Social Media – A Valuable Opportunity? Part 1: Internal Communication

Corporate transparency is (slowly) becoming the norm.

Social media, when utilized efficiently, becomes a two way communication super-highway.  Customers can provide real-time feedback on products/services; and companies are given the opportunity to quickly respond.  This also allows shortened time for product engineers to improve shortcomings, utilizing the real-time feedback.  For example, the online community can post their questions on a company’s hosted forum, so that others who have the same issue, have the ability to research concerns, comment, or get the situation resolved without inducing labor costs. Think about the new iPhone platform hitting this month.  Apple utilized the online community’s feedback via emails and blogs, turning negatives (like no video capability) into a deliverable product, within a reasonable timeframe.  (Apple iPhone site)

One thing to point out – social media doesn’t involve blogging alone.  It’s literally ANY interactive medium:

• whether between senior management and the workforce (Sharepoint message boards, web casts, intranet blogs, company sponsored Facebook groups)
• a company and its customers (interactive blogs, twitter, RSS feeds from a site)
• a place for employees to discuss workplace issues, for better or worse (I hate starbucks)

A fantastic example is what they do at Merrill Lynch.  Earlier this year, I worked for their Global Wealth Management department, not only at the time Merrill announced the Bank of America merger, but also when stocks started crashing and the economic downturn began.  Both Merrill and Bank of America were the focus of enourmous media criticism.  Executive management stepped up to the plate.  In brave efforts with their communications department, senior executives delivered up-to-date messages in hopes to establish fact from fiction.  They provided live, call-in web casting 2-3 times a week, sent daily mass e-mails and updated message boards.  Employees were armed with information in efforts to keep the chatter to a minimum and keep clients informed.

This works for not only vertical communication but for peer-to-peer information delivery.

I feel it’s extremely important for employers to provide a medium for employees to discuss issues or ideas.  Employees talk amongst themselves, whether on or off the clock.  The difference is that chatter isn’t taking place by the water cooler any more…it’s in a virtual space. Wouldn’t a company want to directly know what’s going on, address issues quickly, improve employee satisfaction and decrease turnover?  Wouldn’t it make sense for a company to create an open culture instead of one being provided for them (user generated Facebook groups, anonymous blogs, etc)? This could facilitate the generation of new ideas, shared to the entire entity, quickly.  It would allow for sharing of company information, notification of events, and facilitate the delivery of best practices.

Additionally, wouldn’t it benefit communicators/marketers/human resource folks to read some of the independent blogs/forums where disgruntled employees rant?  In my mind, it would be a huge resource.  They may be able to stop problems before more people get burned.

This is the first part in a series regarding social media uses.  Part 2 will discuss advertising and positive brand image.  As always, comments are welcome.