How to Build Employee Engagement Using Social Media

Social Media has become an integral part of the way we live and work. It is hard to imagine that it is only twenty years since the Internet was created. According to Nielsen research, social network traffic grew by 43% from June 2009 to June 2010. Social network activity now dwarfs online games, email and search as the number one activity. Every single day more people are also now turning to their social networks, as the preferred way to find jobs.

Managers need to realise that social media is much more than Facebook or LinkedIn. There is also a level of skepticism and confusion about the value of social media. A communications manager recently told me that she was one of the first people to get a Twitter account, after attending a conference in New York. Currently she still has no active account, and perhaps due to her confusing initial experience, is now a social media skeptic.

The astronomical growth of social media has created new ways for companies and candidates to connect online. In the late seventies, the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie used Hynek's scale of three types of encounters: sightings; observations of UFO's; and human observation of animate beings. Similarly, the involvement of Human Resources with the phenomena of Social Media can best be described and summarized at three distinct levels or types of encounters: compliance; sourcing; and engagement.

Level 1 - Compliance

Legal firms are frequently running workshops, as a number of employers are still working on an effective social media policy. Companies are struggling with dealing with how social networking sites may impact on their workplace, as well as trying to understand the laws and other factors that may impact their approach to social networking. From a compliance perspective, companies may be concerned about the distractions at work, and the consequences of privacy, bullying, and harassment issues that can follow. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently released their Social Media Policy, only to experience a massive backswing from employees and unions reacting angrily. Companies need to design a policy framework, which also require education of employees on how to use it in a meaningful way.

Level 2 - Sourcing

A recent survey (The Jobvite Survey: Job Seeker Nation 2010) highlighted that proactive career managers (defined as currently employed and open to a new job but are not actively seeking one) have a very social profile: Facebook (67%), Twitter (28%) and LinkedIn (28%). They are well connected with 52% having more than 50 contacts on Facebook. Younger professionals are using the benefits of technology to build their networks faster, by generating more referrals online, as compared to previous generations that are still preferring more traditional methods.

Companies, such as Microsoft, have developed effective recruitment strategies to ensure they manage their online and offline presence to remain an employer of choice. This includes creating a supporting environment for recruits and utilising employee networks to reach those candidates that are not active job seekers.

Increasingly, Australian companies, such as Fosters (@FostersCareers), are building strong talent management teams, adept at using LinkedIn and other social media tools to attract top talent, inviting potential employees to learn more about a career with their business. Recruiters are often online for a period, with "Ask and Expert" segment, to answer any questions that applicants may have.

Level 3 - Engagement

Social networking sites can be great tools for attraction, recruitment, communication, connection and engagement. Social media has also created new business opportunities - a recent internet survey confirmed that 68% of users found LinkedIn the most valuable tool.

Internal social groups can be connected and engaged through the effective use of social media. Social media is a critical part of communication and collaboration technologies that can help to make people more productive. Clearly there is an opportunity for employees to share ideas, replacing the old style suggestion boxes with a more interactive process, which is being used by many forums to collect views from users.

An example is Salesforce.com which is using a Twitter-like product and calling the employees that are using it the "Chatterati". These employees are getting their jobs done by using these tools, which creates value for the organization.

VicRoads are using Yammer, an internal "twitter" bringing together all of a company's employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network. According to Judith Pettitt, Executive Director People Services and Internal Communications, more than 20% of their 3,000 employees are engaged in providing valuable shared knowledge on various business topics. It has been especially helpful in organisational problem solving and in 'seeding' ideas.

VicRoads has also supported a recent blog project where all staff were able to make improvement suggestions on line, comment on others suggestions and get feedback from the Corporate Leadership Team on implementing the proposals.Using contemporary communication tools makes such a difference to the immediate needs of staff to share their knowledge and effectively engage with each other.

Embracing the future

Companies need to embrace social media with the same vigour that the internet and websites are today an intrinsic part of the communication within a company. Often it is about making a start. The HR department is the custodian of employee communication. By developing a strategic approach, the HR department can apply social media tools in an integrated way where they have real meaning.

