The Inside Voice

Using Social Media to Improve Employee Engagement

Last week, The Inside Voice focused on how to introduce social media to your employees. A few years ago, using social media to communicate with employees was new and unproven. Even today, in my conversations with HR teams, many still feel that social media is something that is used for consumers, and rarely for internal communications.

Recently, Talent Management did an article that disputes this mindset. It shows that social media is becoming an increasingly important tool that HR departments use to keep employees engaged. This is based on a recent Employee Engagement Survey completed by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Buck Consultants.

The results surprised me. The number one communication method that companies in the survey used to engage employees and increase productivity was social media, with 79% of the respondents using this tactic. Other, more traditional internal communications were less popular on the survey rankings: email (75%), intranet (72%), face-to-face meetings (50%), website (36%), and employee newsletters (28%).

Blogs are the social media of choice for companies, with 47% of companies currently using blogs. Which social media are companies planning to use in the future? Discussion boards (33%), Wikis (31%), Yammer (29%) and podcasts (28%) top the list.

What are some ways your company can leverage social media to communicate with employees? Here are some ideas to get you started:

-          Internal blogs. A regular blog posting from the president or management team providing insight into new product launches, sales trends, and new market opportunities can help employees feel more a part of the company, and help them understand how their role affects  the company. This communication is not a PR piece, but provides an appropriate level of information can be especially valuable in times when sales are down, or when there may be bad news on the forefront.

-          Wikis and Yammer. Both of these are great tools to boost productivity, especially for project teams.  Wikis allow multiple employees to make changes on one master document, so employees don’t spend time looking for the most recent version of a document – they make changes online that go live immediately. Yammer allows project teams to touch base internally in a Twitter-like communication, just to the people that need to receive the updates, or who have the answers to pressing project question.

-          Podcasts. Training and education are the perfect opportunities to use podcasting. Simply record the training program, and employees can listen online, or download longer programs to their MP3 player so they can listen at their convenience. This is a great medium for product training, sales tips, new benefit introductions, and topics that people may want to hear multiple times.

What social media does your company use to boost employee engagement? What successes have you had? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

Introducing Social Media to Your Employees

A colleague of mine, Elizabeth Borton of Write On Target sent me an article from a recent Employee Benefit News that I wanted to share with you. It raises the hot topic: how much control should a company have over its employees’ social online networking, and the information they post on these sites? For companies that decide to allow and encourage employees to post online as a part of a corporate initiative, how do you introduce this media to them to maximize impact and manage the message?

Deloitte's 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results show that employers and employees take different sides on this issue when it comes to employee use of social media tools such as blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  Not surprisingly, the majority of business executives (60%) feel that they have the right to know how employees profile themselves and their companies online, while the majority of employees (53%) assert that social networking pages are not their employer’s concern.

It is interesting to see the number of businesses using social networking and why. In the survey, business executives said:

·          Their CEO is on Facebook (31%) or Twitter (14%).

·          The company uses social networking as a part of their business and operations strategy (30%), or to manage and build the brand (29%).

·          The company uses social networking as an internal communication tool (23%), or to engage employees (21%).

These indicators tell us that companies are using social media as a part of their communications mix – to grow business, to recruit employees, and even keep them engaged at the company. Many companies even have employee-created or company-sponsored corporate Facebook profiles.

Once you’ve determined that social media is right for your company, how do you introduce this to the employees, and ingrain social networking into the corporate culture? Here are a few steps to move you forward:

·          Develop your social networking policy. Include key elements such as how to monitor employee use while minimizing risk and exposure to the company. But understand that social media changes frequently, so design your policy to capture the positive aspects of social media and leave room for flexibility as the tools evolve.

·          Announce the social media plan to employees. Include details of how online networking will benefit the company. Is it meant for sales growth? Customer service? Corporate branding? Is this an internal tool only? Let employees know the important part they play in this introduction. The message may differ by role, departments, position/title, etc. Be clear on your expectations, the rules, which media is allowed, preferred.

