Social Media in the workplace Is it risky business?

Traditional Media versus Social Media Traditional mediaSocial Media One way communicationMany to one – multipath dialogue “Here is what marketers think the brand value is” Consumers express how they perceive the brand Consumers segmented by their demographics and viewing behaviour Consumers segmented by their social behaviour Buzz driven by what’s coolBuzz based on message content – WIIFM? Expert recommendations (e.g. Michelin Guide, Good Food Guide etc) Peer and influencer recommendations (i.e. Amazon etc) Content publishers control all channelsUsers opt-in for publisher’s content Information managed by hierarchyInformation provided on demand Top-down strategic approachBottom-up voice of the consumer strategy

Motivators for Social Media Research Reading Engaging in conversation Creating blogs, writing articles Instant access to wide audience

Strategy

DiscoveryStrategyManagement Three tiers of social media strategy Target AudienceListeningData Collection, Analytics ObjectivesAnsweringMeasure results vs. Goals CapacitySocial ToolsRefine – Adjust & Test PolicyContent StrategyIterative

Translate strategy into action Again, we must have strategies and tactics operating at 3 target audience categories: Influencers Individuals Consumers

Influencers You must provide value to influencers so that they will promote your message; Objective is not necessarily to have influencer purchase; Ideal outcome is that they forward positive message soon and often!

Consumers In the past, traditional media was used to deliver the message of value, so that the consumer could make a decision based on functional and emotional value. In social media, you must still deliver the message highlighting value of the brand compared to other brands, so in this category not much has changed, except you now have many avenues to get your message out there.

Individuals Engage with individuals who use Social Media effectively, so that they will either become consumers or influences of your products/services Alternatively, release a series of brand-related posts, creating reviews that are read after being picked up by individuals using a search- engine

Your brand – the impact Influencers like to endorse a brand with high equity – i.e. Coca Cola. Your task is to build and protect your brand equity so that influencers will engage with the brand. Consumers now have many perspectives on a brand as they read comments and feedback from influencers and other consumers Individual’s participation in a brand experience is partially driven by the brand image, in addition to commentary in social and other media.

Social Media in the workplace

Statistics 53%Look for information on Twitter Pew Internet %Chief Marketing Officers in US Fortune 1,000 companies lunched a corporate blog because “it’s the cost of doing business today” eMarketer 2011 $3.08 Bil USDWill be spent to advertise on social networking sites in 2011, a 55% increase over 2010 eMarketer MilRegistered user accounts on Twitter (January 2011) Twitter MilTweets are sent per day on Twitter Twitter 2011

Talking ‘bout Generations Who they are Silent Gen 1925 – 1945 Baby Boomers Gen X Gen Y TaglineWhen in command, take charge Live to workWork to liveLike Xers on steroids ValuesWork itself, and colleagues Respect, empowerment, challenge & growth Work/life balance, individualism, entrepreneurial Technology Immediate feedback & payoff Hard work pays off Technology PreferencesWork with strong leaders Results oriented work environment, stability Harmonious work environment. flexibility Challenging meaningful work, high expectations of success Relationship to employer Willing to learn new skills Be included in decision making Not intimidated by authority Little loyalty to employer

Generation Y? “The problem with today’s youth is that they think they know everything, they are impatient to make their mark and change the world and just want the older generation to step aside and let them take over before they have even learned what needs changing” Anonymous

Introducing the “C” Generation Connected Communicating Content-centric Computerised Community-oriented Always Clicking!

What are they looking for? Workplace flexibility To be technology enabled Relationship based interactions

The Benefits Staff members share their positive views of your brand Staff members can distribute news fast, to a massive audience Uncovers public opinions of organisation being shared via social media Workers will self-organise by mixing business and personal matters

The Risks and Opportunities DepartmentRiskOpportunity Human ResourcesViolation of existing policiesAttract, engage, retain ITInformation security, data lossReduce network and desktop support requests LegalCopyright, freedom of speech, libel, audit trails Better corporate oversight, tighter controls MarketingAggravate brand fractureEnable market to self-educate Customer ServicePerceived productivity lossReduce call centre demand PRNegligibleUnfiltered communications IRSelective disclosureBetter shareholder communications

Before you stop, stop and think!