Managers often feel a lack of control, particularly when a major change process is taking place. Rather than trying to control the process with zealous compliance, leaders need to embrace change and encourage employees to use it meaningfully to improve engagement.

Companies are responding to the growing interest and investment in social media applications, to support the attraction and retention of talent. A few companies are taking a leadership position as visionaries by embedding social media as an integral part of their employee engagement strategy.

Charles van Heerden is the founder of WaveBox, a specialist Strategic HR and Social Media consulting firm in Melbourne, Australia. Charles is an HR expert with a strategic focus on Social Media. Most recently he was Social Media and Marketing Director for a HR Consulting firm. Visit WaveBox for more information, as he enjoys blogging about innovative HR practices.

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Using Customer Engagement & Participation to Enhance Loyalty in the Media Industry

INTRODUCTION:

There seems to be rapid afforestation as far as the media industry is concerned. Many players battle for the eye-balls of the viewers and readers. In this jungle only those media and entertainment companies will survive that are able to effectively engage with their consumers to rapidly identify and react to the evolving demands and consumption patterns of end users.

To say that the media and entertainment (M&E) consumption in the last decade has undergone a paradigm shift would not be an exaggeration. The time when entertainment as represented by the media typically meant a few grainy channels on the television or tuning into limited stations on the radio or else gorging on news (that would typically be considered stale) from the newspaper or reading a book (hardcopy, mind you) seems like the choices of a bygone era. Those were days when outdoors were more welcoming. Today one is connected to the world through various hi-tech networked means. As the media has changed, so have its consumers.

The renaissance seems to have been driven by one single factor- advancing technology. The same technology that has ushered-in abundance has not brought the change in isolation, it also created cultural shifts. Consumers have realised their power and have become more demanding. Earlier they would adjust their lives according availability of content today the providers have to wrap around their broadcast and publishing according to the consumer convenience. Today, media has become location agnostic with the emerging popularity of tools like mobile phones that enable pulling of "media software". The percolation of social sites has to be seen as a game changer. At any given moment people are exchanging notes with each other about media content and the death or survival of published or broadcast content are decided in an instant.

Consumers are finally unshackled themselves from limitations and are enjoying wider choices and expanded personal freedoms as far and media and entertainment are concerned. Along with freedom consumption has also significantly gone up. This has thrown-up a double edged challenge for the providers-great opportunity and significant challenges. In the era of power-shifts it is apparent that only those media and entertainment companies who enable themselves to rapidly identify and react to the evolving demands and consumption patterns of end users will thrive.

There is only one factor that can enable these organisations decipher complex customer requirements-information. The challenge is to sift through this information using analytical tools and gather intelligence that can be effectively deployed. Bottom line, ability to deploy intelligence and creation & sustenance of loyalty among its consumer will be the key differentiating factor that will enable media companies to achieve success in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

There seems to be a thousand ways in which the consumer can access and enjoy diverse media and entertainment content due to its mass availability. The switching-cost is also low for consumers who want to switch to new content providers or media and entertainment companies. The biggest challenge in the media industry seems to be the fickle loyalties of consumers forcing them to identify ways of customizing content in compelling, highly targeted ways.

FACTORS SHAPING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:

CONTENT: Today's consumers expect a spectrum of content granularities. Their expectations may change depending on the time, their device/network characteristics, and even their moods. This compels the providers to customise content so that fits within the media consumption patterns of the consumer.

TARIFF MODEL: Though certain content will always be paid for, tariff remains a contentious issue. The consumer want low fee for themselves and expects the companies to generate most of the content through advertisements. In reality lot of content especially on the online media are co-created between the company and the consumer. This challenges the companies to create higher quality, customised content and charge the consumer less for the same.

ECONOMICS OF ATTENTION: Today's media market faces an irony. Despite abundant new digital content that has replaced earlier scarcities along with easy access the only scarcity that has emerged seems to have been that of user attention. For the content providers, getting user attention has been nothing short of a battle.

