The best
thing about internal social media is its ‘by-the-people-for-the-people’
nature. As communications managers this
can go against the grain somewhat – it’s much more comfortable to have channels
that we can control, where we know what’s going to be said because we are the
ones saying it. But recent studies (for example, ACPO, Gagen MacDonald and a
piece in the HBR that I talked about below) show that social media is increasingly expected by the
younger workforce to be available within their workplace and it’s getting to be
a differentiating factor for them when choosing an employer (US-based but the
rest of the world will follow if not already there). It’s not going to go away.
Internal
Communications can’t and shouldn’t have control over social media content –
this takes away the whole point of having it. A bit like your mother checking
your Facebook updates before they go up – who wants that! But we should review
it and take action if necessary to keep it a resource for people to use freely
without fear of castigation.
So we’ll
be in the situation where we manage channels used to convey messages and tell
our stories, while participating in and accounting for (but not directly
managing) social media channels where our people will talk about our messages
and stories, sharing their views and opinions.
How
comfortable will we be with this free-for-all? Depends on the culture and
maturity of the organisation in question. Where this is positive there will be
self-regulation and it’s less likely that something unsuitable will go up
there. (Trolls will stay under their bridges.)
Of course
in an unhappy organisation there is more risk. Here’s a vicious circle: senior
leadership doesn’t trust its people, which leads to employee dissatisfaction,
which would lead to negative comments on open communications channels, which
would prevent leaders from allowing these channels, which leads to more
dissatisfaction and even more distrust.
How to
break this? Well, you need to sort out the source of the problem.
Sometimes
it’s due to where the organisation is at: major transformation programmes often
lead to nervousness within both management and their people and so not the best
time to introduce ISM. But if it’s already there you can’t quash it.
Another
stumbling block is with those in management who see social media as a
time-waster. (The same used to be said about the intranet.)
A key
part of the solution is implementing a policy. I know that sounds really dull
and boring (that well known double act) but at least everyone knows what the
rules are and it’s easier to redress things that go wrong if you can show that
the policy hasn’t been met. If you haven’t already got one, it’s a good idea to
ask for people’s help in setting one up – particularly those who are really
interested in social media. This gets them on your side of the fence and their
knowledge will help you get it right!
The
challenge (as with all policies) is to keep it comprehensive, short and clear.
Make sure that you say something about removing offensive content and perhaps
try and keep it on a positive footing by suggesting all the things social media
is good for. That might help the senior doubting Thomases as well as dissuade
people from posting what they are going to have for lunch that day…
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