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The lines between internal and external communication continue to blur and social media plays a key part. Internal communication (IC) is the term traditionally given to communication inside an organisation. However, it’s not as black and white as that any more.
Last month I examined 10 reasons why internal communication pros should participate in social media. I’m now going to look at how you can use social media for internal communication and specifically, Enterprise Social Networks.
The topic of Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) is a hot one this year and the heat looks set to increase. They are more than ‘internal Twitter/Facebook’ but are often described in that way to explain what they are to people who haven’t heard of them before. Altimeter Group defines ESN as ‘a set of technologies that create business value by connecting the members of an organisation through profiles, updates and notifications.’
Forbes’ definition is: ‘a vibrant high communication, high collaboration enterprise that uses social tools to accelerate business via connection and collaboration.’ The key word in both of these descriptions is connections.
Ideally done, ESNs enhance business within companies by bringing people together to communicate, for the benefit of themselves and the organisation. These connections are achieved via high collaboration software (I’ve listed some below) and using social tools.
Internal versus external?
The primary community for internal communication remains employees, but other external parties are often in the mix too. This can include union officials and work councils, shareholders and investors and future/previous employees.
When viewed in the context of the broader communications team, internal communication is often deemed the same as or under the umbrella of corporate communication. Semantics aside, external communication is with customers and media, public and government affairs, corporate social responsibility, sponsorship, brand, events and more.
Increasingly we are seeing the divide between internal and external comms being shattered and the focus shift to shareable and useable content. For example, theblueballroom agency in the south of England recently announced it has merged its internal and external communications divisions and is now offering an integrated approach.
Rebecca Pain, Business Development Manager, says: “Information is in constant motion in today’s digital world – what you say and do inside your business can directly affect your external reputation, and vice versa. We have removed the int/ext divide in recognition of the fact all audiences need to be considered, and combine internal communication and PR. This brings greater credibility, consistency and value to business communications as employees, customers, shareholders, partners and suppliers are all important stakeholders in business.”
It’s always been the case that internal communication has the
potential to be shared externally, and my advice is to create and
oversee internal communication with that in mind. Social media makes it
easier than ever for internal information to find its way to the outside
world, and I will cover how to put guidelines in place and create
boundaries in a future column.
There are many Enterprise Social Networks to choose from including:
- Chatter (Salesforce.com)
- Jive
- Lync
- Newsgator
- SharePoint
- Snapcomms
- Socialcast
- Yammer
I featured an article on my blog about How Coca-Cola Enterprises use Chatter. Neil Jenkins, Director of Internal and Digital Communications at Coca-Cola Enterprises told me: “Our people work in different roles and countries, and access and attitudes to social media vary. Even at grassroots level, we didn’t position Chatter as a sexy new way of communicating – it was about making their jobs easier, faster and better. This was an important message, especially for line managers, who may have seen it as a time-waster – the opposite of what we wanted to achieve.
“Using Chatter for collaboration with customers and between our manufacturing plants, where nearly half of our employees work and for whom access isn’t as easy, are priorities. And it doesn’t look after itself – community management is a growing capability for our digital communication teams. Our work so far shows that Chatter matters – but that we can’t stand still.”
Why use Enterprise Social Networks? They can enhance internal communication in many ways, including:
- Opening up new feedback channels
- Encouraging collaboration and communication across silos and geographies
- Horizontal networking, by breaking down hierarchies
- Being all encompassing and interactive
- Approachability: Employees pick and choose who and what to engage with
Key to a successful ESN is to integrate it with your existing communication methods and make choices that fit with the culture of your organisation. I will cover this in more detail in a future column.
People who matter
Time, money and effort is spent creating effective external communication strategies, looking at how to engage with people who matter. The same should be true of internal communication. Your employees have the potential to be your best brand ambassadors.
Take the Games Makers from the London 2012 Olympics for example. This merry troop of purple-uniformed cheery unpaid volunteers made my home city proud last summer. They were pleasant, polite, helpful, knowledgeable, informative, passionate, dedicated, excited – the list of adjectives is endless.
The Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) gave all 70,000 Games Makers a special award as Communicators of the Year, 2012, saying: “This is a group of people who took communication to the finishing line with style and expertise.”
IoIC President Suzanne Peck says: “Never before has a group of disparate, diverse people come together so beautifully to form a cohesive and focused team that really made a difference. They excelled at communicating simply, clearly and cheerfully. Olympians, organisers and visitors heaped praise on how they made the Games sing, came to represent the spirit of the Olympics and helped create a show-stopping world extravaganza.”
The Games Makers at the London Olympics are widely regarded as one of the most engaged workforces the UK has ever seen. Working alongside them and doing an equally sterling job were the Travel Ambassadors (TAs). Transport for London (TfL) is the local government body responsible for the transport network across Greater London. During the Games, 3000 of its employees volunteered to be TAs to help passengers navigate through the city by Tube (Underground trains), boat, bus and rail.
TfL chose to introduce a dedicated Yammer network to provide the Travel Ambassadors with a way to communicate with each other. It was accessible via iPads/iPhones during their shifts and via web when in the office. Stats from Yammer reveal that within three days of launching the network, over a third of TAs had signed up (1254 users) and 1303 messages had been posted. They used it to share which locations were busy, tips on what to expect while volunteering and offering advice and guidance to each other, particularly for those starting their first shift.
In the same way the Games Makers were a proactive and engaged group, the TAs were too, and used Yammer for internal communication to keep morale boosted and be self-sufficient. Examples include sharing feedback they had received from the public and the #celebrityspot hashtag. This was used by the TAs to swap photographs of famous people they had spotted and led to a dedicated Photos group on the network.
Transport for London used Yammer successfully to request TAs to attend shifts in the Olympic Park and were able to coordinate 400 volunteers in less than 24 hours to cover a weekend shift via the network. Conversations happening via the network contributed to operational decisions. For example, following the Games, Travel Ambassadors successfully took to Yammer to lobby to have TAs to support other large events in London in the future.
Feedback reveals the TA project contributed to “a growing spirit of collaboration across TfL’s organisational modes as volunteers from different roles and modes worked together for the first time, and many staff expressed a greater appreciation of the operational roles that their colleagues carry out on a daily basis.”
I’m going to leave you with a thought from the social media communicators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They recently published a list of 37 ways they use Yammer and said: “…It is as awesome as you make it. Collaboration starts with you.”
What is your experience of using Enterprise Social Networks for internal communication?
http://windmillnetworking.com/2013/02/12/why-use-enterprise-social-networks-for-internal-communication/
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