Encourage excellence in the workplace with social media

Encouraging Excellence in the

Workplace: The Role of Internal

Social Media & Communities

Mike Rowland, President

December 7, 2011

Our Experience

Our Clients include:

Other organizations we’ve helped while at Participate.com:

2 ©2011 JTS Online Holdings Inc. dba Impact Interactions.

All Rights Reserved.

Global Experience: Where We’ve Launched Projects

From Theory to Reality

3

2000 2011

©2011 JTS Online Holdings Inc. dba Impact Interactions.


Simplicity or Complexity?

Image Courtesy of Wordle.net



What We Want to

Accomplish Today

Why now is the time to use social media

How corporate culture affects engagement

What to consider before beginning an internal social media project

The methodology for launching and managing an internal project

How internal and external uses of social media differ (and why)

Measuring internal social media and online communities

Best practices to keep your internal project moving forward


All Rights Reserved. 5

Our Agenda

6

Topic Time

Behind the Scenes – Goals, Organization, Process

1:00 to 1:45

Launch Tactics 1:45 to 2:15

Break 2:15 to 2:30

Managing Internal Social Media 2:30 to 3:00

Measurement for Success 3:00 to 3:30

Best Practices 3:30 to 4:00



So, Why Now? What‘s the

Rush?

Your employees, contractors, and even your executives are using social media tools today outside the company

– LinkedIn Members

– Facebook Members

– Twitter Accounts

– YouTube Accounts

– Blogs

Staff wonder why they don’t have similar tools to do work inside the organizational firewall

– Training/ Learning

– Expertise Support

– Event Marketing (internal & external company events)

– News

– Correct Messaging on Topics (both big & small)

– The Human Side of the Organization



Here’s the Kicker…

With the growth in external social media, your organizations’

information, knowledge, and expertise is already at work

– LinkedIn Groups

– Twitter Accounts

– Blogs

– Communities

Why not harness that interest to move your organizational

goals further by building strong internal social media?



What Words Stand Out?

Image Courtesy of Wordle.net



It’s People Not Technology

That Determine Success

Too often, we start with what technology to use rather than

understanding the people who will use it

Corporate culture has a very strong impact on success



Who Has The Strongest

Voice In Your Organization?







POLITICS

Be Aware of Politics, But

Don’t Let That Stop You

Instead, focus on a specific area first to build a successful internal

case

– People like to join successful projects

– Tangible benefits are most effective with Sr. Executives



Internal Social Media is a

Process

Audience Need/

Business Objective

Engage & Empower

Pilot Group

Internal Advocacy &

Audience Preference

Listening & Evaluation

19

Internal Social Media Strategy

Our Agenda

20

Topic Time


1:00 to 1:45


Break 2:15 to 2:30






So, you have your goal set up… you

know the audience… you’ve

identified the pilot team and

technology. Now what?



“I know, let’s give away

an iPad!”



Not Unless You Want A

Zombie Audience



Small Focused Pilot

Objective: Get Employees to help recruit new employees

Tactics: – Ask employees to film personal video testimonials that expressed what it means to be

a part of Novartis Oncology.

– 125 Flip cameras were distributed to Novartis Oncology locations around the world—from Canada to Australia and Argentina to Russia—with a simple task: “Tell us why you work here!”

Results: – 131 video submissions

– 7,000 site visits

– 1,541 votes cast (during the voting phase of the campaign)

– 375 comments

– 28 different countries represented

Source: http://sncr.org/node/148 (Society for New Communication Research)



http://sncr.org/node/148

Meeting Audience Needs

Objective: Empower employees to become voices for Monsanto in their spheres of influence, and start an internal dialogue that would help interconnect the knowledge base spread throughout about 20,000 employees worldwide.

Tactics: – Create an employee news portal that would be trusted and valued.

• Immediate access to all company news releases, public statements and comments, and positions statements and Q-and-A documents

• Externally produced news stories from Lexus/Nexus, NYT, trade publications, etc.

– Replace multiple email and newsletters with single source of information

Results: – 6000 page views per day

– 94% approval rating for content (as voted on by readers)

– 23 minutes per visit average





Larger Roll-out &

Objective

Objective: Greatly reduce the amount of daily corporate e-mail traffic and stimulate transparent global conversations among the Dell teams

Tactics: – Global internal blog, One Dell Way to be the defacto primary source of corporate information

• Following the launch of One Dell Way, as requested, several sub-blogs were launched specific to Dell’s geographic regions and different lines of business.

