After a year that has seen turmoil for many and unrest for many more, the start of a new year is a good time to regroup and refresh.

Online forums are a great way to bring employees together giving them the chance to sing about their achievements, voice their concerns and air their grievances.

Senior managers may worry about the damage it could cause to a company's reputation but the chances are that if you don't provide a vehicle for this type of catharsis internally, it'll happen externally. And that'll be much harder to track down and keep tabs on.

So if you're thinking of starting up something similar in the new year, take a look at this question sent in to change communication expert Helen Coley-Smith via the Internal Comms Hub.

Coley-Smith offers her advice for launching, marketing and getting buy-in for a staff discussion forum.

If this is on your agenda for the new year, good luck and I hope you find these tips useful.

Until next time,

P.S. Melcrum's Social Media Conference is taking place in London on 9th and 10th February 2010 and is the must-attend event of the year to further your knowledge of this exciting area. Find out how you can build the business case for social media, as well as hearing how other companies are improving their results by using it. Book your place today.

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