TARGETED EXPERIENCES: The evolution of real-time business intelligence is enabling mass-customisation of content and entertainment that delivers highly personalized and engaging experiences, consumers are demanding more.

COMPETITION: Media and entertainment companies have been forced into transitioning into non-traditional roles. Networks are delivering content online to consumers, bypassing traditional cable or satellite distribution; telcos are competing with cable via Internet Protocol television (IPTV) platforms; and cable companies are competing with telcos with voice over IP (VoIP). As Competition and churn increases, customer data analysis can provide competitive advantage for customer retention.

KEY IMPERATIVES FOR THE MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY:

ACCELERATED CONTENT DIGITIZATION: Analog is out and Digital is in. All content has to be in digital format so that it can be quickly edited, stored, combined with other digitized content and rapidly repurposed as needed.

IMPLEMENT END-TO-END WORKFLOWS: In today's environment it is critical to have seamless collaboration from pre-production through post-production all along the value chain.

USING METADATA FRAMEWORK: Content needs to be tagged through a metadata framework which enables its easy location, identification & helps in determining digital rights permissions.

FLEXIBLE & EVOLVING BUSINESS MODELS: With media and entertainment consumption pattern undergoing rapid shifts, traditional business models are becoming obsolete and thus unable to fully capitalize on the available opportunities or counter threats in contemporary market.

TARGETED REVENUE MODELS: Revenue, predominantly through advertising can be maximized if consumption patterns could be effectively analyzed and identified. The organisation would be able to break down larger segments into interest-specific fragments and deliver truly targeted and less intrusive advertising.

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH USER-GENERATED CONTENT: The ability to actively engage its consumers and create a "connect" would give any media organisation the ultimate competitive advantage. It has also been identified that engaged customers have the propensity to be loyal. They consume more content, evangelize for content and services they like, and can act as a barometer for cultural and technological change.

DEPLOY ROBUST CONTENT PROTECTION: To maximise profit from content, piracy and unauthorized copying must be carefully controlled and digital rights must be enforced.

GUARANTEEING CONSUMER PRIVACY: In order to actively engage customers and to encourage incoming content in various forms (including comments, rating etc), it is important to assure that unauthorized dissemination of information or access to such information will be limited only to authorized audience. Thus implementing privacy controls have become very important-Sanjai Velayudhan.

© Sanjai Velayudhan.

Endnote: The author would like your feedback-both bouquets & brickbats. Write to me- sanjai.velayudhan@itcinfotech.com.

A behavioural trainer by education and a loyalty specialist by profession, Sanjai has PG qualifications in Training and Performance management from CLMS, University of Leicester. Sanjai works with ITC Infotech India Limited as the senior manager-loyalty program. he consults on loyalty matters and is also a compulsive writer. He looks after loyalty solutions and develops content. he believes that Knowledge is the spearhead that leads organisations forward.He has published few papers on loyalty programmes and the psychology behind it. To read some his papers, please visit: http://www.itcinfotech.com/Loyalty-Solutions/Home.html. You can see his talk on loyalty- http://www.24framesdigital.com/winningedge/260608. Feel free to write to him on sanjai.velayudhan@itcinfotech.com.

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Social Media Is About Engagement

This is not the time to let customers or profits slip through your fingers.

You need to make your business stronger, more successful, and ensure your customers are more loyal and responsive to your engagement with them.

Recently, Harry Dent, Jr. said that you should break free of provincial geographic thinking and focus on demographics. You should go after customers, able and willing to spend on what you sell, wherever they are, not where you are.

As a result, many marketing, media, technology, and advertising experts use social media forums as a way to champion the use of social media. They suggest a company, especially a small business on main street with a modest marketing budget, become better known, extend their reach, and increase their company's sales using social media.

Here is an example of a teaser message recently transmitted in an email marketing campaign to small and medium sized businesses... the message says, "Social Media is the most explosively growing media of all-time and growing faster with each passing day with no slow-down in sight. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took TV 13 years to reach 50 million users. Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months. And iPhone applications hit 1 BILLION in 9 months."