– Use an internal platform for employees to submit ideas for Dell, comment and collaborate, and prioritize those ideas via a Digg-like voting mechanism (EmployeeStorm modeled after IdeaStorm for customers)

Results: – One Dell Way posts averaged 35 posts and about 6,000 unique visitors in 2008. (Business-

critical posts average closer to 20,000 unique visitors with 54,000 unique views for some posts.)

– EmployeeStorm has received over 4,100 ideas, 225,000 votes and 18,500 comments as of 2008





Our Agenda

27

Topic Time


1:00 to 1:45


Break 2:15 to 2:30






15 Minute Break



© Zentapher

http://zentapher.com/wordpress/?cat=5

Our Agenda

29

Topic Time


1:00 to 1:45


Break 2:15 to 2:30






Managing: Which Role Do

You Prefer?



Managing Internal Social

Media Can Be Challenging



What It Takes

A love of communication and networking

Ability to teach newcomers and motivate experienced members

Never being satisfied with your current technology

Listening skills

A sense of humor

The Patience of Job

Some smart processes…



Case Study: Managing

Cisco’s Internal Social

Media Sites



Our Agenda

34

Topic Time


1:00 to 1:45


Break 2:15 to 2:30






Measurement



Measurement Starts

With Your Project’s Goals

You should have a clear purpose and goal for the project

– Part of the vision!

Build 3-5 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the project which

help define the goal

– Develop collaboratively to build consensus

– Get Senior Management’s acceptance for the KPIs

Each KPI should have 2-3 metrics or ratios which are used to

measure success or failure

– Metrics against the KPI should be measured over time

– Watch out for the initial level of use dropping after the first month or so

as employees stop checking it out and begin to figure out how to use it

Qualitative data is used to support KPI achievement or failure

– Hard metrics are used first as they are independent of any motives….



Our Proven Methodology

Utilizes Three

Measurement Categories

Traffic – How many?

– Visitors, Visits, Page views, Employee Log-

ins, Comments/Posts, Uploads, etc.

Behavior – What did they do? Who are they?

– Share of Audience, Page views/Visit,

Comments or Posts/Visitor, Repeat Visitors,

Activities of Value/Member, etc. supported

with qualitative metrics

Value – What did we gain by using the social

media?

– Lower Costs, Insight, Process Improvement

Traffic & Behavior DO NOT EQUAL VALUE (but they do help drive it)

This is what Sr.

Management

cares about

This is what Day to

Day Management

should focus upon

This is your base

line information

(counts)



Project Life Cycle

Determines Where to

Focus Measurement

It is not traffic that determines the maturity of an offering, but the behavior of members interacting with each other

Low

Maturity

Middle

Maturity

High

Maturity

• Member to member

interactions are slow to take

place with high % of

consumers vs. contributors

• Over-reliance on host

company personnel to answer

questions, create content, etc.

Minimal blog comments or

ratings on content

• Big spike in initial use,

followed by big drop-off


interactions are inconsistent but

growing

• Host group still plays role, but

members’ role is growing.

Content being added and

comments are sporadic on blogs.

• More members using offerings on a regular basis


interactions are the majority

rather than minority with higher

% of contributors vs.

consumers than previously

measured (and staying steady)

• Members accelerate their use

of the offerings, build it into their business day/processes



Traffic Metrics

For a new project the initial reporting should focus on traffic –

Unique Metrics are best! – Traffic metrics are the main focus until the visitors begin to interact more fully with

your offering, meaning multiple members adding content and interacting with each

other (maturity of audience starts to improve)

Key metrics to follow: – Visits, Visitors, Page Views, Top Pages, etc.

What traffic tells you: – How effective your outreach and efforts are in driving trial

– How effective your content is in meeting member needs

– What content is popular with visitors and what is not



Behavior Metrics

Behavior reports on what members do once you get them to your site – Looking for more maturity from your audience in terms of how they use your offering

Key metrics to measure are in ratios, not simple counts – % of employees using tool, % of total visitors that perform a desired action/activity, % of

visitors who add content (can get specific to area), Top contributors, etc.

Qualitative metrics (conversation snippets) are used to demonstrate utility and behavioral shift in usage

– Thank you messages

– Innovation Ladder submissions

Behavior metrics tell you: – How effective your offering is in converting consumers to contributing members

(conversion)

– How interesting is your content (consumption)

– Are members building your site into their routine (engagement)

– How healthy is your community (engagement)



Value Metrics

Value equals economic value in terms that make sense for

the business or your organization – Value is extremely difficult to measure until your members start interacting with

each other and the site on a regular basis

Analysis is difficult if you base it on social media metrics

alone – Be Creative and Build Relationships! – The easiest value analysis comes from comparing member behaviors against

competing internal information flows (cost of one vs the other, cost savings)

– You’ll need information from others to complete a value analysis (and buy-in too!)

