Using social networks to engage employees - Abi Signorelli, CIPR Digital Focus Conference 2009

keeping communication simple at www.abisignorelli.com

Digital for internal comms

Using social networks to engage employees

Abi Signorelli


A bit about me

Freelance Communications Consultant

Over 15 years in senior communication roles:

Director of Internal Comms at Virgin Media

Head of Internal Comms at Virgin Mobile

Senior Manager, Internal Comms & Knowledge at Vodafone

Senior Manager, Internal Comms & Knowledge at Alcatel Lucent

Communications Consultant at O2

Passionate about all things social media

More at www.abisignorelli.com


Some thoughts on social media


Is social media a fad?

Years to reach 50 million: Radio: 38 years TV: 13 years Internet: 4 years iPod: 3 years

Facebook 100 million in less than 9 months 1 billion iPod app downloads in 9 months 96% Gen Y have joined a social network 80% of Twitter usage is on mobiles – people can update anywhere, anytime Gen Y and Z consider email passé 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations Only 14% trust ads

Social media isn’t a fadIt’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate


Famous examples - great

When Obama arrived at the White House, he’d gained millions of names of

supporters who could be engaged almost instantly through his political

social media campaign.

“By engaging with supporters, he was able to create that all important sense of

connection – “he's talking to me, he's in my network and he's someone I feel like I know’.

He provided a chance to challenge, question and connect and by acknowledging the

discussions, he made it feel like everything had been read and taken on board."

•c7 million facebook fans•>2.5 million twitter followers

•3 million online donors = $5 million•92% in increments of less than $100


Using social networks to engage employees

Case studies


With over 15,000 McDonald’s locations across the US and Canada, they asked “how can we connect all of you with one another”

They built something where employees can: Connect Participate Give feedback from the frontline Showcase new products Explore McDonald’s brand and values Celebrate successes Build community online with each other

“stationM is… …giving you a voice …connecting crew …creating a community …100% pure fun”


McDonald’s stationM


McDonald’s stationM

McDonald’s ranks #32 in top 100 “most social brands”

McDonald’s viewpoint

All about the relationships you have and build with your key audiences

All about cultivating those relationships so that…

…you enable those key relationships to become brand ambassadors…spread the word!

"It provides us the opportunity to get information to the people who are interacting with our customers day to day. And [it] provides us with a channel back to hear what's on the minds of our crew people, what they're excited about and what questions they have. We can use that information to better handle our future communications.”

“Internal blogging is a great way for employees to feel connected, not just to one another, but also to top management and ultimately the brand itself. It is a positive way for a company to build creditability among its employees by acknowledging and addresses what is happening at any given moment within the corporate community.”

Ben Stringfellow, senior director of U.S. communications at McDonald's.


In 2008, O2 launched their new brand promise “we’re better connected”

They asked “how can we lead the way with innovative approaches that would help O2 people connect?”

O2 people wanted an online community where they could… …collaborate …share …learn


O2’s mingle


O2’s mingle

mingle is an internal social networking site just for O2 employees

It adds real business value through collaborative group working, cross-directorate networking, as well as blogs, videos, images and more

The user-centred design approach involved O2 people through creative workshops, so employee engagement and ownership levels reached unprecedented levels.

In a social climate rapidly adapting for ‘Generation Y’ employees, mingle has already shown massive potential in affecting O2’s talent management, employee engagement and organisational effectiveness workstreams

“With a diverse audience spread across many locations in the UK, effective and innovative channels like mingle play a key role in our communication strategy at O2…putting audiences first and designing concepts, messaging and delivery methods around our specific needs were integral to making our new channels a success.”

James Allen, former Head of Internal Communication

BT wanted every employee to have a place of their own on the intranet, where they could… …create web pages and allow others to edit them (wiki pages) …share photos and files …create as many blogs as they wished …connect themselves with other people in the organisation


BT’s MyPages


BT’s MyPages

• ‘MyPages’ is their killer application

• “The fact that individuals could manage all this functionality through a single ‘portal’ was incredibly powerful and sent adoption rates through the roof.”

• “With only viral marketing, within a couple of weeks over 1,500 people had activated their MyPages. Activity and traffic on this tool was so heavy that it sent the JotBox into meltdown and all our social media services disappeared overnight!”

• Richard Dennison, Senior Manager Social Media, BT


Using social networking to engage employees


Some engagement benefits

Aligns and galvanises the workforce

Helps to become an authentic listening organisation

Creates true two-way conversation

Everyone can connect – remote / dispersed workers connect with people they’d never normally meet

Water-cooler / cigarette break moments not confined to a single office

Opportunities to share ideas and best practices wherever, whenever

Fantastic way of building relationships – with anyone – on a professional and personal level

Everyone has an outlet to express their opinion

Non hierarchical - allows comms to flow from the top to bottom, bottom to top and side to side

Leaders become more accessible and authentic – they become human beings


Can we ignore it?

If people are using these tools at home, they’re ready and willing to use them at work

People are doing it anyway

Younger employees expect social media - Gen Y are so used to two-way communications that they don’t really pay attention to anything else

96% Gen Y have joined a social network

Gen Y and Z consider email passé

78% of consumers trust peer recommendations

Only 14% trust ads


Actually doing it


Integration and alignment

It’s vital to seamlessly align your social media approach with your brand values, culture and company strategy

– and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

With clear goals and outcomes outlined, your social media objectives should fully integrate

with your internal comms strategy and should be an evolution of your internal comms

approach, rather than a separate strategy.


Leadership buy-in

Many leaders struggle to understand the power and benefits of

social media in the workplace.

Producing a strong business case will help ensure your leadership team fully buy-in to your

strategy and lead by example.


Getting social with your employees

Fully embracing the tools and techniques is the best way for your leadership team and internal comms

team to lead by example and get social with your employees.

Engaging and involving your people at every opportunity is vital to ensure

the success of any social media objective.


Some (but by no means all)

tools


Chatter


Facebook


Yammer


Ning


In a nutshell


In a nutshell…

Social media isn’t a fad – it’s a fundamental shift in how we communicate

Social networking is a fantastic engagement tool providing endless and enhanced opportunities to…

…connect

…communicate

…collaborate

…innovate

People are doing it anyway

Younger employees expect it

Getting social is a natural and essential evolution of how you communicate with your people


Thank you!

My blog: http://abi-signorelli.blogspot.com

Using social networks to engage employees - Abi Signorelli, CIPR Digital Focus Conference 2009

Technology

Transcript of Using social networks to engage employees - Abi Signorelli, CIPR Digital Focus Conference 2009