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Ideas for trainers: How to use social media

03 May 2012

Chris Marr of Chris Marr Consultancy presented an informative guide to making use of social media and Web 2.0 technology at the recent Glasgow Welcomes In-house Licensed Trainers' Development Workshop, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.

For many staff working within the tourism and hospitality business, the world of social media remains something of a mystery. With little time inside working hours to focus on the fast-moving developments of the Word Wide Web, getting to grips with even the most basic elements of social media platforms can seem like being faced with a long, steep and arduous climb of a lofty mountain.

But social media is a highly effective form of communication and in many cases it’s free. If you also employ younger staff, the chances are they will be far more used to using the likes of Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and Twitter than the telephone or email. This can mean that communicating with staff could be easier if managers were to employ the right social media platforms.

We could talk endlessly about the benefits of today’s social media world, but Chris was asked to speak specifically about using social media and web 2.0 technologies for in-house trainers, and particularly the trainers who are delivering the Glasgow Welcomes Service Excellence courses.

What is social media good for?

  • Free and fast communication
  • Communication and engagement on a more informal level
  • Staff training support
  • For people who prefer not to communicate face-to-face (this could apply to shy staff)
  • Efficient
  • Inclusive of many people at once
  • Platforms can be created to speak to a specific group of staff
  • The conveying of consistent messages to a large number of people
  • Environmentally friendly because social media relies less on paper forms
  • Provides a good on-line resource for information
  • Ideal for sharing resources among a large number of staff
  • It’s a great way to keep people up to date on in-house developments
  • Useful for feedback, polling and surveys.

Useful social media platforms

Posterous.com 

This free social media platform offers private spaces on-line for sharing communication, media, discussion and documents.  It’s possible to post anything, anywhere via a PC, iPad or Smart Phone and create customised spaces and domains.

Google docs 

Google Docs is basically a suite of products that allows you to create different kinds of online documents, work on them in real time with other people and store your documents and other files – all online and all for free. This is the perfect place for sharing documents on-line. It’s possible to create forms and surveys, which can be accessed by specified staff.

Dropbox 

This resource allows you to share folders of information, documents, photos and video on-line. It’s a free service that means you’ll never need to email yourself a file again. You can also give other people access to your dropbox folders so this would make a good platform for storing relevant training materials and information resources.

YouTube 

This is the place to create and store videos. Some trainers might prefer to create videos for training purposes. Perhaps it is proving difficult to bring staff together for a brief business update, or new employment guidelines. If so, a YouTube video could do this for you. So long as staff have computers they can take a look at the video at their leisure.

Skype 

A great way to communicate through your computer, either by voice only or video. The service is free, although there is a charge for video conferencing. Again, this social media platform makes communication a great deal easier if you have remote staff or if it is proving difficult to meet up in one room. 

Prezi 

If you know and use PowerPoint for presentations, Prezi will appeal. Prezi sells itself as: “A cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides.” The zoomable canvas make presentations fun and allows other people to share in the presentation. It’s creative, based on-line and would provide a good platform for creating training material and resources.

Twitter 

A great business networking site that makes it easy to share news and information. Tweets must be 140 characters or less so the messages need to be short and to the point. Twitter is also a good source of knowledge because you can search for topics and trends that people are talking about. Twitter would make a good place for contacting staff, too.

LinkedIn 

This is the professional person’s social media network and a great place for sharing news, information and blogs. It’s possible to create discussion areas and invite people to join in the discussions. Group discussions can be a good way to get staff interacting, and without the need to call a real-time meeting.

SurveyMonkey 

Electronic surveys save paper and time and can be a highly efficient way to gather feedback from employees. The service offers 10 free surveys per month and 100 respondents. After that you’ll need to pay. Survey Monkey is a good platform if you require feedback, or if you poll, test option or require information from a range of people.

WordPress 

If you need to create a blog or a web page, Wordpress is a free platform. With a little on-line tuition, it is possible to set up a blog or web-page that can be useful for offering information and resources relevant to your staff and company.

* We hope this gives you some valuable ideas… 

For further information on how to join the growing band of Glasgow Welcomes In-House Trainers, contact Karen at glasgowwelcomes@glasgowservicewithstyle.com.  By signing up to this city-wide programme, you could gain a licence to deliver the acclaimed 1 day Delivering Service Excellence course to your team, and additionally benefit from the networking trainer workshops and ongoing support.