Chapter 8 - Social Media
Strategies and Tactics for Successful Social Media Use
8.2 Explain how to develop a social media strategy and social media content. Given how easy it is to set up social media accounts, it can be tempting to create accounts on the major services and start firing away with messages. However, to maximize effectiveness and minimize problems, a clear strategy is essential. Establishing a Social Media Strategy A good social media strategy answers six questions, which can be summarized as why, who, what, how, where, and when (see Figure 8.2): A good social media strategy answers six key questions: Why are we using social media? Who is our audience, and who will create the content? What types of messages will we share? How will we create content? Where will we distribute our content? When will we post new material, and how quickly do we need to respond to messages? Why: Setting Social Media Goals Success starts with understanding why a company wants to use social media. Social media efforts should be integrated with the firm's other marketing, customer support, and community outreach activities, and they should be undertaken with specific, measurable goals in mind. Social media professionals use a wide variety of metrics to set goals, measure success, and adjust tactics as needed. For example, conversion rate measures how many people take a desired action (such as clicking or tapping through to a website) after seeing a tweet, video, or other message.214 Who: Identifying Target Audiences and Content Developers With goals to guide the social media effort, the next step involves people—who are the target audiences and who inside the company will create all the content that is required. Making sure the social media program is adequately staffed can be a challenge. New programs often start off with a burst of enthusiasm and ideas, but sustaining a social media effort takes commitment and support from company management. What: Choosing Message Strategies and Content Types With a target audience and content developers lined up, the next step is laying out message strategies and identifying the specific types of content that will be most effective. One common approach is the "social media rule of thirds," where you divide your social media activities equally among (a) content that promotes your business directly or indirectly, (b) content shared from other sources, and (c) interaction with your audiences.215 The social media rule of thirds divides your time equally among Content that promotes your business directly or indirectly Content shared from other sources Interaction with your audiences Today's audiences prefer brief messages that are directly relevant to their interests and easy to consume. In general, today's audiences prefer brief messages that are directly relevant to their interests and easy to consume, so lists, infographics, short videos, and similar "bite-sized" content is popular. However, in some situations, audiences may prefer longer messages and documents, such as product application guides or technical backgrounders. Social media can be a great way to announce and distribute these long-format materials. One of the most appealing benefits of social media is the opportunity for experimentation. Social media teams can test two versions of a message (known as A/B testing); for example, they can compare response levels at various times of the day or days of the week and compare the appeal of a message distributed through more than one channel. With response data in hand, they can quickly adjust message content and strategies for maximum impact. How: Figuring Out How to Create and Distribute Content Social media engagement can become a major workload challenge, so managers need to figure how content will be created, revised, approved, and distributed. A large corporation may have dozens or even hundreds of social media channels and dozens of people on its social media teams, and all these efforts need to be coordinated. Where: Choose Social Media Channels and Connections This step involves identifying which channels the company should use and how they should be connected. Companies frequently designate social channels for specific types of communication. The makeup company Benefit Cosmetics, for example, emphasizes customer service on its Twitter account while using Snapchat and Instagram for tutorial videos.216 The multiple threads of any social media program should be anchored in a central hub that the company owns and controls rather than relying on a third-party system, such as Facebook. A company's own website makes an ideal social media hub. The firm can use its social media accounts to connect with stakeholders and draw them into the website, which can have whatever marketing, sales, and support functions are needed. To extend the reach of their communication efforts, firms can use employee advocacy systems, such as Hootsuite Amplify and Sociabble (see the ExterionMedia story at the beginning of the chapter). With these services, employees can connect their company's official content channels to their own personal social media accounts. These connections then make it easy for employees to share approved messages and media content with their own followers.217 Employee advocacy in social media involves encouraging employees to share company-approved content via their personal social media accounts. When: Scheduling Posts and Ensuring Rapid Responses to Incoming Messages Finally, companies often establish schedules for posts to ensure a regular flow of information, to help employees manage their workloads, and to avoid overwhelming audiences with too many messages at once. Through testing, firms can identify the best days and times to distribute various types of messages. In addition, specific message campaigns might be scheduled to coincide with public holidays, major sporting events, or new product launches. A variety of tools are available to preschedule posts for publication on desired dates. Firms also need to make sure they have staff available to respond to social media messages and a clear set of processes for doing so. Many customers now post complaints, questions, and requests for help on social media, and their frustrations will only grow if no one responds.218
Social Networking for Business Communication
8.3 List the most common types of social networks used in business and four content strategies for social networking. Social networks, online services that enable individual and organizational members to form connections and share information, and content-sharing platforms that have a significant social component are a major force in business communication. To varying degrees, businesses use social networking platforms for all the communication activities listed in Table 8.1. In addition, systems such as Slack and other workgroup messaging services have aspects of social networking. The advice in this section applies to any networks your current and future employers will expect you to use. 228 CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS The social networking platforms that businesses and individual professionals use can be grouped into six categories: Social communication platforms include several types of social networks plus content sharing services with a significant social component. Public, general-purpose social networks. Facebook is the largest and best known of these networks. Companies can use Facebook for marketing and customer communication in a variety of ways, from posting helpful product usage information to addressing complaints and questions. Public, specialized social networks. In contrast to Facebook's universal approach, some public networks focus on the needs and interests of a specific audience. The most widely used of these is LinkedIn, with its emphasis on career- and sales-related networking. Private social networks. Like ExterionMedia, many companies use private social networks to help employees stay connected. Facebook's Workplace, for example, uses the same concept as the public version of Facebook but with additional collaboration features aimed at business users.225 User-generated content websites. User-generated content (UGC) is any social media content about a company or its products that is created independently by customers or other outsiders. Store reviews on Yelp and troubleshooting videos posted to YouTube are two examples of UGC. See "Facilitating User-Generated Content" for more information. User-generated content (UGC) is any social media content about a company or its products that is created independently by customers or other outsiders. Content-curation websites. In many fields of business, so much original content is already available that sometimes the biggest value a communicator can offer audiences is guiding them to the best of what's out there rather than creating new content. Named after the selection process that museum curators do when they decide which pieces in their collections to display, content curation involves finding and sharing valuable material on social media. See "Curating and Sharing Existing Content" for more information. Content curation is the process of collecting and presenting articles, videos, and other material on a particular topic in a way that makes it convenient for target readers. Community Q&A websites. Community Q&A sites, where people answer questions posted by other visitors, are a contemporary twist on the early ethos of computer networking, which was people helping each other. Community Q&A sites include dedicated customer support communities (such as those hosted on Get Satisfaction), public sites (such as Quora), and support forums that many companies host on their own websites. See "Responding to Existing Content and Questions" for more information.
