There are four key ways to ingrain social activity into your organisation, says Jonathan Pohl, product manager at Thomson Reuters Elite
Regardless of which particular platform a business uses, it is almost certain they have at least one option for collaborating with colleagues or clients via a social network. As noted recently by Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, 70 per cent of all companies are now using social technology to help them run their businesses.
At a glance, this incredible percentage might lead many to believe that such businesses are forward-thinking. However, according to a recent McKinsey Quarterly report, this optimistic view is far from justifiable. While many companies are using social technology today, only a handful (three per cent) are achieving maximum benefit from these tools.
The true value of a social network is its ability to create relationships that drive the spread of information and encourage collaboration. Four simple steps can help organisations maximise the impact of these relationships through social channels.
1. Raise your visibility
Make it easy for clients and prospects to find and connect with your company via social channels by helping employees build their own visibility across social networks. The simplest way to drive people to LinkedIn profiles, for example, is by including the link in email signatures. Adding a company description to profiles will also help ensure visitors get a clear idea of what the business does and how it might help them.
In addition, getting involved in professional groups on LinkedIn can help connect employees and customers. It is critical, however, to identify the right groups. Get your employees involved in the process by circulating an informal weekly digest summarising interesting and relevant discussion topics from LinkedIn. This will get people more tuned into relevant groups.
2. Educate employees
Encourage employees to drive their own ‘PR machine’ and make their voice heard online. LinkedIn groups and Twitter both offer great opportunities for employees to engage in a sincere dialog with prospects and clients. Work with interested employees to develop a system for monitoring and responding to posts on a regular basis.
Participating in social channels can be intimidating for even the most extroverted of employees. Remind them they do not need to be a professional writer to get their thoughts read and respected by their peers.
It’s worth remembering the value of these interactions lies in their authenticity. Posting updates to these networks is okay, but using comments and responses as a chance to ‘sell’ is extremely transparent and may not leave the right impression. Instead, take the opportunity to engage in dialogue about the service customers receive, address any concerns or discuss wider issues within the industry you’re both interested in.
3. Link up conversations
Don’t forget, businesses are already inherently social. For example, Bill sends an email to a prospect with pricing information, as Carol calls one of your suppliers to check on an order’s status, all while Sheila flies to New York to discuss a new product launch with your biggest client. These are the kinds of social interactions that take place on a daily basis.
By joining up these social interactions – understanding who Bill is emailing, who Carol is talking to or who Sheila is meeting – companies can begin to connect the dots. For example, you could let Bill know that one of your field reps emailed the same prospect just last week about another product. Better yet, you could tell Bill that his prospect happens to be one of your company’s biggest suppliers: the same one Carol called earlier.
By increasing organisational awareness of these activities, you can dramatically increase the impact your company can bring to bear on a customer relationship. Most internal social networks offer options for tracking these types of activities, and many offer integrations into a new class of social tools that automatically identify and present information about these connections. Don’t be afraid to use them.
4. Avoid user fatigue
A BBC study from last May suggests the old ‘one/nine/90’ rule is dead and that 77 per cent of social network users are now actively participating in social networks in some way. Even as participation rates surge, however, keeping these users actively engaged in social networking efforts remains a major challenge. Internal social networks are especially susceptible to user fatigue and many social networks have an initial period of excitement followed by big drop off in participation.
But the good news is there are many ways to stay engaged without necessarily being exceptionally ‘active’ in terms of content generation. The reality is most platforms are highly automated nowadays, so the groups people are joining, the connections being made, or the events being attended are all passively created content. Make sure you and your employees establish profiles and account settings to maximise the benefits of this automation. Doing so will help avoid ‘user fatigue’ while keeping user profiles fresh, ensuring you are part of the overall social story whether you’re actively posting or passively listening.
Implementing customer-focused social networking can be challenging, but a well thought-out strategy can have a tremendous impact on relationships. By taking these few simple steps, you’re likely to be surprised how effortlessly your company can start to harness the benefit of social technologies.
