3. Be proud of your company!
(…but be aware that “for internal use only” means you shouldn’t share this with your friends on Facebook)
4. Share the news!
(…but keep quiet on topics for which you have signed a confidentiality agreement)
5. Be honest!
(…but do not comment on legal or financial issues)
6. Respect your audience!
(…never insult anybody)
7. Think twice!
(…before speaking up – and think of the consequences)
8. Have courage!
(…and be the first to correct your own mistakes, as soon as you become aware of them)
9. Use your networks!
(…but don’t cite others without approval)
10. Be a brand ambassador!
(…but remember that diplomats have an etiquette and plenty of rules to follow)
Social Media Guidelines
In the Adidas Group Social Media Guidelines, they’ve come up with some general benefits of the use of social software within the company. Find below a long bulletlist, to mention just a few:
- Increasing productivity
- Enabling a limitless enterprise collaboration
- Collecting and secure the operational know-how (Knowledge Management)
- Increasing effectiveness and efficiency of internal communication
- Avoiding duplication
- Reducing expenses for searching and finding information
- Increasing innovation capacity
- Increasing motivation and loyalty
- Redefining the corporate culture
- Easy access to experts
- Improving the quality of collaboration