You are correct: higher education is a challenging environment for controlling employee voices/behavior. Faculty are renowned at speaking their minds and in challenging administrative decisions, brand messages and images. In fact, such openness is valued in higher education. So, you’re not going to silence critics. It’s one thing to value authenticity in social media and be open to criticism, but it’s another to have criticism in social media coming from within (especially when it’s not entirely informed).

The solution? An on-going dialogue with faculty and staff by the CMO or marketing leaders on issues such as branding, social media, and what’s in all of our best interests. What to do when criticism does come from within? Usually I’d say to let it go; but that depends on context and severity of comments (however, face to face communication is usually a good way to deal with conflict).

This post was mentioned on Twitter by BurrellesLuce: BurrellesLuce blogger @ValerieSimon: “When Personal and Institutional Brands Collide” http://budurl.com/ghle…