ABM Industries Social Media

Social Media: ABM Industries The relevance of a social media strategy cannot be overstated. This is more so the case given that in addition to ensuring that the company does not have its interests harmed or threatened due to wrongful use of social media, a social media policy advances the interests of a business entity via such activities as marketing and customer acquisition. A social media strategy permits the organization to make optimal use of social media platforms.

It is, therefore, unfortunate that ABM Industries does not have in place a social media strategy. Being one of America's largest facility management firms, ABM offers "state-of-the-art, dependable building maintenance services ." (ABM, 2016). The company was established in 1990 as a one man show. Morris Rosenberg, the founder, saw the need to professionalize window washing which was at the time being done by anyone with a rug, soap, and access to water.

The rate of accidents, and even deaths, were quite high as most of those who were engaged by building managers to clean, particularly window cleaning in skyscrapers, possessed no training at all and did not often take safety precautions. Rosenberg identified an opportunity. More than a century later, ABM has become a household name in the professional cleaning business. Currently, it has more than 100,000 spread over various locations all over the world.

In addition to cleaning, it is important to note that ABM Industries performs a wide range of other facility services including, but not limited to, outsourcing and building maintenance. As it points out on its website, the company has come thus far thanks to its client-focus and determination to do things the right way. As a matter of fact, the company points out that it is a no shortcut enterprise -- and would never compete with another company for a job if it meant compromising its values.

As the company points out, "you may find a cheaper, short-term solution from one of our competitors, but in the long run, ' cheap and 'short-term' can cost more money than doing it the RIGHT way" (ABM Industries, 2016). Yet another good indicator of a company's long-term performance is how it relates with its employees. In addition to recognizing their skill and commitment, the company also clearly points out that it has respect for those who work for it.

As a matter of fact, the company not only meets, but also "exceed legal, union and staff demands for safe working conditions and career mobility" (ABM Industries, 2016). The company knows only too well that happy employees relate better with clients and, hence, bring more business. Looking at the company's commitment to its employees and how highly it regards them, it is surprising that it does not have in place a well-defined and clear social media strategy.

Today, social media is an inevitable amalgamation of "online tools that facilitate conversations" and interactions (Solis, 2011). It goes without saying that any business entity with more than 100, 000 employees should most definitely have in place a social media policy. In basic terms, a social media strategy provides guidelines on how the employees of a certain business entity should relate with the online world. It is important to note that irresponsible use of social media by employees could have devastating effect on an entity.

Employees could, for instance post some comments that end up compromising the good relationship a business entity has with its key stakeholders. Further, ABM Industries could get into problems of a legal nature if its employees post defamatory, untrue, or misleading info about its competitors. This begs the question, why doesn't ABM have in place a social media strategy? Since ABM Industries would not keep email or the phone from those who work for it, it would not make sense for the same company to take away social media.

It could be that the company fears loss of productivity. The dominant thinking amongst those in managerial positions is that if employees are allowed to use some social media platforms like Facebook during working hours, the company could lose out in terms of productivity (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). This is more so the case given Facebook's (our example in this case) wealth of tools and applications including status updates, games, etc.

Next, ABM Industries could be fearing that allowing social media use could end up upsetting the otherwise good relations employees have between each other and with their superiors. For instance, relations via social media could go overboard with employees ending up harassing each other. Another example is when an employee whose day at work has been rather stressful posts on Twitter about his or her experiences and the supervisor gets to see such a post. This would obviously strain relations between the concerned employee and his/her supervisor.

Third, ABM may be too worried about having the company image dented and/or confidentiality breached. To some extent, the company's concerns could be real in this case. If allowed social media access at the workplace, ABM's employees could, for instance, innocently send out tweets about some confidential business info that the company has no intention of releasing to the general public -- i.e. impending promotions, future partnerships and business associations the company could be considering, etc.

Further, an employee could post on their Facebook page something awful about the company. Some info relating to the working conditions, compensation policies, etc. are better kept within company boundaries. This is particularly the case given that competitors could be having better pay policies and when such info is shared widely (particularly given the virility of social media), comparisons are bound to be made and ABM Industries may have its image tainted.

Today, a huge percentage of conversations and interactions are taking place on the Web -- meaning that ABM Industries does not have much of an option but to develop clear policies that govern online interactions. Although all the concerns raised above could be legit, they could be easily neutralized via the adoption of a social media policy. A social media policy, as Humphreys (2015) points out, governs the interactions of employees with the online world.

ABM could, therefore, develop a social media policy as a way of ensuring that employees are aware of what is expected of them as they relate with other people online. When an organization.