Loss of control Companies can no longer control the message The voice of the customer is out there, loud and clear Benefits of transparency outweigh the risks

Productivity Loss Unnecessary downtime Distracting Diminished performance

Down time People who surf the internet for fun, for less than 20% of their time 9% more productive than those who don’t. Dr Brent Coker, a lecturer in Marketing at University of Melbourne said: “The enjoyable stuff is better for people than mundane stuff….the more escapist relaxing type of feeling (the better). Reading what your friends are saying on Facebook, playing a little Mafia Wars, or whatever, and then getting back to the job.” Royston Seaward, partner, Deloitte’s technology integration practice, said: “There are now many companies looking at taking social media and seeing how they can apply it internally, to connect people across the organisation. This is being driven by staff and teams working together, taking the initiative themselves”.

Cost of not ‘doing’ social media Loss of opportunity to retain customers with negative experience opportunity to win new customers access to competitors’ conversations ability to respond to your influencers, consumers, and general individuals opportunity to initiate positive conversations Out of the loop/not involved in dialogue that is happening ‘out there’

Manage the risk, change the behaviour Develop guiding principles Define the process Enable a governance structure Policy/Education Develop guidelines for governance, aligned with strategy and goals Develop internal process to provide a flexible and responsive approach to managing Social Media Assign roles and responsibilities to ensure accountable and shared governance across the organisation Create policy documentation, and a communication and education plan for new governance approach © Macanta Consulting 2011

Actions: What you need A risk taking environment so that you can maximise the opportunities provided by social media Knowledge management Social media guidelines and policy Performance Management

Some examples of Social Media in workplace De Loitte Consulting have a “Digital Mentoring” program, where Graduates mentor Partners Ernst & Young have a Facebook Page to attract the best Graduates At IBM, it’s about losing control.

Social Media Policy Checklist Is your social media policy: Collaborative – have you had a discussion on what should be included? Positive – teaching engagement between staff and customers, rather than ‘thou shalt not”? Public – does it serve the staff or the company? Extended to Contractors – do the contractors understand they are bound by same policy?

Case Study #1

Social Media at IBM “We don’t have a corporate blog or a corporate Twitter ID because we want the ‘IBMers’ in aggregate to be the corporate blog and the corporate Twitter ID,” says Adam Christensen, social media communications at IBM Corporation. “We represent our brand online the way it always has been, which is employees first. Our brand is largely shaped by the interactions that they have with customers.” Thousands of IBMers are the voice of the company.

Social Media stats for IBM No IBM corporate blog or Twitter Account 17,000 internal blogs 100,000 employees using internal blogs 53,000 members on SocialBlue (like Facebook for employees) A few thousand “IBMers” on Twitter Thousands of external bloggers Almost 200,000 on Linkedin As many as 500,000 participants in company crowd- sourcing “jams” 50,000 in alum networks on Facebook and Linkedin

The Results Crowd-sourcing identified 10 best incubator businesses, which IBM funded with $100 million $100 billion in total revenue with a 44.1% gross profit margin in 2008 Christensen says to date there’s not an effort to tag a return on investment to its social media efforts. “I think if you’d ask any senior executive at IBM, ‘How important is it for our employees to be smarter?‘, inherently they understand that these tools can play in helping with that,” Christensen said. “I don’t see myself rarely or ever having that hard conversation on the value of engaging employees in these spaces.”

Case Study #2

The Macanta Story Founded in 2009 Fully operational August st Twitter account person company Melbourne based Focussed on consulting in IT Service Management

Social Media at Macanta Facebook page 1 Linkedin accounts2 Twitter accounts3 Regular blogs Regular White Papers Monthly Podcast

Results Signed up: 1st USA partner in April ‘11 – met on Twitter 2 nd USA partner in May ‘11 - met on Twitter Invited to run Antipodean Podcast by industry expert who runs global ITSM Podcasts – met on Twitter Feedback from industry peers in Australia – we are perceived as a well established player in the industry. Feedback from industry peers across the globe we are perceived as one of the key players in the industry both globally as well as in Australia

Summary Social Media is here to stay Plan to take advantage of it Plan to manage the risk This includes managing staff performance

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