Picture Credit : Matthew Burpee
I am questioned multiple times around the value of social media inside the company. Does it really work? Which social media features on our intranet is the biggest hit with employees? Why are employees using social media?
My answer is simple: Social media totally works if it is used in the right way for the right activity. If you want employees to get things done through people, they should use social media tools as part of their engagement toolkit to achieve their outcomes.
Here are few resources that I have used for driving employee engagement at Microsoft e.g. blogging for communication, collective intelligence for research, microblogging for broadcasting and Q&A; finding experts via topic management; ideaxchange for ideas or simply chat – whatever the need I have to achieve my outcome.
Here are the social media related resources we have enabled to help employees realize their potential:
Improve Collaboration
- Private groups – We use discussion groups. We create private groups and invite individuals into a group discussion. This is good for internal teams working on similar projects.
Amplify Communication
- Blogging – We use blogs for sharing news, tips and resources. We focus our blogs with a clear purpose; allow commenting for employee to share their voice. This is implemented with a right editorial process and privacy rules to protect employees with any severe consequences to raise their voice.
- Microblogging – We use micro blogging for broadcasting, public Q&A and sharing resources. This is a big hit and helps us identify communities to engage. This is implemented with a monitoring process and messaging plans to increase the participation.
- Video – A platform like YouTube to share your insights and platform is really a good one. I believe it is a great way for employees to engage and share their voice.
Research to understand behaviors
- Collective Intelligence – we use collective intelligence technology to understand behavior and insights via blogs, distribution lists and feeds. This is like a research on employee conversations inside a company. It will work provided employees share their voice in public.
- Predictive Markets – I remember it was implemented however don’t have any bias around this technology. What I know is that this required a heavy process to make it effective.
Sharing ideas and knowledge
- Knowledge Sharing-We have a knowledge sharing experience for sharing content easily all in one place. I would say it is the best wiki style topic sharing on sales and marketing content I have encountered which has grown into a vital source of knowledge every day.
- Ideaxchange – This technology allows employees to get involved. You can suggest new products, promote favorite features, and preview upcoming releases.
We stitch many technologies together to help employees achieve their outcomes easily. However to make it sticky with your employees you need a repeatable and predictable process. Focus on the people and process, you can find the right technology in the market to solve the problem.
Let me know how you are using social media tools to drive employee engagement. Share your thoughts.
