There is a belief, I’d go along with, which states that for social media to be most effective it should be done in-house.
However, there is a problem with that way of thinking in Vietnam. When I suggested to one client that perhaps I’d be better off training, rather than doing, she shook her head.
“If you train my staff, “ she said. “They will leave”
An usual attitude in the West, perhaps, but not so in Vietnam. And most likely not in other developing countries too.
You want your staff to be good enough but perhaps not noticeably better than anyone else’s. Invest in them and all you’re doing is assisting them to leave. Or so local thinking can go.
It’s a common complaint I’ve heard from frustrated expats developing workforces in both commercial and non profit roles. For many staff long-term opportunities and stability are less important than a little more money right now.
It’s not for me to go deeper into the reasons behind this but it does leave management and owners with a problem.
Most initially get around this by taking on social media activity themselves. In the short term they achieve limited results. In the long term they find themselves further overworked and spread far too thinly.
So increasingly, they are looking to offload the burden. The truth is for them, an external agency is seen as more likely to offer a sustainable, long-term, consistent “voice” than a here-today-gone-tomorrow employee.
You’d certainly expect it to change as Vietnam continues to develop commercially. Hopefully there will be more incentives for staff to stay with a company and more opportunities for advancement and eventual financial rewards.
In the meantime, if Vietnamese bosses are concerned staff will leave, then probably the last thing they also want is for them to be allowed to network online.
And so another route to a social media presence and personal online development is closed.