·          Launch social networking to new hires in their onboarding program. A well-defined introduction sets the stage for proper use and understanding of the tools. Emphasize not just the social media policy, but how you’d like them to engage in social media to further the business needs, especially in their new role.

·          Consider doing some social media training. This is especially important if you have “front line” employees who interact online, maybe monitoring Twitter or other media for customer comments. And cover the dos and don’ts of social media. Many of the unfortunate employer postings today may have been avoided by more of an understanding of what should and should not be posted online.

·          Make it fun. Show employees (especially the technophobes) that social media can be enjoyable and interesting. But while you’re doing that, be sure they know the rules – acceptable use, amount of time allowed, whatever your policy allows to support the business.

·          Reinforce good, social media etiquette regularly. Highlight examples of good online postings and recognize employees for good, appropriate postings. Consider including this on your intranet, employee newsletter or in team meetings.

·          Give periodic employee updates on how the online initiatives are working. Where possible, include how the employee online updates were able to help in any of the measurement areas. Did it help to grow business? Save an account? Bring in new qualified employees? Let employees know what’s working.

Helping your employees understand their role in building your company through the proper use of social media can be made part of a healthy, corporate culture. Once the parameters are set, continue to develop ways that your employees can play a part in growing the company using new technology tools.

Has your company become a part of the social media wave? Which social media tools do you use? What’s worked for you? Share your successes and challenges.

What’s the Best Way to Send My Message?

 

With so many communication tools to choose from, internal marketers are faced with the ongoing challenge of knowing the best way to communicate to the employees. It can be hard to wade through the choices, which sometimes leaves the communicator using the same tools repeatedly – with limited success.

The biggest challenge is taking what you know about your audience – how they best receive information and what communications get the best response from them – and using it to help select what vehicles to use.  Here are some suggestions to get you thinking about what might be the best choice of tools for your next communication:

Traditional tools and paper-based communication tools are beginning to take a back seat to electronic media because of both cost and green initiatives. There still may be a need for a more traditional approach for some audiences. For example, some employees may have less access to computers, or be more traditional in the way they communicate. Other employees may just need the comfort of having the communication in hard copy.

·         For longer, more detailed correspondence:

-        Traditional letter or memo

-        Payroll stuffer

-        Newsletter

·         For larger or longer campaign reminders, or where a response is crucial:

-        Posters, signage

-        Cost-effective promotional item

Technology-based tools come in many forms for a variety of audiences. Some require use of a computer, while others can be seen around an office or worksite.  Technology tools also offer a wide array of offerings from global to one-on-one communications.

·         For deadline reminders or new program announcements:

-         Voice mail delivered to their office or home phone

·         For reaching large numbers of people cost-effectively:

-        E-Newsletter

-        Intranet can be linked from an email or mentioned in a letter

-        Video kiosks

·         For adding visual impact. Visuals are a great way to get people to take notice to a topic they sometimes ignore:

-        Interactive displays

-        Loop videos

-        “Ticker tape” displays

·         For reaching large or small groups:

-        Email – if used well and in moderation.

-        Yammer. If you’re not familiar with it, Yammer is a new internal communication tool that’s part of the social media wave. It can be effective for shorter, reminder messages to a tech-savvy audience. (www.yammer.com)

Events are another approach to reach groups of people. Because these are time-intensive and can sometimes be costly, you may want to reserve these tools for campaigns that justify the time and expense.

·         For big rollouts, such as introducing a new program, or to raise attention to ensure appropriate follow-up, try:

-        All-employee meetings

-        Staff meetings are great for getting feedback on specific programs

·         For getting the details of a new program out to your audience:

-        Brown bag lunches

-        Webinars/webcasting (either scheduled, or on-demand)

-        Podcasting

-        Training programs

·         For an initial introduction to new employees, try these tools. But make sure these aren’t the only place new employees are getting their information.

-        Onboarding

-        Orientation

What tools have been most effective for your company?  Have you tried anything new and innovative? What were the results? Let us know what’s worked for you.