Every business can take a lesson from the playbook of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Along with dozens of other health care organizations, the CDC has embraced social media and is going viral with the news about the H1N1 virus. As of September, tens of thousands of people had viewed CDC videos on YouTube and listened to podcasts. Over 1 million people follow CDC tweets on Twitter and 30,000-plus people are fans of the CDC Facebook page. What the CDC has learned is that social media can help a business:
- Provide timely, accurate, and credible information
- Increase public awareness, knowledge and adoption
- Guide public expectations
- Incorporate consumer, employee and public feedback
While technology and social media can’t immunize a business or its employees against the effects of a pandemic, it can help minimize business disruption caused by high and extended rates of absenteeism. Now is the time to get connected. In addition to using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with customers and employees, virtual private networks or remote access software like GoToMyPC makes telecommuting an affordable and convenient solution for businesses of all sizes to keep individual employees and teams working. And in taking a lesson from the classroom, teachers in several school districts have introduced Skype, a free voice-over-Internet application, to their students. When students are absent, the teacher sets up a webcam in the classroom and absent students call in to “attend” class.
Employees too can stay in touch with co-workers and customers even when they are forced to stay home to take care of children or feeling under the weather themselves. Social media, often blamed for siphoning off work-productivity, is actually providing a booster shot for business. Electronic and social media technologies can help inoculate a business against the severe loss of productivity due to high absenteeism should the H1N1 virus attack your employees or their families.
Join the Bizmore discussion: Can someone please explain Twitter?
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