Training Employees on Social Media

LinkedIn and Twitter are the fastest-growing social media training platforms among enterprises.

Employee training on social media strategy increased 337 percent through the first three quarters of 2013, according to a study of nearly 2,000 businesses by Grovo Learning, Inc, an online training platform for Internet skills. The study reveals Facebook as the most popular social media site companies are training employees on.

LinkedIn and Twitter are the fastest growing platforms among enterprises, with employee training growing 349 percent and 226 percent, respectively, since January. WordPress is the fastest-growing social media platform for small to mid-sized businesses with a 167.7 percent growth rate.

Although companies are doing a better job of integrating social media into their training programs, more needs to be done to improve employees’ know-how. When tested on social media concepts, the average score was a 72.1 out of 100. For individual tools, businesses score the highest on Flickr (88.6 percent correct response rate), followed by Foursquare 79.6 percent). Quiz scores were the lowest for Klout (60.7 percent) and Google Analytics (65.5 percent).

Social media training has evolved beyond avoiding brand faux pas to valuable business skills. In 2014, the best learning leaders will continue to ensure employees have the on-demand learning tools needed to keep up with social media tools required for today’s digital landscape.

Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.