Successful Business Blogging
8.4 Discuss the role of blogging in business, and offer tips for successful blogging. Blogs (short for web logs) began as online journals that were much easier to update than conventional websites used to be. A unique advantage of blogging is combining the conversational, community-building functions of social networking with the ability to produce nicely formatted articles of almost any length that can incorporate a variety of multimedia elements. Blog content also has a more permanent feel to it than social networking content, particularly with categorization tags that make it easy to find older content. In contrast, social networking posts tend to be more ephemeral and quickly fade from audience view. Blogs are online journals that combine the conversational, community aspects of social media with the ability to produce nicely formatted articles. Blogging has a prominent place in business communication, as both standalone blogs and as elements on regular company websites. IBM, for instance, has dozens of blogs on its website, each focusing on a specific subject of interest to customers.230 BUSINESS APPLICATIONS OF BLOGGING 231 Blogs are a potential solution whenever you have a continuing stream of in-depth information to share with an online audience—and particularly when you want the audience to have the opportunity to respond through the commenting feature that most blogs have. As with social networking, blogs have multiple uses across the three categories of operations, intelligence, and relationships (see Table 8.3). Note that some of the application areas overlap with social networking, with blogging being better suited for longer pieces and the ability to build up a catalog of easily searchable content on specific topics. Businesses use blogs for a wide variety of purposes to support operations, intelligence gathering, and relationship building. Recruiting. Using a blog is a great way to let potential employees know more about a company, the people who work there, and the nature of the company culture. Project management and team communication. Teams can use blogs to keep everyone up to date, particularly when team members are geographically dispersed. Word-of-mouth marketing. Bloggers often make a point of providing links to other blogs and websites that interest them, giving marketers a great opportunity to have their messages spread by enthusiasts. Influencing public policy. Executives can share their opinions and provide business-oriented insights regarding regulations and other issues that affect business. Soliciting feedback on product designs and other decisions. Designers can describe new features or new product ideas and ask readers to offer comments and critiques. Gathering data on customer sentiment, product usage, and other variables. Customer comments on company blog posts can be a treasure trove of intelligence on how customers feel about a company and its products. Background checks. Employers often search for and evaluate the blogs of prospective employees, making blogging a good way to build a name for yourself within your industry or profession. Monitoring blog conversations. Companies often monitor their competitors' blogs to track competitive threats, for example. Building communities. Like social networking, blogs can bring together communities of practice and communities of interest, both internally and externally. Supporting customers. Blogs are a good channel to use when a company has in-depth technical support advice or other information to share with customers. Sharing customer success stories. Case studies and other forms of product-usage stories help potential customers learn the value of a company's products and services. Sharing industry news. Customers often look to the companies that provide them with products and services to keep them up to date on developments. Humanizing a company. Companies can use blogs to share stories about events and efforts not directly related to sales and products, such as charity work and community projects. Educating customers and other stakeholders. Blogs are a good format for explaining a variety of topics, such as giving tips on using a company's products more effectively. Doing so can improve sales and support productivity as well, by reducing the need for one-on-one communication. Connecting with the public and the news media. Many company employees and executives now share company news with the general public and journalists. Engaging employees. Blogs can enhance communication across all levels of a company, giving lower-level employees a voice that they might not otherwise have and giving senior executives better access to timely information. Responding to questions. Companies can use blogs to answer stakeholder questions. The uses of blogs are limited only by your creativity, so be on the lookout for new ways you can use them to foster positive relationships with colleagues, customers, and other important audiences (see Figure 8.5). Figure 8.5
Twitter and Other Microblogging Systems
8.5 Describe the business uses of Twitter and other microblogging systems, and offer tips for writing effective business tweets. A microblog is a variation on blogging in which messages are sharply restricted to specific character counts. Twitter is the best known of these systems, but many others exist. Some companies have private microblogging systems for internal use only, either as standalone services or as part of broader collaboration systems. Like regular blogging, microblogging quickly caught on with business users and is now a mainstream business medium (see Figure 8.6). BUSINESS APPLICATIONS OF MICROBLOGGING Microblogs are used for most of the blog applications mentioned in Table 8.3, although there are several differences to keep in mind. First, the strict limits on message length (such as Twitter's current limit of 280 characters) require a different approach to writing. Part of the beauty of microblogging, in fact, is that it requires writers to distill messages down to their essence. (Readers appreciate this brevity so much that many Twitter users were not pleased when the service doubled the character count from 140 to 280.) If you want to share a message that is longer than a particular system's limit, you can thread several messages in a chain, convert the text to a graphic and post it as an image, or link to the longer message on your blog, Facebook page, or other system. A microblog (such as Twitter) is a variation on blogging in which messages are sharply restricted to specific character counts. Readers expect and appreciate concise, focused messages on Twitter and other microblogging systems. Second, Twitter has a more distinct social component than blogging, thanks to how easy it is to connect with other users, share messages through retweeting, and respond to anyone on the system. By following more and more users, posting valuable content, and engaging with other users, you can quickly attract hundreds or thousands of followers. Twitter has a more distinct social component than blogging, which gives the system some of the advantages of social networking. 236 Third, thanks to that social component, Twitter can take on a conversational aspect that is somewhat similar to group messaging. Anyone who sees a tweet can reply to it, which often starts a conversation as more people join in.