Based on this message, it is easy for entrepreneurs to get seduced into thinking that by using Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, big sales are just around the corner.

However, social media should work in conjunction with traditional marketing and selling techniques such as relationship marketing within "old" social networks, cold calling, vertical marketing, and other effective prospecting activities.

Small business owners should take the time to learn how to maximize their use of social media but they should not rely on it to make their sales. Business owners need to learn how to use social media to engage their prospects and customers and how to get their prospects and customers talking about something that is important to them and the small business. This type of engagement is necessary and will ultimately get prospects and customers to take the action the business owner wants them to take... leading to a sale.

In order to make the best business use of social media, the small business owner needs to prepare a simple strategy with several guidelines to follow in the use of social media. The strategy and guidelines need to pinpoint the specific message to be communicated so that all employees using social media for the business know what direction their messages should take and how they should focus their posts. For example, is the company's focus to increase customer service? is it to enhance awareness of their products or services? or is it to boost their brand recognition? Each of these things would have a different yet consistent message for the employees of the business to follow.

For example, one insurance company uses Twitter and Facebook to let people to know about all the philanthropic things they are doing for the community. All the posts are about events they are sponsoring and contributions they're making. Employees know that they should post information about personal thing they're doing for the community, such as volunteering at the local animal shelter or helping out with Habitat for Humanity. With a clear guideline that the social media effort is to increase philanthropic awareness it is easy for employees to know the kinds of things they should be doing on social media sites. They have a clear focus and a unified purpose.

Another company in the retail industry uses social media to improve customer service. All their posts highlight things they are doing internally to improve the customer experience, what they are doing online to make shopping easier and how they are handling phone inquires to deliver a memorable shopping experience. They also regularly ask customers how they would like the company to improve customer service. With that as the key message, all of the company's employees are focused on problem solving and on making the customers happy.

Therefore, a good social media strategy, with employee guidelines, is far more than a list of good and bad words or topics. Instead, the strategy with guidelines needs to focus on the core message the small business wants to portray along with the best ways to spread that core message.

The guidelines should cover the following topics.

Build trust. The business employees should use their posts to build a reputation of trust among clients, media, and the public. When they are reaching out to others on social media sites, they should take every opportunity to build a reputation of trust and to establish themselves as a credible and transparent representative of the company.

Be transparent. When participating in any online community, the small business employees should disclose their identities and affiliations with the organization, clients, and their professional and / or personal interest.

Be direct. When creating posts and content, the business employees should be direct, informative, and brief.

Give due credit. If the business employees post copyrighted materials, they should identify the original sources.

Self-edit. The small business employees should always evaluate each posting's accuracy and truthfulness. Before posting any online material, they need to ensure that the material is accurate, truthful, and without factual error. This includes doing a spell and grammar cheek on everything.

Responsibility. Make sure the business employees know that they are responsible for what they post. Negative or questionable posts should not be tolerated.

Be professional. When posting comments, the business employees should refrain from writing about controversial or potentially inflammatory subiects, including politics, sex, religion, or any other non-business related subjects. The tone of their comments should be respectful and informative and never condescending or "loud."

Privacy. The business employees should never disclose proprietary or confidential information. This includes product releases, service updates, and employee information not made public yet.

Obey the rules. All business employees should follow local, state, or federal laws and regulations. Ultimately, their online activities will be a reflection on the company.

Today's social media tools are great for business building, provided that the small business owner and their employees know how to use them for the company's ultimate benefit.

Therefore, the small business owner needs to determine why their company is using social media sites and then let that purpose be known throughout the entire company. Additionally, they need to implement clear social media guidelines that small company employees can follow in order to further their company's mission.

Ultimately, when small businesses know how they are supposed to use today's social media tools, they can do so with focus and purpose, leading the small company confidently into the communication age.

I Hope You Enjoyed the Article and I Trust You Found It Insightful! Let me Know What You Think.

Until the next time, I invite you to learn more about me and my various activities by checking me out at the links below.

Have a Great Day and More Later,

Mike Farrell

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When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own internet marketing company and consulting firm from the mountains of Colorado.

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