Ten tips for introducing social media into your internal communication strategy
How social media can be incorporated into your communication matrix and used to create more employee collaboration.
Collaboration is fundamental to employee engagement in organizations today where relationships have changed; hierarchies are disappearing; knowledge is more in demand; and individuals expect employers to provide tools that allow them to communicate freely.
Technology makes it possible for employees to connect and communicate easily and quickly across functions, hierarchies, divisions and countries. This sharing of ideas, opinions and knowledge generates incredibly valuable information, vital for informed strategic decision making and, ultimately, business survival.
We recently published Collaboration in Action − a white paper on the topic of social media and how it can be used within an organization. I strongly believe that these tools should be viewed as part of an integrated communication suite and the paper aims to demystify the tools, share case studies and provide practical advice on using social media as part of the internal communication mix.
Here I outline my 10 top tips on how to begin to incorporate social media platforms into your communication strategy.
- Assess your current situation
Decide your purpose for using social media. Think about the culture, demographic, structure and communication preferences of your workforce; different styles of organizations are more suited to using social media. For example, the rise of remote workers, virtual teams or freelancers means communicators now have to deliver messages that will unite and engage employees who don’t have day-to-day interaction in an office environment.
This change in working patterns could be seen as an obstacle to effective communication. But, in reality, fast, accessible and inclusive tools are ideal to reach this "hidden" part of the workforce. Technology offers new opportunities to communicate.
- Find groups already using collaboration tools and talk to them
For internal communicators, the hard work lies in assessing the company and working out what solution is most appropriate, based on the business objectives and the wider communications strategy. Talking to people who are already using these tools outside of work is a great place to start. There are also lots of case studies available on how companies are using social media internally (see the recommended resources list below) – these form an important part of developing your business case.
- Set objectives
In the same way you would with any other communications channel.
- Ensure alignment with existing communication strategies
Whatever the channel, it must dovetail with everything else you're doing − not act in isolation.
- Assess the technology available
It can be baffling, so do your research; our white paper gives a clear overview of the different types of social media tools and collaboration platforms available.
Your colleagues are already talking to each other about your business, your decisions and working practices. The big question facing business leaders is how to harness the effort. The good news is that unless you opt for a bespoke option, much of the hard work has already been done: the technology is readily available to use, inexpensive to launch and easy to maintain.
There are some key stand-alone tools available that internal communication professionals should have on their radar; some, such as Twitter and Blogger, are already well known outside of the workplace and can be used within an organization to enhance knowledge-sharing capabilities; encourage collaboration; improve working practices; and increase productivity. These tools can be easily introduced with minimum effort and financial outlay; they provide a solid grounding for internal communicators starting out in the social media arena.
- Develop the business case
The business case for creating a collaborative environment is well documented. However, in this climate, budgetary concerns may be raised. If this happens, suggest a small-scale trial, using the readily available tools mentioned above, that focus on providing bottom-line results for the company.
You could use social media tools as a way to collect cost-saving ideas; share best-practice between departments, offices or countries on a specific project; use a Wiki to save time and resources creating live documents; create a blog to discuss innovative ideas for new business development; or stay one-step ahead by using RSS feeds and bookmarking to share industry and competitor knowledge.
- Develop the implementation plan
Write and distribute a social media policy to provide guidance for employees on how the different platforms should be used. Decide how you will launch the new tool and introduce staff training.
Don’t forget to think about how the channel will operate on a day-to-day basis. To maintain content quality, leaders and communication professionals need to deliver well thought-out, relevant information in ways that sit comfortably with peer-to-peer channels. Remember it’s about open, informal and two-way communication and within this framework management need to actively participate in, and respond to, peer-to-peer conversations. They should give feedback and if employees challenge, leaders must respond in a relevant time frame.
- Measure
Don’t forget to build in criteria to assess the success of each new channel and cultivate feedback, just as you would with traditional media.
- Forward plan
An ongoing process should be established to identify ways for continuous development.
- Start now… there's no time like the present to introduce social media in some way to your organization. More direction can be found in the white paper Collaboration in Action that's free to download.
Have your say
Are you using social media successfully? Do you want to start using it but aren't sure how? Or perhaps you think it's a waste of time and has no bearing on the business case?
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How Twitter has increased engagement @ Virgin Media
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