Collaborative Writing on Wikis
8.6 Identify four considerations when setting up a business wiki, and explain how to become a valuable wiki contributor. When companies need to organize a substantial amount of information on a subject and encourage input from multiple authors, a wiki can be a great tool. You are probably familiar with Wikipedia, the open-source encyclopedia. Business wikis follow the same basic concept. Some common wiki applications for business communication are reference dictionaries or encyclopedias, user manuals, and customer service guides. For example, the energy management company Schneider Electric set up a dictionary-style wiki to give its 140,000 global employees a common reference for all the technical terms they need to use in their work. When Schneider's knowledge-management specialists discovered that employees throughout the company were compiling their own glossaries, they realized a shared resource would save everyone time and ensure consistent information.235 MANAGEMENT AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR WIKIS Before launching a wiki, companies need to consider several key questions: Public or private access. With public wikis, such as Wikipedia, anyone who registers can edit existing entries and add new entries. Corporate wikis, in contrast, are typically private, meaning access is restricted to approved contributors. In addition, a company can restrict who can view a wiki, such as employees only, registered customers, or the general public. Think carefully about the purpose of a wiki and any necessary restrictions on its use before you launch it. 237 Moderation and validation. A big appeal of the wiki approach is that new or modified content usually goes "live" as soon as contributors create or edit their material. However, to ensure consistency or quality, companies may opt to moderate content by having it approved by management or technical experts either before or after it goes live. On the Schneider Electric wiki, for instance, entries go live as soon as they are written, but a moderator is alerted to the new content. If the moderator reviews and approves the content, the entry is then designated as "validated," and these validated entries are visually distinguished from entries that haven't been reviewed and approved.236 Ongoing contribution. Like other shared communication efforts, wikis sometimes launch with a burst of enthusiasm and a lot of fresh content from multiple contributors, only to fizzle out over time. A wiki can become a "ghost town" if contributors lose the motivation to add or update content and readers stop referring to it because it doesn't seem to offer anything new. Management can prevent a wiki from going stale by incentivizing contributors with recognition or rewards and by making sure that employees have time in their schedules to develop fresh content. Design and ease of use. A potential drawback of wikis is the difficulty of finding information, particularly if a wiki grows to hundreds or thousands of entries. Spinetix, which makes systems that control digital signage, addressed this issue in its customer-support wiki by letting visitors access the content in multiple ways (see Figure 8.7).
Developing Social Media Content
As Chapter 1 points out, social media have changed the relationship between sender and receiver, so the nature of the messages needs to change as well. Consider these tips at each step of the three-step writing process. 223 Planning Social Media Content The planning step for social media content considers all the tasks you learned in Chapter 4 along with some special considerations for the social component of this communication format. Take a Conversational Approach One of the great appeals of social media is the feeling of conversation, of people talking with one another instead of one person talking at everyone else. For all their technological sophistication, a key aspect of social media is providing a new spin on the age-old practice of word-of-mouth communication. As more people gain a voice in the marketplace, companies that maintain the old "we talk, you listen" mindset are likely to be ignored in the social media landscape. People generally join social networks for the chance to interact, and you can help stimulate conversations by asking followers for their ideas, opinions, and feedback.219 Readers of social media expect to have a more engaged relationship with writers, so creating content for social media requires a new approach to writing. Support the Ways Your Readers Want to Consume Information One major reason for the explosion of digital, social, and mobile media options in recent years is that no single approach works best for all readers. Some are comfortable reading long articles and documents, whereas others prefer brief summaries, videos, podcasts, or other formats. Many people engage in "content snacking," consuming small pieces of information, often from multiple sources in rapid succession, and bypassing larger documents that might require more than a few minutes or even a few seconds to read.220 To reach all your target readers, you might need to change how you organize and distribute messages. For instance, rather than writing a single, long report on a complicated topic, you might want to write a teaser on Twitter that links through to an orientation or summary on your blog, which then offers a download of the full report or links to reference information on a website. To meet the needs of all your audience members, you may need to create and distribute a variety of messages through multiple channels. Provide Information That Your Connections Are Likely to Share One of the biggest benefits of social media is the "message boost" you can get from encouraging people who follow you to share your content with people who follow them. Particularly on public networks, when you're deciding what to post, emphasize material that your followers will think is valuable enough to pass along.221 A key benefit of social media is the "message boost" you can get from having your followers share your content with the people who follow them. Restrict Promotional Efforts to the Right Time and Place Some companies use selected social media accounts for product promotion, but efforts to inject blatant "salespeak" into social networking conversations may not always be welcomed by the audience. See "Writing Promotional Messages for Social Media" in Chapter 12 for more tips on writing messages for social networks and other social media. Promote a Sense of Community Make it easy for customers and other audiences to connect with your company and with each other. For instance, you can use the group features on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks to create and foster special-interest communities within your networks. Groups are a great way to connect people who are interested in specific topics, such as owners of a particular product. Be Transparent Chapter 1 defines transparency as a sense of openness and of giving recipients the information they need to process messages accurately. Laws in the United States and other countries require certain aspects of transparency, such as requiring that social media users disclose any financial incentives they have when promoting or reviewing products. These laws don't explicitly address every conceivable scenario, but the U.S. Federal Trade Commission outlines a variety of examples in which social media users would be required to disclose a beneficial relationship.222 As with all ethical questions, of course, companies should look beyond the letter of law and make choices that reflect ethical decision-making. Writing Social Media Content All the tasks in the writing step of the three-step writing process apply to social media, but here are several particular points to keep in mind. Choose the Best Compositional Mode for Each Message and Social Media Service 224 As you visit various social networks, study the types of messages that other companies post. For example, Facebook allows posts up to 63,206 characters (roughly the length of this chapter), but few people have the patience to read a