LONDON, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Less than a third of
professional communicators surveyed feel confident about using social media
as part of an integrated communication strategy, according to Melcrum's new
report How to use social media to engage employees. Yet despite the lack of
strategy understanding revealed by the global study, many are going ahead
with setting up tools inside their organizations -- some 60% of
organizations will have some form of social media in place by the end of
2007.
The new report combines key findings from a global study into social
media and corporate communication, with case-study examples and expert
advice on how to develop a social media strategy, launch new tools -- such
as blogs, wikis, podcasts and social networks -- and monitor their
progress.
Potential pitfalls
The potential pitfalls of launching social media tools without an
understanding of the best way to use them is covered in the "Strategy"
chapter of the new report. Ross Chestney, head of communication services at
BT -- where he has overseen the introduction of blogs, wikis, podcasts and
social networking -- comments that: "There are an awful lot of people who
are very excited about this technology, but still have no real idea what
it's about."
In the same chapter, Philippe Borremans, IBM's new media lead in
Europe, talks about the strategic mission for social media at IBM and urges
practitioners to develop a different mindset and strategy when it comes to
introducing new tools: "Your social media strategy must look unlike a
traditional communication strategy. It's not an enforced strategy -- full
of campaigns and 'push' models.
"The first step in building a social media strategy is to recognize
that it's not for every company or every employee," says Borremans, "I
can't claim this is a natural fit for every company. It all stems from
understanding what kind of company and culture you're working in. But for
us, it's the right way to go."
Strategy issues to consider
Based on the experiences of organizations such as BT, IBM, American
Electric Power (AEP) and Nortel, the report identifies 10 issues that
communicators should consider when developing a social media strategy,
including:
* Assess your organization's cultural readiness.
* Think about the business purpose of the tools.
* Be experimental and involve employees.
* Clarify what employees can and can't do.
* Take a hands-off approach to marketing the tools.
Key findings from global survey
In addition to advice on strategy, the report shares key findings that
shed light on what communicators expect to gain from using social media
inside the organization, and which tools they feel are most relevant to
them.
According to the 2,100 corporate communicators who responded to the
global survey, the top perceived benefits for implementing social media
tools are:
1. Improved employee engagement (71%).
2. Improved internal collaboration (59%).
3. Improved internal community development (51%).
4. Improved two-way dialogue with senior executives (42%).
Engaging employees
A chapter is devoted to each of the tools considered most relevant to
internal communicators: blogs, podcasts, RSS, online video, wikis, social
networking and virtual worlds and the 3-D web.
Each chapter shares key findings from the global survey together with
advice on how to introduce the tools and case-study examples of how they're
being put to use to engage employees in organizations such as BT, IBM,
Unilever, The World Bank, Scottish & Newcastle, Microsoft and Nortel.
The report ends with a chapter on measurement, which shares advice from
practitioners and experts on how to monitor the progress and outcomes of
social media tools.
Notes for editors:
The survey was completed by 2,112 professional communicators (VPs,
directors and managers) working in internal and corporate communication.
Responses came from 41% in Europe, 32% in North America and 16% in Asia-
Pacific. Of these respondents, the financial services sector accounted for
13%, professional services 15%, government and public administration 12%
and technology 10%.
How to use social media to engage employees forms part of Melcrum's
ongoing research into trends and best practice in corporate communication
and was published in May 2007. For more information, please e-mail
Daniel.gregory@melcrum.com
Melcrum is a research and training business with offices in London,
Chicago and Sydney. Founded in 1996 by Robin Crumby and Victoria Mellor,
Melcrum has customers in over 90 countries. Through its global networks,
Melcrum connects more than 25,000 professional communicators in sharing
what works.
Definition of social media
For the purpose of this survey, social media was defined as: The online
technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights,
experiences and perspectives with each other. A few prominent examples of
social-media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social
networking), YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Digg
(news sharing), Flickr (photo sharing) and Miniclip (game sharing). These
sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts,
wikis and vlogs to allow users to interact.
Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
SOURCE Melcrum
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Related links:
http://www.melcrum.com
http://www.melcrumblog.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
CONTACT:
Daniel Gregory, Melcrum Publishing,
+44-020-8600-4670, daniel.gregory@melcrum.com; or European
Office, Melcrum Publishing Ltd., +44(0)20-8600-4670, Fax:
+44(0)20-8741-9975; or North American Office, Melcrum Publishing
Ltd., +1-312-379-6500, Fax, +1-312-527-4917; or Asia-Pacific
Office, Melcrum Publishing Ltd., +61(0)2-824-98352, Fax
+61(0)2-824-98101, info@melcrum.com
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