Welcome to the Melcrum Social Media Newsletter

Do you want to set up social media tools in your organization but don't know where to begin with encouraging people to use them?

In 2006, eight companies formed a cross-industry “learning consortium” organised by TFPL. The consortium – predominantly knowledge managers from international organizations such as Unilever, BT and ABN Amro – looked at how to maximize the value of communities.

A key topic was that of the relationship between technology, (including Web 2.0 social technologies) and communities. Below are four top tips for engaging communities with new tools, developed by Chris Collison, Knowledgable Ltd., Richard Dennison, BT Group and Ruud Bohmer, Unilever.

Whether you have communities in your organization or not, replace “communities” with “employees” and these tips are equally as relevant when it comes to talking about new web 2.0 tools:

1. Ensure that the tools are relevant to people and the actual work they do.

• Listen to what people are saying/doing and understand their work processes For example, Flickr (“I want to share photos”) or YouTube (“I want to publish and share video”), have become popular because they do exactly what people want and leave it at that.
• Ask what people want to achieve: What do they know they want to do? What could they do, given time/energy?
• Provide tools that can reflect personality. People like to know more about their fellow members so make provision for informality, photos and some personal disclosure.
• Keep tools focused on the process(es) to be achieved.

2. Develop a “toolbox”

• Have a suite of “approved” tools but keep them simple.
• Clearly position the tools – say “what they do.”
• Give people flexibility on the tools they use. Some communities may prefer specialist tools.
• However, having too great a choice of tools is counter-productive like a child in a sweetshop – too much choice can be overwhelming!

3. Publicize the tools

• Have good internal marketing – visibility of tools is critical to success.
• Publicize, promote, communicate and ensure you refresh the advertising.
• Showcase good examples of successful usage and also where a community has built a tool.
• Get feedback.
• Use clear names that demonstrate what a tool does, for example, “people finder”.
• Don’t patronize by saying, “This tool is good for you!”

4. Partner with your IT function if possible

• Engage IT early in your program.
• If you can’t beat them, join them – or have them join you.
• Cultivate relationships with IT at all levels.

Best regards,

Alex Manchester,
Editor
alex.manchester@melcrum.com



P.S. Don't forget to complete our global survey on social media use in internal and corporate communication. It only takes five minutes and on completion you'll get a free report: The Quick-Start Guide to Social Media for Internal Communicators.

Further FREE reading from Melcrum:

• Web 2.0 in under 5 mins
  
  
• Using the intranet for CEO communication
  
  
• Web 2.0 Galore: Social Tags & Bookmarks