Facebook post that long. If your goal is to maximize audience interaction, the ideal length of a post is much shorter—only 40 to 80 characters.223 Consequently, while technically you can use Facebook for in-depth tutorials and reference information, it is most effective for brief messages, such as teasers and status updates. Choose the best compositional mode for each message and social platform. In addition, keep on top of changes in system capability and audience expectations. Twitter, for instance, began as a social text-messaging service, but with support for photos and videos it has become a true multimedia application. In fact, Twitter has become such a visual channel that it can at times look an awful lot like Facebook and other platforms. Write Informally but Not Carelessly Write as an individual with a unique, personal voice. However, don't take this as a license to get sloppy; no one wants to slog through misspelled words and half-baked sentences to find your message. And remember that your posts may be shared and seen far beyond the people you consider your primary audience. For all your social media efforts, write casually and conversationally—but not carelessly. In addition, pay careful attention to your tone. As Chapter 5 points out, your tone is the effect you create through the choices you make as a writer. You can convey the same information in a tone that is assertive or mild, upbeat or negative, friendly or distant—all based on your word choices and sentence style. Don't let the informal vibe of social media tempt you into being careless or crude, and don't let emotions get the better of you. Remember that even though it's "social," it's still business communication. Write Concise, Specific, and Informative Headlines In an environment of content snacking and information overload, headlines (or post titles, as some systems call them) are extremely important in social media. You need to grab readers quickly with the promise that you have something of value to offer. Avoid the temptation to engage in clever wordplay when writing headlines and teasers. Readers don't want to spend time figuring out what your witty headlines mean. Search engines won't know what they mean either, so fewer people will find your content. Headline space is precious real estate, so focus these words on the tangible benefits that each post offers your readers.224 Readers—and search engines—don't like spending time trying to figure out clever puns and other wordplay; make your headlines clear and direct. Look for Opportunities to Include Visual Content As Chapter 9 explains, business communication is increasingly a visual affair, and this is definitely reflected in social media. Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest are visual services by design, and Facebook and Twitter have become de facto visual services to a large degree. Whenever it is relevant and will help the audience embrace your message, look for ways to include visual support, even if your message is primarily verbal. Even something as simple as including stock photos (images available for use by the public) next to the titles of social media posts can increase readership (see Figure 8.3). You can find free images through Creative Commons (creativecommons.org), but be sure to follow the licensing terms for each image. For many of these images, all you are required to do is credit the photographer or artist, but it's good practice to provide a link back to the creator's page on Creative Commons or elsewhere as a way of saying thanks. Completing Social Media Content The completing step is usually quick and easy with social media platforms. In most cases, either you will have little control over the output format, or the system will let you choose templates that make all the major formatting decisions once you have them in place. However, don't rush to hit "Publish" the second you finish typing. To protect your personal brand and your company's brand, review your posts for quality before you publish them. Review for Quality The amount of quality control that is appropriate for each message depends on the situation and context. For internal messages to close colleagues, a quick proofreading pass to make sure the message is clear and free from errors is usually sufficient. However, keep in mind that your company's internal social network probably archives all messages and may make them searchable by any authorized user, so don't let casual communication become careless. 225 For external messages, quality control is a must. Follow the revising and proofreading tips in Chapter 6, and consider how each message might be interpreted not only by the target audience but by the news media, investors, and the general public. Quality control is critical for external social messages; they may be seen by people far beyond your target audience. Look for Opportunities to Improve Readability Chapter 6 also has advice for improving readability, although you won't always have the flexibility to make all the design choices you might like to make. Regardless of how much or how little design flexibility you have on a given social media platform, here are three steps you can always take to help mobile readers: Break up long paragraphs so that readers can consume the content in shorter "gulps." Add headings and subheadings to promote rapid skimming and to help readers avoid getting lost as they swipe through the material. Keep headlines and titles as short as possible. Think Before You Post 226 Careless decisions on social media can have damaging consequences to companies, careers, relationships, and reputations. Remember that you share the responsibility of keeping your company's and your customers' data private and secure. Assume that every message you send in any digital medium will be stored forever and might be read by people far beyond your original audience. Ask yourself two questions: "Would I say this to my audience face-to-face?" and "Am I comfortable with this message becoming a permanent part of my personal and professional communication history?" Careless decisions on social media can have damaging consequences to companies, careers, relationships, and reputations. In addition to this general advice for developing social media content, adapt your communication efforts to take advantage of each platform's key strengths (see Table 8.2). TABLE 8.2 Tips for Successful Communication on Major Social Media Platforms Facebook Make sure the profile and cover images on your Facebook business page create the impression you want to communicate; remember that the profile image will appear with every update you post. Use the About section to tell followers about your business and how to contact you. Keep posts short. Include eye-catching, relevant visuals to increase reader response. Host Facebook Live video sessions to interact with followers. Use Facebook Groups to build community. Invite user-generated content, such as photos and videos. Respond to user comments, whether they are positive or negative. Twitter Make sure your header and profile images create the impression you want to communicate; remember that the profile image will appear with every tweet you post. Choose a user name (also known as a Twitter handle) that is as close as possible to your company name or the specific function you plan for this account, such as @Mycompany or @MycompanySupport. Use your Twitter bio to convey a benefit that will appeal to target readers. Select a pinned tweet (which always appears at the top of your Twitter page) with a message of compelling interest to your followers. Include relevant visuals to increase reader response. Interact with your followers and other Twitter users. Instagram Create a business profile to take advantage of additional communication options. Use your profile to maintain a fresh message, updating it to reflect new products, new events, and so on. Use Instagram's visual focus to convey your company's personality and customer benefits, including photos of products in action, employees on the job, and customer successes. Create Instagram Stories (photo slideshows) to provide product usage tips