Ten Tips for Using Social Media to Engage Employees?

[Michael Netzley]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for creating this space. The issue of social media and employee engagement recently came up at an IDC conference hosted here in Singapore. I must admit I don't have a great answer to all the questions. If you needed to create a "Top 10" sort of list to help us think about the really important issues, what would you put on the list? Specifically I am thinking how social media (enterprise solutions) can help us engage employees and communicate?

[David Zinger]

I don't have a top 10 lists but I do have some thoughts:

When leadership/managers offer some authentic blogging it can make a difference.

A social network like this that is internal within the organization can make a difference.

Having a group project at the workplace to rework the entry in wikipedia on your specialty can make a difference.

Having profile pages for employees can help foster friendships and Gallup has shown us how important friendships can be.

More use of short video clips such as You Tube can offer a richer more personal feel.

This is a start and I will come back to watch the progress on this.

[Terrence Seamon]

Michael,
You ask, How can social media (enterprise solutions) help us engage employees and communicate better in our organizations?

Great question.

Here are ten thoughts. Maybe more will occur to me . . .

1. Find out who is already using social media. It shouldn't be too hard. Chances are you have some employees who are on facebook or linkedin. Maybe a few bloggers.

2. Invite them to get together.

3. Ask them: "What are you using? Why? What's in it for our organization to embrace these tools?"

4. Use their ideas to build a case.

5. Offer education. The majority of folks in your organization do not use these tools. Some may know nothing about them. Some may actually be skeptical or afraid of them.

6. Bring in a speaker or two. Be choosy. Select someone who is knowledgeable and impressive in the social media space. (My company brought in the Kreitzbergs)

7. Invite the CEO to participate. Suggest that he or she try doing a blog.

8. Suggest that the senior leaders get onboard and start using one of the tools. Perhaps a blog.

9. Make it safe.

10. Start small. Think big.

(And a note To David Zinger: This could be the focus of a future e-book!)

Terry

[Jon Hoel]

Hi David and Terry,

Thanks for those thoughtful responses.

We were having a Skype conversation earlier, and using Google Docs, collaboratively came up with a few ideas. (They are not numbered as they are put forward tentatively, and not necessarily in any particular order).

I've included a few, and I think Michael will want to refine and add to this.

Does it solve a business problem?
If the technology does not solve a problem, then there will be little incentive to experiment or migrate.

Measurement
Although social media can provide a great deal of raw data (figures of various descriptions that may serve as metrics), there is often uncertainty over how a social media initiative can be measured in meaningful terms.

Also, management will ask, "What is the ROI on this?" We need to provide meaningful measures for the "R" component, but management also should understand that for many social media tools the "I" component does not have to be very large.

Speed/magnifier effect (as Zane mentioned on the thread)
Given a certain level of uptake in an organization, social media has a magnifier effect on word of mouth. Expect employees armed with social media tools to communicate whatever is right or wrong with your organization much more quickly.

David Ogilvy, said, "Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising." By the same token, a good social media strategy is not going to by itself rescue a company that is failing on all fronts. For example, social media cannot make up for serious deficiencies in face to face communication.

Learning curve
Many social media tools are simple. Some of the most useful technologies [e.g. wikis used for project collaboration] may take some time and training to be used really effectively.

Add-on vs Integrated
If we treat the technologies as merely an add on, we give people little incentive to look for new opportunities to be more productive or efficient.

'On-the-run' incentives
We have moments of opportunity to encourage new processes or technology adoption, and how do we take them at the very time they show up? Like "a little feedback on the run is better than none," how do we grab those moments and encourage people to use these new technolgies?

Hype
Often not the best way to sell social media. Definitely not the best way to create a sustainable social media initiative. Hype may help to get people on board in the beginning, but it does not help us to set realistic measure for the success of social media in the workplace.

The “try it and see approach”
Would we jump in the cockpit of a 747 and "just try landing it?"

Setting up a social media campaign doesn’t have to take as long as flying a 747, (and the risks of experimentation are probably far less), but a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and an under-resourced, underplanned social media initiative is almost guaranteed to fail.

Skepticism // FUD factor (fear, uncertainty, doubt)
When more than half of change initiatives fail, why is it suprising that social media doesn't have a perfect strike rate? Many social media tools are still <10 years old. Many are <5 years old. The technology isn't mature and organizations are very much in the learning phase.

Tradition
The "not how it is done here" factor.





Well, the midnight hour approaches here in Australia, so will sign off for now...

[Terrence Seamon]

Great points, Jon.
You might enjoy this blog entry.
Terry

[Jon Hoel]

Terry - absolutely spot on.

I've fallen into the habit of telling people 'small bets' which gets nodding heads, but Start Small Think Big is a much better way of saying it - love the positive wording.

[Jon Hoel]

Hmm... Maybe I shouldn't post so late at night... The ten points I wrote read more like '10 potential pitfalls' rather than '10 tips...'

[Zane Safrit]

Great thoughts. Great ideas.

I love the idea of start out small, make it big. Start out safe is a great one, too.

Starting with the end in mind is critical here.

* Where do you want to be with employee engagement? And when do you want to get there? Sure, it sounds silly, as if there's a doubt. But what is it you want to accomplish with social media within your company?
* What problem do you want to solve?
* Where are you now vs where do you want to be?
* Is social media the right resource, the right path to get there? If the problem is a dysfunctional immediate manager...then social media could be the tool to bring that to light and show its impact in a transparent, level-field, way. Or you just need to remove the impeding manager.

Then engage your employees.

Start out safe, with a small group of people. Ask the members of an existing group what social media they use or their help in finding a solution. After that, they'll spread the word.

[Jon Hoel]

Zane,

'Start out safe' is definitely important, and asking what people already using is I think a key success factor.

When starting out a social media initiative, it makes sense to trial a social media tool with a small group who already have a degree of interest, and involve them in the development and test implementation.

[Michael Netzley]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the help thinking through this. I have been reading Clayton Christensen's latest book on disruptive innovation in education. I think some parallels exist between his ideas for introducing disruptive innovations into education and also the ideas we have here for introducing social media as a means of improving employee engagement.

Essentially he tells us to look for a space, so to speak, where we have a demand for more engagement but nothing in place to fill the need. If you can find such a point of "nonconsumption," then our chances of having the technology take hold are much better than if we target the places where engagement is already taking place and try to introduce something new, different, or better.

Food for thought, anyway. I have written a painfully long blog post about this as I try to work through the ideas.

I appreciate all the help.

[Jon Hoel]

Great to see so much input already!

I'll look forward to hearing more.

[David Zinger]

I love Clay Shirky's thinking on social media, especially the promise, tool, bargain perspective, Here is an excerpt from a recent post I wrote about Shirky:

Promise. The promise is the reason why we join or contribute to a group.

Do we believe in this social network?
Is there a desire to participate?
Does the promise offer higher value than other things we could be engaged in?
What is the actual lived promise of the group rather than the stated or explicit promise?
Will group members believe other people will also join and engage in this group?

Tool. The tool determines how the media will work.
Which tool or tools will help people make and keep their promise?
What are the best tools for the intention of the site or media?
Will the tool help people do what they want to do?
How do I choose the appropriate tool given the geometric growth of social media tools?
Does the tool help deliver on the promise?

Bargain. The bargain sets standards of behavior and norms for and by the group.
What bargain are we entering into if we join and participate?
What is expected of us and what is the code of conduct?
How do the users co-create the bargain of the group?
What can you expect of others and what can they expect of you in this group?
Do the users agree to the bargain and is it a lived interactive experience in the group?

[Jon Hoel]

Excellent points, David - wow, we're getting a lot of great discussion here.