September 4, 2015
We call it ‘the power of a connected network’; uniting your workforce to harness the potential influence available on social.
“Well that’s just social media tosh”, you might say. I assure you it is not. And here’s why:
The most overlooked use of social is internal communications and it’s staggering.
Think back to your last office social event. As it happens, we took team IF for a (vastly competitive) crazy golf matchplay event last night. As the picture shows, equipped with suitably appropriate attire, we split into teams, grabbed our scorecards and set forth with so much pumped energy and emotion you would have thought we were competing for the Ryder Cup. To us, it was far bigger than intercontinental match-ups; this was about office bragging rights. Priceless.
Why the golfing tale? Throughout the evening numerous photos were snapped and shared across social – primarily with IF colleagues, but also across our business feeds. The engagement received from clients, influencers, industry peers and friends whom we’re yet to meet shows our content chimed. Significantly so. Who doesn’t like content that shows people having fun? We made people smile; we showed our personalities; and most importantly, the agency personality and culture we’re immensely proud of at immediate future. And yes, being marketeers we have a term for this: we humanised our brand! (Anyone playing buzzword bingo by the way?).
Now, let’s take this sweet Friday morning story and apply the structure to our everyday work. Think back to your last product or service release, the last industry conference or event attended, the last time an important piece of news emerged from your company – did you share it on social? Did your peers? Was it a collective and structured publishing of the ‘story’? For the majority, this will be unlikely. If you’re doing this, well done. You really are a minority – we applaud you.
There are reasons for doing this that go well beyond vanity. No doubt you’ve seen those push notifications appear on your smartphone: @personA, @personB and @personC are all tweeting about XXXXX.
When a connected network publishes content in a structured and timely fashion it has real impact across the primary channels. Brands crave ‘organic reach’ at a time when ‘pay to play’ models are cannibalising the available reach. Now, to be clear, I’m not advocating internal communications in place of paid media. The two propositions are equally important and should be properly integrated to yield optimum potential. I’m advocating working smart, doing the basics, and availing of the quick wins.
The next time you have a key ‘story’ emerging, organise the publishing of its content. Corral your team to all publish messages at 11am. Try it. You’ll be impressed with the impact you have and how it gets a little helping hand from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Now sadly, despite much pre-match hype, I didn’t win last night – I came second. A challenging dog-leg left around the roaring T-Rex caused me to drop two shots. The awarded silver medal is hung by my desk to remind me how close I came to claiming office bragging rights, but ultimately finishing in the first loser’s spot. Reflection will hurt. Focus will be restored. By the time we hit the Go-Kart tracks, my determination will be greater than ever to win. Fear not, thanks to the power of our connected network, you will undoubtably hear about this grand feat.
Unite your workforce and harness their social power. It’s simple and free.