and other valuable information. Use hashtags generously to ensure a wider audience for your posts. Pinterest Bear in mind that although Pinterest is used by many as a shopping site, it has wider potential for business communication. Create boards based on topics that will interest your stakeholders. Fill boards with individual pins, which can link to anything from photos and videos to blog posts and case studies. Offer a mix of attention-grabbing visuals (including infographics) and practical how-to advice. Supplement your pinned visuals with brief descriptive text that lets people know what to expect when they click. YouTube Explore the full range of ways you can use video to communicate with stakeholders, from product training to employee recruiting. Offer information that is difficult to find elsewhere or difficult to consume in other formats (such as a video demonstration that lets people avoid the work of reading pages of technical information). Invest in a good digital camera, a quality microphone, and sufficient lighting to ensure a professional level of production quality. Don't overwhelm the spoken information with background music. While you don't necessarily need to script each video in fine detail, do enough planning to ensure a smooth, time-efficient performance; viewers don't have the patience to sit through slow, rambling videos.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL WIKI WRITING
Becoming a valuable wiki contributor requires a slightly different mindset than you're likely to have with your other business writing. The most important difference is letting go of the sense of ownership and desire for individual recognition that you may have about your contributions. Remember that wikis are a group effort, and the combined contribution of the "hive mind" is a wiki's greatest value. Once you publish something on a wiki, it's no longer "yours," and anyone who participates in that wiki is welcome to improve it or update it over time. Being an effective wiki collaborator requires a different writing mindset. By the same token, look for opportunities to improve and update the work that others have published. If you see an opportunity to make changes, use the list of questions Evaluating, Editing, and Revising the Work of Others in Chapter 6 to evaluate the content before making changes. If you are adding a page or an article to an existing wiki, figure out how this new material fits in with the existing organization. Determine whether any similar material already exists; it might be better to expand an existing article or add a subpage than to create a new item. Also, learn the wiki's preferred style for handling incomplete articles. For example, on the wiki that contains the user documentation for the popular WordPress blogging software, contributors are discouraged from adding new pages until the content is "fairly complete and accurate."237 If you recognize that your planned changes might not meet with universal approval, you can use the wiki's discussion facility to share your thoughts and intentions with other contributors. The wiki environment should encourage discussions and even robust disagreements, as long as everyone remains civil and respectful. Note that many wikis provide both editing and commenting capabilities, and participants should use the appropriate tool for each. In other words, don't insert comments or questions into the main content; use the "talk page" or other commenting feature if you want to discuss the content. If others might disagree with a change you would like to make to a wiki entry, you can use the wiki's discussion facility to share your thoughts and intentions with other contributors. Finally, take care not to let individual pages grow too long over time as people continue to add content. Periodically assess whether these pages need to be restructured and divided into multiple smaller pages to simplify reading.238
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE BUSINESS TWEETS
Follow these tips to make the best use of Twitter:234 As with a blog, define the purpose of your Twitter account, and maintain that theme over time. Before you start a business-oriented Twitter account, clarify your purpose or theme and stick to it as you begin to tweet. Keep up a regular flow of tweets so that you don't fall off your audience's radar. Don't slip into careless writing; remember that it's still business communication. Use hashtags if you are tweeting on topics that people are likely to search for, but use them sparingly—tweets clogged with multiple hashtags are not inviting to read. Hashtags are a great way to find tweets on specific topics and to label your tweets so others can find them. Link Twitter with your other digital channels, such as using Twitter to announce new blog posts. Curate content from other Twitter accounts by retweeting messages that your followers will appreciate. Retweeting is the microblogging equivalent of content curation. Explore your followers' timelines to see what interests them and use these insights to shape your Twitter content plan. Tag other users by including their Twitter name in tweets, but do so carefully; not everyone appreciates getting pulled into Twitter conversations. Move conversations to direct messaging (private messages) when appropriate.
MANAGING THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
For all their benefits, social media present managers with a variety of challenges that require thoughtful planning and clear policies to guide employee use of these tools. With internal social platforms, a key challenge can be getting employees to use the tools. For instance, if a company launches a new internal social network or workgroup messaging system meant to replace email, management may need to find ways to encourage people to use it. This effort can involve creating incentives with gamification (such as awarding recognition points for content contributions), shutting down alternative channels, and making sure that company leaders are visible users of the new system. With all types of social media, companies need a balance of sound policies and responsible employee behavior. Common issues include: Making sure employees aren't overloaded with social media tasks, such as being expected to develop content or respond to incoming messages while carrying a full load of other tasks Managers need to make sure employees have enough time to fulfill their social media duties. Discouraging employees from spending too much unproductive time on social media Preventing employees from sharing inappropriate materials or confidential information Making sure the company has a cohesive voice in social media, where the messages going out on various channels don't contradict one another Discouraging the emergence of private groups or channels that use internal social networks specifically to exclude some employees "Checklist: Social Media Strategies and Tactics" summarizes the key points from this section. A. Establishing a social media strategy: six questions to ask• Why do you want to use social media?• Who are your target audiences, and who will create the content?• What types of messages will you share?• How will the content be created and distributed?• Where will you distribute your content (which social media channels and networks)?• When will you post content, and how quickly do you need to respond to incoming messages? B. Planning social media content: key points to remember• Take a conversational approach.• Support the ways your readers want to consume information.• Provide information that your connections are likely to share.• Restrict promotional efforts to the right time and place.• Promote a sense of community.• Be transparent. C. Writing social media content: key points to remember• Choose the best compositional mode for each message and social media service.• Write informally but not carelessly.• Write concise, specific, and informative headlines.• Look for opportunities to include visual content. D. Completing social media content: key points to remember• Review for quality.• Look for opportunities to improve readability.• Think before you post.
