Companies and Social Media Communication

How should companies communicate with there internal audience, employees and others working on the inside, on social media? Rachel Miller, author of Share This Chapter 22, discusses multiple ways to a company can use social media to communicate and improve the ways already set.

She began by saying that those looking to start communicating with social media, should ask themselvess the following questions:

1. What are you trying to achieve?
2. Whose your audience?
3. What do you want people to think, feel or do differently as a result of your communication?
4. What action or behavior are you driving?
5. What your message?
6. How will the conversation start?
7. How can it be two way?
8. What tools and channels will be used?
1. The focus is on the input and action being driven.
1. once you know the answers to previous questions, a channel should be easier to decide on
9. How will feedback be captured?
10. What will be measured?
1. A company can and should measure social media
1. The focus should be on measuring outputs in order to demonstrate effectiveness

Miller believes that social media enhances employee engagement by opening up new feedback channels, encouraging collaboration, breaks down hierarchies with horizontal networking, being all encompassing and interactive, approachability because employees pick and choose what and who to engage with. 

She also says you should ask IT for advice on what channel to use and work with business partners to identify what you can do within your company, based on the understanding of communication and culture as well as technical possibilities. 

I know our Social Media class is not a company or organization, but think about it in the context of internal communication. We are all on Facebook (and many other social networks) and Aggie uses that to her advantage by using our group page to get us announcements and grade our assignments. We can also ask each other questions and communicate within ourselves about what's going on in class. 

But sticking with the idea of companies, they can use them to their advantage internally because social media can change along with the culture and some of the same things it allows us to do as a class.