The facts: 50-50

Looking at our latest B2B study about social media, ‘the 4 C’s of the Conversation Company’, we learned that half of the companies is allowing social media, the other half does not allow it.

The decision is often based on the personal opinion of the members of the management team. Management teams don’t have other resources available to base their decision on. The studies about this topic are not pointing in the same direction. When you look at the HR research about this topic, we learn different opinions. In his latest book, Brian Solis, made an interesting summary of some of these studies. In 2010, Wired published a story based on a study by Morse PLC. This study estimates on-the-job usage of social media is costing British companies 2,2 billion dollars per year. This study considered every minute spend on social media as a non-productive minute. Then there is the study from the University of Melbourne. This research concludes that spending time on social networks is the most productive way for employees to relax at work. Employees who surf the internet for fun during working hours (for less than 20% of their work time), were 9% more productive than people who didn’t use social media.

The two illusions in this discussion

Companies that allow employees to use social media, have the idea that they facilitate their people to become ambassadors and to get closer to the consumer. The level of trust by these companies in their employees is fantastic, but their hypotheses is an illusion. In most cases, employees don’t become active ambassadors because social media usage is allowed. In some companies it happens, but these are typically companies who have a culture of sharing their stories. Most companies don’t have such a culture and opening up social media does not automatically change that.

Companies that don’t allow employees to use social media, hope that this decision will avoid problems and a decreasing effectiveness. I guess we all know this hypotheses is an illusion as well.

The real question: training & facilitation

There is one thing that I am sure of: if the medium is used in a smart way, the opportunities for companies to let their employees use social media are big. So, the real question is not: should or should we not allow employees to use social media during working hours. The question with impact is: how can we train and facilitate employees to use social media in a smart way.

Two cases to get inspired

1. Intel IQ program

In the early days of its social media strategy, Intel launched the Digital IQ Programme.  This was an internal training programme designed to enhance the knowledge of every Intel employee with regard to the use of new media.  It is an impressive programme, which can serve as a model for other companies to follow.  It consists of no fewer than 100 separate modules and is based entirely on self-training.  Each module has a short video, supplementary texts and a test.  Once you have successfully completed the test, you can move on to the next module.  Each module takes about 30 minutes to complete.

When the programme was first introduced in 2008, there was a degree of scepticism within the company.  10 months later it was already clear that this scepticism was unfounded. By this time, Intel staff had already completed 18,000 modules and 16,000 hours of training.  68% of the trainees found the content immediately useful in their daily work.  The key target groups were the sales and marketing people within the company.  For these groups the training was compulsory.  However, it was also opened to others in the company who might be interested (the only training for which this option was available).  Within the key groups there were three different training levels.  The highest and most specialised level was reserved for the digital marketing teams.  The next level was focused on bloggers and communication managers.  The lowest level was for sales and account managers, so that they could use online tools to contact their customers.  This gradated method of working ensured maximum relevancy.

The training was later extended with a new module: Intel Digital IQ500.  If staff managed to pass this test with success, they were authorised to talk in the name of Intel online. Intel was keen (and still is) for more and more of its employees to become spokespersons for the company.  Ekaterina Walter, the social media strategist at Intel, adds an important nuance to this decision: ‘Your brand is only as strong as the culture that supports that brand.  Because our company culture is clear and robust, it is relatively easy to let our staff talk about Intel online.  But this will not be the case in every company.  Training alone is not enough; the underlying culture has to be rock-solid.’

2. Edelman Martial Art program

Edelman is a worldwide player in the PR sector, with more than 3,600 employees in over 50 countries.  One of their most recent challenges was to transform themselves from an ‘ordinary’ PR company to a PR company in the digital era.  Phil Gomes was responsible for making Edelman’s global operations more digitally aware. One of the first steps was to rewrite the job profiles of all staff to reflect the requirements of digital communication.  Tasks such as ‘observing conversations’ and ‘managing a consumer community’ were something totally new in the PR industry.  Once the new profiles had been written, it was clear that most staff needed to learn new competencies in order to carry out their new responsibilities effectively.  Initially, the company began a programme where the trainees came together in the same location to receive their training.  This was not only very expensive, but took little account of people’s deadlines and agendas.  In short, it was not cost-effective.  The idea gradually grew that self-training might be a better way forward.  The structure of this training is based on the hierarchy used in combat sports such as judo.  Employees are awarded digital ‘belts’ in different colours: white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown or black.  Every time you complete a module and its related test with success, you are awarded a new belt.  Each module consists of 8-12 short exercises.  Each exercise is based on a 5-minute film.  The employees are free to set their own training tempo.  If someone ‘wins’ a new belt, their profile on the internal communication platform is immediately updated.  Cheating is avoided by providing a sufficiently wide range of questions for each level.  This means that each test contains a different selection of questions, so that answers cannot easily be passed on from one employee to another. Moreover, the training is regularly updated to reflect market evolutions.  If newer trainings need to be created, the black belts are automatically reduced to a lower level.  Once they have completed the new training successfully, they get their black belt back again.  More recently, more specialised levels of training have been added to the programme.  Completion of these additions does not earn the trainee a new belt, but rather a digital badge which is added to their internal profile – for example, a badge which shows that you are an expert in managing PR crises.  Many people like this competitive element, and it is also useful when putting together teams for external projects.  In just a few years time, Edelman has managed to train over 1,000 black belts.  This means that one-third of their workforce now has an in-depth knowledge of the latest digital evolutions – which not only represents a huge added value for the company, but also for its customers.