FOUR CONTENT STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORKING
One of the most appealing aspects of social networking for both internal and external communication is the range of options you have for connecting with your communities and for creating and sharing content: You have multiple options when it comes to content on social networking. Developing and sharing original content Responding to existing content and questions Curating and sharing existing content Facilitating user-generated content The following sections offer advice on each of these communication strategies. Developing Original Social Media Content For business social networking, much of the value you can provide will come from original insights and information you offer your readers. A good approach is to put yourself in the minds of your social connections and ask what information they could use to improve some aspect of their personal or professional lives. 229 In many instances, the need or desire to share information will be triggered by some change or event, such as when you need to let your employees know about a new company policy. In others, your motivation will be a matter of enlightened self-interest, when you want to create some visibility for yourself or your company while helping others (see Figure 8.4). For example, you could share tips on using a product more effectively or ideas for saving money. If the information is useful to your readers, sharing it will solidify your reputation as a valuable social media partner. Responding to Existing Content and Questions on Social Media Responding to questions can be a great way to encourage conversations, build your personal brand, demonstrate your company's commitment to customer service, and clear up confusion or misinformation about your company and its products. Responding to questions can be a great way to encourage conversations, build brands, demonstrate a commitment to customer service, and clear up confusion or misinformation. Keep in mind that when you respond to an individual query, whether on your own pages or on a community Q&A site, you are also "responding in advance" to every person who comes to the site with the same question in the future. In other words, you are writing a type of reference material in addition to corresponding with the original questioner, so keep the long time frame and wider audience in mind. Curating and Sharing Existing Social Media Content At its simplest, content curation can involve sharing links to useful articles or videos via your social media accounts. Companies can also set up dedicated websites that publish links to original content in a variety of topic categories. As an alternative, several web services offer ready-made content curation solutions. Pinterest and Scoop.it, for example, make it easy to assemble attractive online portfolios or magazines on specific topics. Content curation is also a good solution for internal communication, if the employees in a firm need to stay up to date on developments in their professions or in the industries in which the company does business. 230 Curating content for a target audience can be a great way to add value and stand out as an expert in your field, but content curators need to be aware of two key ethical concerns. First, never copy anyone else's posts to your site, even if you properly attribute the source. Instead, provide a link from your site back to the original so that you drive web traffic to the originator's site. It is acceptable to copy a brief introductory segment, such as the first paragraph, to your site in order to give the link some context. Scoop.it handles these steps for you automatically, including posting proper attribution on your site and downsizing photos and other images from the original so they don't display at full resolution on your site.226 Curating content for your readers can be a great way to add value and stand out as an expert in your field. Second, you are promoting yourself as an expert when you curate content, and people will expect you to do a competent job of finding and filtering materials. As with any communication task, make sure you understand the needs of your target audience so that you can provide the best material to meet their needs.227 If you promote yourself as an expert when you curate content, people will expect you to do a competent job of finding and filtering materials. Facilitating User-Generated Content As with other social media, one of the keys to effective UGC is making it easy for people to contribute content that others will find valuable. First, encourage content that people will want to see and share with colleagues, such as tips from experienced customers on various ways to use a product. Second, make material easy to find, consume, and share. For example, a branded channel on YouTube lets a company organize all its videos in one place, making it easy for visitors to browse the selection or subscribe to get automatic updates of future videos. YouTube lets fans share videos through email or their accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms. Companies can encourage UGC submissions on their own websites or through other social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Wayfair, Netflix, Starbucks, and Belkin are among the companies that generated thousands of responses when they invited customers to submit photos and other media.228 Companies can encourage UGC submissions on their own websites or through other social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. As one example of the way these sites are changing business communication, Yelp has become a major and sometimes controversial influence on consumer behavior at a local level by aggregating millions of reviews of stores, restaurants, and other businesses across the United States.229 With the voice of the crowd affecting consumer behavior, businesses need to (1) focus on performing at a high level so that customers reward them with positive reviews and (2) get involved on Yelp (the site encourages business owners to tell potential customers about themselves). These efforts could pay off much more handsomely than advertising and other conventional communication efforts.
How Businesses Use Social Media for Internal and External Communication
Social media recruiting specialists take advantage of social platforms to post job openings, share news about their companies, and conduct background research on candidates.8.1 Discuss six common uses of social media for business communication. This chapter continues the discussion of media skills, with a look at business applications of social media for both internal and external communication. The chapter starts with an overview of how companies use social media for business communication and a discussion of social media strategies and tactics and follows that with specific skills for social networking, blogging, microblogging, and wiki writing. In addition to the coverage in this chapter, you'll find related social media topics in several other chapters, such as rejecting reference requests on social media (Refusing Social Networking Recommendation Requests), responding to negative information and rumors online (Responding to Negative Information in a Social Media Environment), and writing persuasive messages for social media (Writing Conventional Marketing and Sales Messages). If you are active on social media, you have no doubt noticed that many companies use these systems to promote their products and services and to communicate with local communities, potential employees, and other external stakeholders. However, as Exterion Media showed in the chapter-opening Communication Close-Up, many businesses now rely on social media for internal communication as well. In the same way that public social networks bring together people with similar interests, internal social platforms, such as Microsoft's Yammer (see Figure 8.1) and Facebook's Workplace, can do the same for the employees of an organization. These systems, sometimes referred to as enterprise social networks, typically combine elements of social networking, online meetings, knowledge-management systems, blogging, and microblogging or enterprise micromessaging (functions similar to Twitter). Many companies now use social media for internal communication in addition to the more visible uses in external communication. With their key benefits of helping people share information and forging mutually beneficial relationships, social networks and other social platforms are a great fit for many business communication needs. Here are six examples of how companies use social media for internal and external business communication: Internal social networks can help companies grow closer, jell after reorganizations or mergers, and overcome structural barriers in communication channels. Integrating and expanding company workforces. Just as public networks can bring friends and families together, internal social networks can help companies grow closer, including helping new employees navigate their way through the organization by finding experts, mentors, and other important contacts; encouraging workforces to jell after reorganizations or mergers; and overcoming structural barriers in communication channels by bypassing the formal communication system to deliver information where it is needed in a timely fashion. Social networking is also fueling the growth of networked organizations, sometimes known as virtual organizations, where companies supplement the talents of their employees with services from one or more external partners, such as a design lab, a manufacturing firm, or a sales and distribution company. Fostering collaboration. Social networks and other systems with a strong social component can play