The growth of social media is explosive. And, if you are thinking about participating in social media, your brand strategy is more important than ever. Social media gives your employees a direct line of communication to your audience. Do your employees understand your brand? Are they able to communicate with your audience in a way that is both engaging and reflective of the company brand?

As you start planning for 2010 and consider engaging in social media, an organizational assessment might be a wise investment. An organizational assessment can determine if there is congruence between employee opinions and your company’s brand values. High congruence = a strong brand that is lived by employees. This process will identify those employees that are most aligned with the brand, and therefore most likely to successfully represent your brand through social media. And, conversely, it will also identify the people that probably should not be participating in social media for your company. If you find there is a high level of incongruence between the company values and employee’s perception, you have an opportunity for an internal branding campaign to re-educate and re-engage your employees.

In addition to an organizational assessment, you should also consider developing a social media policy. This policy should make all expectations clear, while still making employees feel like they have a voice. To see examples of other corporate social media policies, visit IBM or Intel.  Both IBM and Intel do a good job of making employees feel empowered to speak, but reminding them they are speaking on behalf of their company and their profession and they should be respectful, thoughtful and insightful at all times.

If you are going to entrust employees to communicate on your brand’s behalf, it is critically important to ensure that they understand company's brand values and can abide by company policy.