There is an overwhelming torrent of information hitting us from all angles when it comes to social media. For most professionals, the question is no longer
why, but
how. But it’s a daunting task to interpret and sort out the knowledge, statistics and research, and determining the best approach for you and for your organization. If your experience is anything like mine, every answer results in even more questions.
Original source:
The Daily Infographic
Communication is the process of conveying information. Almost all species have some sort of communication system. However, successful communication is the trait that has made humans the most successful species.
This infographic shows a timescale of how communication has evolved over time. It’s hard to imagine communication long before the hustle and bustle of email and text messaging. Technological communication has grown exponentially, leaving snail mail to be a thing of the past.
Facebook and Twitter is the most popular form of communication right now. These social giants are changing the game of communication. Today’s communication seems to only be in the form of short spurts with hashtags or tagging. Social media has taken the complexity out of communication, it is no longer organic, but short and to the point. Read the full post >>
At the tail end of last year, I spoke at the Internal Social Media Forum in Madrid, Spain, where I met
Luis Saurez, Knowledge Manager, Community Builder & Social Computing Evangelist in the IBM Software Group division. Two and a half years ago, he developed plan to show his coworkers just how dependent they really were on e-mail, emphasizing how many times a day they were compelled to check it, and proving that it was no longer a productivity tool, but a procrastinator’s best friend. He’s advocated for social software to replace e-mail as the go-to communication method. And in fact, in less than three years, he’s been able to reduce 90% of his incoming e-mail by communicating through social software.
Read the full post >>
A long time ago, a former boss gave me some sound advice:
Seek first to understand, Then to be understood.
Do you recognize it? I call it the Talking Stick rule, but some of you might recognize it as Habit 5 of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“.
I love the whole purpose of this phrase. To understand and to be understood. And what better mission for any internal communicator? It’s easy to go “through the motions” of listening, selectively hearing only “certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. So why does this happen? Because most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc.” (Stephen R Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). Read the full post >>
I could be rehashing a topic that has been addressed many times before, but recent conversations within my own organization have resurfaced this for me and I know it is something that other peers are still sorting out as well. Companies are very much implementing social technologies to engage audiences externally, but still struggle with the advantages of implementing it internally. And this is something that I, in particular, am very passionate about. So, I’ve updated a blog post that I had written late last year focusing on this topic and have included what I hope is some fresh, relevant information and resources. Enjoy!
***********
Read the full post >>
It’s only natural that everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing. Building an effective enterprise social technology strategy means looking into what other companies have deployed and whether or not they have seen positive results from their efforts. However, I’ve come to the realization that it is actually somewhat difficult to find a really good collection of case studies for enterprise 2.0 or information on what other companies have done to integrate social technologies within internal communications. With that in mind, I decided to put together some of the case studies and research I have found in my own search. The credit for many of the items on this list really goes to Jacob Morgan, who performed or found some of the case studies for his own blog,
Jacob Morgan: Social Media Globetrotter. Please feel free to submit additional resources and I will gladly add them to this list.
Read the full post >>
Original Post: Using social media to improve internal communications, simply-communicate.com
As a social media agency, FreshNetworks is often asked to help clients develop and implement a social media strategy.
This was the case with Vets Now – a provider of out-of-hours veterinary care for veterinary practices across the UK. The goal was to engage internal stakeholders through social media.
Vets Now is the type of business where employees work not only alone, but also unsociable hours. By using social media, Vets Now hoped to increase communication and engagement amongst employees who don’t get the opportunity to interact with each other in person, let alone with anyone else. Read the full post >>
At Unstructure.org’s 5th Annual Global Meet in Orlando last week, Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, delivered an extremely compelling message in his Opening Address. He described how, in the new reality for any organization to successfully attain business goals in a post-recession world (“The New Normal”), it must first invert its value pyramid and place employees at the top, creating an environment where the employees are the initiators of transformation and the managers are the supporters who make that transformation reality.
Although, you might think this is not a novel business approach, within the context of Unstructure.org’s MENSA-type thought leadership discussions and within the context of the “The New Normal,” this message really resonated into four main points at a much deeper, more personal level. Read the full post >>
In driving social technologies within an organization, the number one question that I hear from top level executives is “what problem would this be solving for us?” And trust me, it’s hard for me to contain myself when posed with this question and not stand up on my soapbox about how social media can drive engagement and collaboration. But, the bottom line is that the successful integration of social technologies within a corporate enterprise isn’t just about innovation or enablement, but it is also the ability to fill a business need. And, from an internal communications perspective, finding the right balance between social technologies and existing communication channels is especially important. When you’ve identified this, that’s when you see the biggest executive support, employee adoption and measurable results. Read the full post >>
Original Post: Social Media and the Internal Brand
Here’s my take on why companies are using social media internally:
1. To inform employees. In its most straightforward way, social media can be just another medium to communicate and inform employees. Blogs in which departments inform their staff, a newsletter with options for employees to give comments, twitter as a micro instant communication channel to employees.
2. To create a shared vision. This takes internal communication to the next level. Using social media to engage with your employees with the objective to embed the company’s mission, vision and values. A CEO internal blog in which he discusses the vision, seeks feedback for improvement and explains how staff can become internal brand ambassadors. Read the full post >>