a major role in collaboration by identifying the best people, both inside the company and at other companies, to collaborate on projects; finding pockets of knowledge and expertise within the organization; giving meeting or seminar participants a way to meet before an event takes place and to maintain relationships after events; accelerating the development of teams by helping team members get to know one another and identify individual areas of expertise; and sharing information throughout the organization. Building communities. Social platforms are a natural tool for bringing together communities of practice, people who engage in similar work, and communities of interest, people who share enthusiasm for a product or activity. Large and geographically dispersed companies can benefit greatly from communities of practice that connect experts who may work in different divisions or different countries. Communities of interest that form around a specific product are sometimes called brand communities, and nurturing these communities can be a vital business communication task. Some communities spring up spontaneously when product enthusiasts connect online, whereas others are more formal organizations established by companies to help customers use their products more successfully and engage with like-minded individuals. The SAP Community Network, for instance, set up by the enterprise software company SAP, has nearly 3 million members (including many college students) who have posted more than 100,000 blog articles and answered 150,000 questions from other members.211 Brand communities are groups of people with interests in specific products. Socializing brands and companies. Brand socialization is a measure of how effectively a company engages with its various online stakeholders in a mutually beneficial exchange of information. In today's networked world, socialization is often as important as product quality and customer experience in establishing and maintaining a company's reputation.212 Brand socialization is a measure of how effectively a company engages with its various online stakeholders in a mutually beneficial exchange of information. Supporting customers. Customer service is another fundamental area of business communication that has been revolutionized by social media. Social customer service involves using social networks and other social media tools to give customers a more convenient way to get help from the company and to help each other. Understanding target markets. With hundreds of millions of people expressing themselves on social media, smart companies are listening. This listening often takes place automatically with text analytics systems (see "Intelligent Communication Technology: Monitoring the Social Media Sphere with Smart Listening Tools"). Table 8.1 summarizes these and other common applications of social media for internal and external communication, categorized by the three essential aspects of business communication discussed in Chapter 1. TABLE 8.1 Common Business Communication Uses of Social Media Fostering collaboration. Networks can help identify the best people to collaborate on projects and find pockets of knowledge and expertise within the organization. Understanding target markets. Many companies monitor and analyze social media traffic to pick up on consumer trends, complaints, rumors, and other bits of environmental intelligence. Onboarding new employees. Internal networks can help new employees navigate their way through the organization and find experts, mentors, and other important contacts. Integrating company workforces. Internal social networks can help companies grow closer, including encouraging workforces to "gel" after reorganizations or mergers and overcoming structural barriers in communication channels. Recruiting employees and business partners. Companies use social networks to find potential employees, short-term contractors, subject-matter experts, product and service suppliers, and business partners. A key advantage here is that these introductions are often made via trusted connections in a professional network. Promoting products. If done in a way that doesn't annoy followers, social media can be an effective way to promote a company and its brands. Supporting customers. Social customer service involves using social media to give customers a more convenient way to get help from the company and to help each other. Extending the organization. Social networking is also fueling the growth of networked or virtual organizations, where companies supplement the talents of their employees with services from one or more external partners, such as a design lab, a manufacturing firm, or a sales and distribution company. Communicating during a crisis. When companies need to communicate with broad audiences in a hurry, social media are ideal channels. Accelerating team development. Networks can help members get to know one another, identify individual areas of expertise, and share resources. Extending professional networking. Social media can give seminar and conference participants a way to meet before an event and to maintain relationships afterward. Building communities. Social networks can bring together communities of practice, people who engage in similar work, and communities of interest (sometimes called brand communities), people who share enthusiasm for a product or activity. Employee advocacy. Companies can amplify their voices by using employees' social media connections to share approved messages. Understanding target markets. Many companies monitor and analyze social media traffic to pick up on consumer trends, complaints, rumors, and other bits of environmental intelligence. Monitoring company and brand reputations. Tools for sentiment analysis and reputation analysis assess the reputations of companies and individuals, measure the emotional quality of online conversations, and identify outrage "hot spots" on social media. Identifying opinion influencers. Social media influencers can sway public opinion, so companies try to identify opinion leaders in their markets. Supplementing the formal communication network. Internal social networks can bypass the formal communication system to collect and distribute information in a timelier fashion. Finding sales prospects. Salespeople on networks such as LinkedIn can use their connections to identify potential buyers and ask for introductions through those shared connections. Sales networking can reduce cold calling, contacting potential customers without a prior introduction. "Business Communicators Innovating with Social Media" starting offers a variety of examples of companies using social media to foster better communication among their stakeholder communities. User-generated content (UGC) sites and campaigns are a great way to foster a sense of community among customers and enthusiasts. UGC can be hosted permanently on websites such as YouTube or Flickr or generated as part of a one-time program, such as this Twitter campaign by the yogurt company Chobani. Community Q&A sites let customers, product enthusiasts, and other groups help one another by answering questions and posting advice. Many companies now rely heavily on communities of customers to help each other with product questions and other routine matters. Social video, often organized in branded channels, has become particularly important in customer communication, but businesses also use it for employee recruiting, technical support, training, community outreach, and other purposes. As social networking continues to expand, much of the content shared through online communities is shifting from text-dominant messages to video. Enterprise social networks are closed digital communities that connect employees within a company (and in some cases, selected external business partners). They often include a variety of communication and collaboration tools as well, including workgroup messaging, online meeting functions, and access to work files and other shared resources. If you are an active user of social media, you will probably find it easy to adapt to these enterprise networking platforms. However, be prepared for stricter standards of privacy and information security, including restrictions on the types of information that can be shared. Social media recruiting specialists take advantage of social platforms to post job openings, share news about their companies, and conduct background research on candidates. Content curation, selecting videos and other items of interest to followers of a website or blog, has become one of the most popular ways to connect with stakeholders. Pinterest and Scoop.it are among the leading platforms in this area. Community engagement activities such as surveys, contests, and discussion-starter questions can be a great use of Facebook and other social media services.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL BLOGGING