Examples of Value Metrics – Cost per download of material vs print or online cost vs offline meetings

– Reduction in distribution time or time for employees to obtain information



Our Agenda

42

Topic Time


1:00 to 1:45


Break 2:15 to 2:30






Top Tips for Managing

Internal Social Media Efforts

Share your vision for the project early and often (with everyone you meet)



Technology Comes Second

to Audience Needs



Internal Selling – A Critical

Component of Adoption



Tips & Best Practices

Tip: Use lunch & learn or breakfast meetings to socialize the project

– People will come for food, leave with idea

– Focus on where this is going, not what will change (people hate change)

– Don’t invite vendor to demo site! If it’s ready to share, you should demo

it (avoids the feeling that we’re being put into a technology application

that’s one size fits all)

Best Practice: Follow up with the entire group on any feedback that

is given in order to build the collaborative atmosphere that you will

need once the project goes live





Remember content is king, so be prepared




Tip: Use a content calendar to ensure editorial ideas don’t get lost in

promotions

– We use a simple Excel Spreadsheet with our clients

– Color code the type of content (Products, News, Employee Benefits,

Competitive Information, Events, etc.)

– Add the tool to use for each item next to its working title • Example: “Gartner Report: ABC Product Line” Exec Blog, support with pdf of report

– Update bi-weekly or weekly depending upon size of project and

organization

Best Practice: Content must be fresh and engaging. If employees

can get it elsewhere, it has less value than if it is only available in a

single location





Leaky faucets should be turned off to improve the water pressure

and save money




Tip: Close old “news” sites, email newsletters, and other information

sources before launching a new social media project

– If no one complains it wasn’t really being used… providing great

feedback for your project

– Competing information flows fragment your audience (what’s true in

external social media is also true in internal social media)

Best Practice: Get your “complainers” about the old information

sources to provide feedback on what they liked

– It’s usually the information, not the tool they desire

– Offer to show them a demo before going live • If they took the time to complain, they probably are pretty good advocates for things

they like about the company





Get your information to where employees will use it



Courtesy of PopularMechanics.com


Tip: Survey your employee audience to measure demand for mobile

access before spending the money to do so

Best Practice: For a distributed or remote workforce, understand

what their needs are and tailor solutions to the platform – Don’t

assume

– Mobile – be careful with multiple graphics

– Blackberry, Android, Apple

– Firewall issues





Member recognition is critical to driving continued success of

internal social media




Tip: Interview your top contributors and your top responders and use

the content in your “socialization” efforts

Best Practice: Formal recognition programs focus on behavior not

volume

– Show more than just the “leader boards” and acknowledge the

employee as a person not a username

– Volume can be gamed, behavior cannot

– EGO drives behavior change as long as process is an improvement • If your project doesn’t save time, money, or provide information faster membership

recognition will be difficult





Build a team that focuses on innovative ideas



Courtesy of HarlemGlobetrotters.com


Tip: Think about what your project will look like one year from now,

two years from now, and five years from now

Best Practice: Develop an Innovation Ladder for employees to

contribute

– Every initiative gets stale over time, only by adding innovative ideas can

it remain strong • Example: Employee newsletters sent via email, check the decline in click through rates!

– Make it public, allow employees to vote on ideas

– Recognize those employees who take the time to contribute, even if

their idea is rejected by others • If they took the time to suggest something, they probably are pretty good advocates for

things they like about the company





Be aggressive in seeking out feedback





Share your successes, failures, wins, losses, and data




Tip: Use the manage by walking around technique to solicit

feedback (and to see if anyone is actually using the tools)

Best Practice: Hold an open invite quarterly meeting to provide

results and also solicit feedback in a more formal channel

– Make it visual!

– Recognize key contributors (not just data driven results)

– Pre-view new ideas from Innovation Ladder and elsewhere

– Survey for participation to check progress and utility, make results public

on the intranet • Example: Cisco’s Listening Dashboard and Blog Dashboards are posted on the internal

social media community for all to review and use



Questions



Here during the conference!

On Twitter - @ImpactInteract

On LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/mikerowland

Blog – Impactinteractions.com/Blog

Phone – +1 312 578 8070

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikerowland

Encourage excellence in the workplace with social media

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