ABM Industries Social Media Strategy: Why It Matters

Introduction: ABM Industries and the Social Media Gap

The relevance of a social media strategy cannot be overstated. Beyond protecting a company's interests from the harmful consequences of wrongful social media use, a well-crafted social media policy actively advances a business through activities such as marketing and customer acquisition. A social media strategy permits an organization to make optimal use of social media platforms. It is, therefore, unfortunate that ABM Industries does not have in place a formal social media strategy.

Company Background and Core Values

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 1909 as a one-man operation. Morris Rosenberg, the founder, saw the need to professionalize window washing, which at the time was performed by anyone with a rag, soap, and access to water. The rate of accidents, and even deaths, was quite high, as most of those engaged by building managers to clean — particularly for window cleaning in skyscrapers — possessed no training and rarely took safety precautions. Rosenberg identified an opportunity. More than a century later, ABM has become a household name in the professional cleaning business. Currently, it employs more than 100,000 workers spread across various locations around the world. In addition to cleaning, ABM Industries performs a wide range of other facility services including, but not limited to, outsourcing and building maintenance.

As the company points out on its website, it has achieved this growth thanks to its client focus and determination to do things the right way. ABM is explicit that it is a no-shortcut enterprise and would never compete with another company for a job if doing so meant compromising its values. As the company states, "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). Another good indicator of a company's long-term performance is how it relates to its employees. In addition to recognizing their skill and commitment, ABM clearly states that it has respect for those who work for it — not only meeting, but also exceeding "legal, union and staff demands for safe working conditions and career mobility" (ABM Industries, 2016). The company understands that happy employees relate better with clients and, consequently, bring in more business.

Why ABM Industries Lacks a Social Media Strategy

Given the company's stated commitment to its employees and the high regard in which it holds them, it is surprising that ABM does not have a well-defined social media strategy in place. Today, social media represents an inevitable amalgamation of "online tools that facilitate conversations" and interactions (Solis, 2011). Any business entity with more than 100,000 employees should most definitely have a social media policy. In basic terms, a social media strategy provides guidelines on how employees of a business entity should engage with the online world. Irresponsible use of social media by employees could have a devastating effect on an organization — employees could, for instance, post comments that compromise a company's relationship with key stakeholders. Furthermore, ABM Industries could face legal problems if its employees post defamatory, untrue, or misleading information about competitors. This raises the question: why doesn't ABM have a social media strategy in place?

Since ABM Industries would not withhold email or telephone access from its employees, it would make little sense to effectively ban social media either. One likely reason is fear of lost productivity. The dominant thinking among those in managerial positions is that if employees are allowed to use platforms like Facebook during working hours, the company could suffer productivity losses (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). This concern is amplified by the wealth of distracting tools and applications such platforms offer, including status updates and games. Additionally, ABM Industries may fear that permitting social media use could disrupt the otherwise healthy relationships employees maintain with one another and with their supervisors. For example, online interactions could escalate into harassment between colleagues. In another scenario, an employee who has had a stressful day might post about the experience on Twitter, only for a supervisor to see it — straining the professional relationship between them.

Conclusion

ABM Industries was selected for this analysis because of the company's global reach, the size of its workforce, and its considerable age and institutional reputation. It came as a surprise that a company with more than 100,000 employees and dozens of offices across the world would operate without a social media strategy. It is hoped that ABM will recognize the need for a social media policy and adopt one in order to provide clear parameters and guidelines to employees regarding social media use. In addition to protecting the company's brand, such a move would shield ABM Industries from potential legal suits and negative press arising from the wrongful use of social media by its workforce.

References

ABM. (2016). Our company. Retrieved from http://www.abm.com/pages/our-company.aspx

Humphreys, A. (2015). Social media: Enduring principles. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010, January–February). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68.

Solis, B. (2011). Engage!: The complete guide for brands and businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.