The three-step writing process is easy to adapt to blogging. This section offers helpful tips on each step. Planning a Blog and Individual Blog Posts The planning step is particularly important when you're launching a blog because you're planning an entire communication channel, not just a single message. Pay close attention to your audience, your purpose, and your scope: Before you launch a blog, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience, the purpose of your blog, and the scope of subjects you plan to cover. Audience. Except with project team blogs and other efforts that have an obvious and well-defined audience, defining the target audience for a blog can be challenging. You want an audience large enough to justify the time you'll be investing but narrow enough that you can provide a clear focus for the blog. For instance, if you work for a firm that develops video games, would you focus your blog on elite players who spend thousands of dollars on super-fast PCs optimized for video games, or would you broaden the reach to include all gamers? The decision often comes down to business strategy. Purpose. A business blog needs to have a business-related purpose that is important to your company and to your chosen audience. Moreover, the purpose needs to "have legs"—that is, it needs to be something that can drive the blog's content for years—rather than focusing on a single event or an issue of only temporary interest. For instance, if you're a technical expert, you might create a blog to give the audience tips and techniques for using your company's products more effectively—a never-ending subject that's important to you and your audience. This would be the general purpose of your blog; each post would have a specific purpose within the context of that general purpose. Finally, if you are not writing an official company blog but rather blogging as an individual employee, make sure you understand your employer's blogging guidelines. IBM, for example, gives its employees 12 specific social computing guidelines, such as respecting intellectual property laws and identifying their role as IBM employees if they are discussing matters related to the company.231 Scope. Your decisions about audience and purpose will define the right scope for your blog, meaning the range of subjects you will cover and the depth you'll go into on various topics. Once you start to build an audience, they'll expect you to cover the same general range of topics. Thoughtful planning needs to continue with each message. Unless you're posting to a restricted-access blog, you can never be sure who might see your posts. Other bloggers and social media users might link to them months or years later. Writing Blog Posts Use a comfortable, personal writing style with an authentic voice. Bear in mind, though, that comfortable does not mean careless. Sloppy writing damages your credibility. Audiences expect you to be knowledgeable in the subject area your blog covers, but you don't need to know everything about a topic. If you don't have all the information yourself, provide links to other blogs and websites that supply relevant information. In fact, content curation (Responding to Existing Content and Questions on Social Media) is one of the most valuable aspects of blogging. Just be sure the content you share is relevant to your readers and compatible with your communication goals. Content curation is a natural way to expand the content you can offer on your blog. Certain types of blog posts tend to attract the most readers:232 Lists of anything relevant to reader interests (lists are particularly appealing because they are easy to skim) Blog posts that offer immediately helpful, easy-to-consume information tend to be the most popular. Tutorials and other "how to" advice Comparisons of products or other relevant subjects Advice or observations based on original research Success tips Interviews Solutions to common problems Infographics "Roundups" that compile ideas, tips, or predictions from multiple experts on a topic Guest posts from subject matter experts Case studies that describe how an individual or a company met a business challenge As with all social media content that involves headlines, titles for blog posts are an essential tool to draw in readers. Titles need to grab the reader's attention in a split second by promising something useful, surprising, challenging, or otherwise different from what he or she already knows. Make them descriptive, clear, and direct. A headline such as "You win some, you lose some" doesn't tell the audience much of anything and probably won't compel many people to read the post. In addition, use the title to suggest that the information in the post will be easy to read and easy to apply. List-style posts can make particularly compelling headlines, such as "10 Reasons You Didn't Get That Promotion" or "Seven Ways to Save Money with Your Smartphone." The advice on email subject lines (The Subject Line: Persuading People to Open Your Messages) can be applied to blog post titles as well. As with all social media headlines, titles for blog posts need to grab the reader's attention in a split second with promises of useful information. Encourage audiences to join the conversation. Not all blogs invite comments, although most do, and many bloggers consider comments to be an essential feature. Blog comments can be a valuable source of news, information, and insights. To protect against comments that are not helpful or appropriate, many bloggers review comments before allowing them to be displayed. To make it easy for your readers to share your content, highlight tweetable passages that they might want to share with their followers on Twitter. A variety of widgets are available for blogging systems to help you create "tweetables." Completing Blog Posts Completing messages for your blog is usually quite easy. Most formatting choices are predefined by a template or theme, so once you've chosen this look, it's simply a matter of adding your text and any media elements, such as photos and videos. Before you publish each post, evaluate the content for readability, and proofread to correct any errors. Make your posts easier to find by tagging them with descriptive words. Your readers can then select these "content labels" to find additional posts on those topics. Tags are usually displayed with each post, and they can also be groups in a tag cloud or other display that shows all the tags in use on your blog. Tagging is the practice of labeling blog posts with descriptive words that readers can use to find other posts on the same topic. Distribution is handled automatically by most blogging systems, so once you've set this up, all you need to do is hit the publish button. Blog distribution is sometimes referred to as syndication, and posts are published via a newsfeed, which lets audiences subscribe to blogs of interest. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom are the most common newsfeeds.233 234 Table 8.4 offers a variety of tips for successful blogging, and "Checklist: Blogging for Business" summarizes some of the key points to remember when creating and writing a business blog. Don't blog without a clear plan. Without a plan, your blog is likely to wander from topic to topic and fail to build a sense of community with your audience. Post frequently; the whole point of a blog is fresh material. If you won't have a constant supply of new information or new links, create a traditional website instead. Make it about your readers and the issues important to them. Readers want to know how your blog will help them or give them a chance to communicate with others who have similar interests. Write in an authentic voice; never create an artificial character who supposedly writes a blog. Fake blogs show disrespect for your audience. Link generously but thoughtfully. Providing interesting links to other blogs and websites is a fundamental aspect of blogging, but make sure the links will be of value to your readers. Don't point to inappropriate material. Don't post anything you wouldn't want the entire world to see. Future employers, government regulators, competitors, journalists, and community critics are just a few of the people who might eventually see what you've written. Minimize marketing and sales messages. Readers want information about them and their needs. Write compelling, specific headlines for your post. Readers usually decide within a couple of seconds whether to read your posts; boring or confusing headlines will turn them away. Pay attention to spelling, grammar, and mechanics. No matter how smart or experienced you are, poor-quality writing undermines your credibility with intelligent audiences. Respond to criticism openly and honestly. Hiding sends the message that you don't have a valid response to the criticism. If your critics are wrong, patiently explain why you think they're wrong. If they are right, explain how you'll fix the situation. Listen and learn. Take the time to analyze the comments people leave on your blog and the comments other bloggers make about you. Respect intellectual property. Improperly using material you don't own is unethical and can be illegal. Be scrupulously honest and careful with facts. Honesty is an absolute requirement for every ethical business communicator, of course, but you need to be extra careful online because inaccuracies (both intentional and unintentional) are likely to be discovered quickly and shared widely. If you review products on your blog, disclose any beneficial relationships you have with the companies that make those products. Bloggers who receive free products or other compensation from companies whose products they write about are now required to disclose the nature of these relationships. CHECKLIST: Blogging for Business Consider creating a blog or microblog account whenever you have a continuing stream of information to share with an online audience. Identify an audience that is big enough to justify the effort but narrow enough to have common interests. Identify a purpose that is comprehensive enough to last over the long haul. Define the scope of topics you'll cover based on your decisions about target audience and purpose. Communicate with a personal style and an authentic voice, but don't write carelessly. Include media items that your readers will find interesting, such as infographics, photos, and videos. Look for ways to expand the value you offer readers by mixing in curated content with your original materials. Encourage audiences to join the conversation. Tag posts with descriptive labels to help readers find other posts you've written.