Your experience?

What are your experiences in training and facilitating your employees in the usage of social media from a professional point of view?

Appointing a person with ultimate responsibility early on in the change process promptly creates clarity for the organisation. In smaller companies one person (Conversation Manager) can handle this task. Larger companies will need to appoint a team that will contribute to the social media integration: the social media centre of excellence.

The social media centre of excellence is responsible for strategies, processes and resources management.

Sometimes discussions take place regarding the responsibilities of a social media centre of excellence. Some see this as an operational function with the main responsibility of engaging in online conversation with consumers on behalf of a brand. However, this is too confined and too operational. The social media team helps its company to think within the context of the consumer and the new technology. It acts as a central project manager for integrating social media in your company.

The team’s main tasks are: determining the strategy & planning, designing processes and managing resources & knowledge.

Strategy & planning:

• Drawing up the entire strategy and vision concerning conversations
• Supervising pilot projects
• Assuming ultimate responsibility for a number of flagship projects
• Actively managing and increasing the supporting base within your company

Processes design:

• Drawing up and introducing a social media policy (conversation guide)
• Drawing up the process of active listening as an organisation
• Drawing up the process of participating in the consumers’ conversations. Who says what, and what happens in case of a crisis?

Resources & knowledge management:

•  The team is responsible for organising the training and knowledge programmes in collaboration with HR.
• Sharing lessons learned by your company internally with the teams involved
• The team functions as an internal consultant for the different teams involved.
• Analysing the resources necessary for your organisation: time & money

This central team’s aim is to increase the effectiveness of and the learning experiences with social media for the entire company, which will accelerate the standardisation of the processes. Furthermore, it will create clarity within your organisation. If no central team is designated, the discussion regarding the final responsibility for the changes will emerge sooner or later. At the beginning there is a chance that none of the departments will be willing to take responsibility. Once the first results are good and the risks are decreasing, everyone wants to participate. If at that point there are discussions about the leader role, the company will lose valuable time and energy. Avoid encountering this problem by appointing a responsible person or team early in the process. Research has shown that only 56% of companies have someone who has ultimate responsibility for the change process. A lot of work has to be done.

Examples:

• eBay has a social media team. The team is responsible for helping departments such as HR, strategy and corporate communication in using social media. They are responsible for the conversation strategy, the integration of this strategy in all marketing plans and listening to consumers’ conversations. This presentation sheds some light on their philosophy.
• Cisco has 3 social media teams, each with its own responsibility. One team works on customer service, another on marketing & PR and the third on corporate communication. These teams collaborate closely and ensure a proper learning curve for the rest of the organisation. Lasandra Brill is one of their managers and has reached impressive results.
• Intel has a team of 7 people who are responsible for managing social media within their company. They make it possible for all the departments to integrate social media as much as possible in all their marketing activities. Furthermore, they set the tone for certain strategic social media aspects, such as listening to the market. In this article Ekaterina Walter describes her role within the social media centre of excellence.

Operational or strategic?

It is best for social media teams to avoid a purely operational function. The responsibilities described above go beyond the operational management of the online conversation. Jeremiah Owyang sees two possible paths for such teams: either managing the conversation proactively and strategically, or evolving into a social media helpdesk.

Obviously there is nothing wrong with social media teams executing some of the operational tasks. It is even good for them to organise the most strategic social media projects themselves. That is how the team can show its added value to the organisation. In addition, the team also guides other departments in their own social media projects.

Superfluous in the long term

In theory the social media team should become superfluous in the long term. Once companies have totally embraced social media, there no longer is a need for a separate function, or is there?

I think there will always be room for this team. The world evolves so rapidly that someone has to be responsible for following the latest trends. The final step of social media integration also involves making your company more flexible vis-à-vis the rapidly evolving market. That is why it is handy to invest, for example, in micro trends, and to keep experimenting with new ideas. The social media centre of excellence could be a most suitable framework for supporting this experimental environment.

