Building Workplace Relationships through Social Media

Tag: Career Development 

There has been increasing trend in the usage of social media in the past few years. People are so much attached to social media that it now touches almost every section of our lives. Still, social media continues to grow and its functions keep on expanding. Matter of fact, it is all about community, interaction and building networks.

Especially, it's about building relationships with people. Social media, however, has many benefits, ranging for personal to professional benefits. The impact of social media in the workplace is increasing quite a lot as well. This trend has put an impact on the communication among managers, employees and job applicants. Also, it has created an impact on how we develop relationships.

The most effective social media platform for improving professional communication can be (LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Viber, Whatsapp).Through social media, you get the chance to expand your social network. But the question lies in, how will you make best use of social media in order to build workplace relationship? Here are some tips to improve your workplace relationship through social media;

Employee Engagement

With the use of social media, one can create a platform in developing their relationships within the workplace. It can act as an informal channel for communication within the staff members. By getting people to participate in the company's communication like chat, video sharing etc, will allow them to understand the goal of the company.

After knowing the main purpose and its importance, employees will start their way on higher engagement. Basically, social media will increase the engagement of the employee in the workplace and also, the relation between them will strengthen according with the time.

Know Who to Follow

Informal communication with your co-workers takes place in the workplace on everyday basis. But special attention should be given to decide whom to follow in your social sites is a must. It might be a good idea to follow your manager or your supervisor in your social networking sites but it's like having to put a picture of you and your beloved in your Facebook where you have to either block your relatives or put the picture in custom i.e. there can be the presence of a lot of restrictions.

So, it's better if you have an online circle where your office mate, the interns, the receptionists or the cooks are included.

Identify a Common Goal

Within every organization, there exists a common goal, which depends on the focus of the business. As it is important for all the employees to be on the same page in terms of what your organization is striving for, identifying a common goal can come with number of benefits.

For some, it can be a little awkward to know a complete stranger but then, every person who we call them as our ‘close friends’ were once a stranger too. Perhaps, talking on the social media about something you’re interested on can make a good conversation. After all, there’s nothing more important than to have a similar mindset with someone.

Seek Feedback

Relationships don’t just happen but it requires certain time and effort. With your growing network and gaining energy, now’s the time to ask for feedback. This can be a good way of developing a relationship with someone. Asking questions let the other person share the information, while you listen.

Basically, interacting with your co-workers by gaining feedback in social media, you can have something to share with each other in the workplace as well.

Examine if they Desire to Connect

There might be some workers who might want to do their work in a formal manner. Pursuing them to be in social media and trying to connect them might be useless. So, it’s better if you make some time in your lunch hour and start a casual talk with them. Then, you can try to enquire their opinion on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Viber, Whatsapp or LinkedIn.

If you know their opinion on social media then it will be easier for you to connect either in social media or in the workplace as well. Every relationship teaches us something and by building positive relations with others, we can be happier, feel more supported and connected. Also, social media allows you to quickly learn about your co-workers, from what they share and your interactions with them.