The economic downturn means that many organizations’ approach to strategic communications must occur with smaller budgets. Social media allows for the best use of communications resources and is proving highly effective at engaging workforces.
The Employee Engagement Survey by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation and Buck Consultants, an ACS company, was conducted in 2009 to determine how organizations are communicating with employees to keep them engaged and productive.
Social Media Fosters Employee Productivity
The results were than 79% of the respondents say they use social media frequently to engage employees and foster productivity, outpacing email at 75%. Organizational blogs are the most popular social media tool, at 47%, and discussion boards ranked highest for planned usage at 33%.
The survey revealed that 21% of organizations use Twitter, 20% use Yammer and 18% use Facebook. Respondents said that more usage is planned in the immediate future.
IABC President Julie Freeman noted that she is encouraged about the rising popularity of social media in employee communications and that these tools create more two-way dialogue across geographic areas and teams.
Employee Engagement Deepens With Social Networks
The importance of social media as a tool to improve employee satisfaction and productivity is also noted by global consulting firm Watson Wyatt. Michael Rudnick of Watson Wyatt believes that social media helps employees be active participants to create and share information.
This content results in employees becoming more engaged online with the employer.
Organizations, however, face fear from executives about a loss of productivity with the use of social media tools in the workplace. Experts believe that this reaction is similar to the concerns by employers when the internet was introduced in workplaces.
Organizational leaders need to understand that employers who do not use social media tools risk not engaging with key demographic groups who either work in the organization or those being recruited, particularly Generation X and Millennials.
Management of Communications Includes Planning for Social Media Use
Many organizations are testing the waters to shift from using an intranet, with one-way communications posted by a handful of communications staff, to more dynamic social media tools. In these communications environments, employees participate by creating content on blogs, giving blog feedback, on wikis, vlogs, podcasting or other tools.
Communications staff play a lead role in developing the tools’ usage, executing strategic communications plans behind the social media and acting as a moderator to advance the online conversations and quality of the information.
Move from Traditional Employee Communications to Social Media Tools
Communications budgets often accommodate the use of social media as an employee engagement tool with many of the associated costs in communications staff resources. As a result, using social media for employee satisfaction, productivity and engagement has a healthy return on investment.
The use of social media is becoming a much more vital part of employee communications programs and is proving its financial value as well. Organizations should plan to embrace these online conversations as a valuable method to achieve the essential goal of internal communications: employee engagement.
Shelley Aylesworth-Spink - Shelley Aylesworth-Spink has worked in support of communications, marketing and advertising for nearly 25 years in the private and public ...