Efficient training

Companies that have come a long way in social media integration have all elaborated a detailed training process. Social Media training is taken very seriously. Intel for example has created a ‘Digital IQ’ programme. This programme consists of some 60 training modules. The system is organised like an American university: you have to participate in training A first before moving up to the next level. The bottom level of the training is compulsory for all commercial profiles. Furthermore, we should add that this is one of the few training sessions accessible to all at Intel. Also at Cisco (see earlier article), it’s clear they take training very seriously. Their ultimate goal is to lift the general knowledge level, in order to integrate social media into their entire company management. Many Belgian and Dutch companies are too noncommittal where this type of training is concerned. Unfortunately, a lack of knowledge often leads to rather conservative decisions . Improving knowledge is absolutely the first condition for dealing with social media in a serious manner.

Technical & social infrastructure

How can you expect your company to get organised for social media when the infrastructure is not optimal ? 56% of companies still block social media (InSites Consulting research). It is difficult to learn how to work with Twitter if you can’t use it. I really like the Rabobank principle on the matter: employees are not only allowed to use social media, they are actively encouraged. And if you can convince your management that you need a smartphone or a tablet for your job, chances are you will get one. That way you help employees to get used to the new reality we’re living in.

A second aspect of providing a social infrastructure is determining your social media presence. How can you create a link between owned and earned media and what are the targets of the different touch points? Overzealous companies sometimes skip this step; they quickly create a Facebook or Twitter account that is not linked in any way with their own online media.

Engaging in difficult conversations at an early stage

I recently organised a workshop for a pharmaceutical company, the marketers were really enthusiastic about the opportunities of social media . But at the same time, they were ‘afraid’ that nothing would be allowed in their company, given the attitude of their legal department in such matters. The pharmaceutical sector has quite some legal limitations so indeed it’s not that easy. There is one thing you can do however, and that is involving all parties in the conversation at an early stage. My interviews with Intel, Cisco and Kodak taught me that these companies involve their ‘difficult’ conversation partners at an early stage. They don’t do this in a defensive frame, but they approach them on the following basis: we need your help, can you please help us with this? Postponing that conversation and therefore creating insecurity will only entail problems. In order to go all the way, you need their buy-in.

Adapting the HR recruitment criteria

Another important step in the preparation of your company for the total integration of social media is the evaluation of your HR policy. What criteria do you take into account when recruiting people? Do you only check relevant work experience and the person’s capacities, or do you go beyond that? To fully grasp the opportunities of social media, it is good to add some extra criteria. Not every candidate needs to obtain good scores for these criteria, but try to obtain a good balance in your total staff based on these criteria.

1. Look for digital experts: this often limits you to the post-1987 generation, but that’s not necessarily the case. Checking one’s social profile (followers on Twitter, LinkedIn profile) will tell you a lot about how someone deals with new media. As an organisation, it is important to actively look for ‘conversational’ profiles.

2. Check the influence and network of people. If someone is a large opinion influencer online, this could be useful in your marketing mix. However, keep in mind that this person still needs to fit within the company values.

3. Open to change. The world is evolving at greater speed all the time. The ability to adapt will become an important aspect for a modern company. Recruiting people who are open to change will help the company to become more flexible.

4. The extent to which a person is happy. Zappos asks applicants how happy they are, on a 10 points scale. Those who give a score below 8 are not recruited. Scientific surveys have shown that this one question can be linked to IQ and EQ.

Can you think of any other basic needs that need to be fulfilled and do you agree with the four I have listed above?

Dado and I are working on a whitepaper, which will contain all our conclusions from these conversations. Should you be interested in it, send us a mail (steven@insites.eu and dado@insites.eu) and we’ll keep you posted.

You probably recognize this situation.

Imagine you’re a pretty loyal client in a certain bank. You have some accounts, some savings, a loan, some insurances… so according to your standards, you consider yourself a good client of this bank. Well, the moment you need an additional loan, obviously, you will go to this bank first. Because your loyalty, you expect them to give you the best possible interest rate available in the market, not?

At that point there is a 100% certainty that you will NOT get the best rate. There is even a close to 100% certainty that the next person that walks into your bank, but isn’t a client yet, gets a better deal. And if you will go to a bank where you don’t have any money, changes are again almost close to 100% that you will get a better deal than at your existing bank.

Strange vision on customer loyalty if you think about it.

Same goes for their additional benefits for bringing in new money in the beginning of the year. If you leave your money on your account, you get less interest rates than when you bring in new money. And I can live with a bonus for new money, of course. On the other hand, what is the consequence if you play this smart as a customer. You keep moving your money around from bank A to bank B in the beginning of the year to have an optimal return on your savings.

Maybe it would be a quite unique position if one of the bigger banks suddenly goes for customer happiness. If they would do whatever it takes to make their existing clients happy, this would probably be the best acquisition strategy there is.

Unless you have other experiences?