Social Media

in the
workplace
Is it risky
business?

Traditional Media versus Social

Media
Traditional media

Social Media

One way communication

Many to one multipath dialogue

Here is what marketers think the

brand value is

Consumers express how they perceive the

brand

Consumers segmented by their

demographics and viewing behaviour

Consumers segmented by their social

behaviour

Buzz driven by whats cool

Buzz based on message content WIIFM?

Expert recommendations (e.g. Michelin

Guide, Good Food Guide etc)

Peer and influencer recommendations (i.e.

Amazon etc)

Content publishers control all channels

Users opt-in for publishers content

Information managed by hierarchy

Information provided on demand

Top-down strategic approach

Bottom-up voice of the consumer strategy

Motivators for Social Media

Research
Reading
Engaging in conversation
Creating blogs, writing articles
Instant access to wide
audience

Strategy

Three tiers of social media

strategy

Target Audience

Listening

Data Collection,
Analytics

Objectives

Answering

Measure results vs.

Goals

Capacity

Social Tools

Refine Adjust & Test

Policy

Content Strategy

Iterative

Translate strategy into

action
Again, we must have strategies and tactics
operating at 3 target audience categories:

Influencers
Individuals
Consumers

Influencers
You must provide value to influencers so that
they will promote your message;
Objective is not necessarily to have influencer
purchase;
Ideal outcome is that they forward positive
message soon and often!

Consumers
In the past, traditional media was used to deliver

the message of value, so that the consumer could

make a decision based on functional and emotional
value.

In social media, you must still deliver the message

highlighting value of the brand compared to other

brands, so in this category not much has changed,
except you now have many avenues to get your
message out there.

Individuals

Engage with individuals who use Social

Media effectively, so that they will either
become consumers or influences of your
products/services

Alternatively, release a series of brandrelated posts, creating reviews that are read
after being picked up by individuals using a
search-engine

Your brand the impact

Influencers like to endorse a brand with high

equity i.e. Coca Cola. Your task is to build and
protect your brand equity so that influencers
will
engage with the brand.

Consumers now have many perspectives on a

brand as they read comments and feedback
from influencers and other consumers

Individuals participation in a brand

experience is partially driven by the brand image, in
addition to commentary in social and other media.

Social Media in the

workplace

Statistics
53%

Look for information on Twitter

Pew Internet
2011

50%

Chief Marketing Officers in US Fortune

1,000 companies lunched a corporate
blog because its the cost of doing
business today

eMarketer
2011

$3.08 Bil USD Will be spent to advertise on social

networking sites in 2011, a 55%
increase over 2010

eMarketer
2011

200 Mil

Registered user accounts on Twitter

(January 2011)

Twitter 2011

110 Mil

Tweets are sent per day on Twitter

Twitter 2011

Talking bout Generations

Who they are

Silent Gen
1925
1945

Baby Boomers
1945 - 1964

Gen X
1965 - 1977

Gen Y
1978 - 1995

Tagline

When in
command,
take charge

Live to work

Work to live

Like Xers on steroids

Values

Work itself,
and
colleagues

Respect,
empowerment,
challenge &
growth

Work/life balance,
individualism,
entrepreneurial
Technology

Immediate feedback
& payoff
Hard work pays off
Technology

Preferences

Work with
strong leaders

Results oriented
work environment,
stability

Harmonious work
environment.
flexibility

Challenging
meaningful work,
high expectations of
success

Relationship
to employer

Willing to learn
new skills

Be included in
decision making

Not intimidated by
authority

Little loyalty to
employer

Generation Y?
The problem with todays youth is
that they think they know everything,
they are impatient to make their mark
and change the world and just want
the older generation to step aside and
let them take over before they have
even learned what needs changing
Anonymous

Introducing the C
Generation
Connected
Communicating
Content-centric
Computerised
Community-oriented
Always

Clicking!

What are they looking for?

Workplace flexibility

To be technology enabled

Relationship based interactions

The Benefits

Staff members share their positive views of

your brand

Staff members can distribute news fast, to a

massive audience

Uncovers public opinions of organisation

being shared via social media

Workers will self-organise by mixing business

and personal matters

The Risks and Opportunities

Department

Risk

Opportunity

Human Resources

Violation of existing policies

IT

Information security, data loss Reduce network and desktop

support requests

Legal

Copyright, freedom of speech, Better corporate oversight,

libel, audit trails
tighter controls

Marketing

Aggravate brand fracture

Enable market to selfeducate

Customer Service

Perceived productivity loss

Reduce call centre demand

PR

Negligible

Unfiltered communications

IR

Selective disclosure

Better shareholder
communications

www.erickSchwartzman.com

Attract, engage, retain

Before you stop, stop and

think!

Loss of control
Companies can no longer control the message

The voice of the customer is out there, loud

and clear
Benefits of transparency outweigh the risks

Productivity Loss

Unnecessary downtime
Distracting
Diminished
performance

Down time
People who surf the internet for fun, for less than 20% of their
time 9% more productive than those who dont.
Dr Brent Coker, a lecturer in Marketing at University of
Melbourne said:
The enjoyable stuff is better for people than mundane
stuff.the more escapist relaxing type of feeling (the better).
Reading what your friends are saying on Facebook, playing a
little Mafia Wars, or whatever, and then getting back to the job.
Royston Seaward, partner, Deloittes technology integration
practice, said:
There are now many companies looking at taking social media
and seeing how they can apply it internally, to connect people
across the organisation. This is being driven by staff and teams
working together, taking the initiative themselves.

Cost of not doing social

media
Loss of

opportunity to retain customers with negative

experience
opportunity to win new customers
access to competitors conversations
ability to respond to your influencers,
consumers, and general individuals
opportunity to initiate positive conversations

Out of the loop/not involved in dialogue that is

happening out there

Manage the risk, change the

behaviour

Develop
guidelines for
governance,
aligned with
strategy and
goals
Macanta Consulting 2011

Develop internal
process to
provide a flexible
and responsive
approach to
managing Social
Media

Assign roles and

responsibilities to
ensure
accountable and
shared
governance
across the
organisation

Create policy
documentation,
and a
communication
and education
plan for new
governance
approach

Actions: What you need

A risk taking environment so that you can

maximise the opportunities provided by social
media

Knowledge management

Social media guidelines and policy

Performance Management

Some examples of Social

Media in workplace
De Loitte Consulting have a Digital

Mentoring program, where Graduates

mentor Partners

Ernst & Young have a Facebook Page

to attract the best Graduates

At IBM, its about losing control.

Social Media Policy Checklist

Is your social media policy:

Collaborative have you had a discussion on what should

be included?
Positive teaching engagement between staff and
customers, rather than thou shalt not?
Public does it serve the staff or the company?
Extended to Contractors do the contractors understand
they are bound by same policy?

Case Study #1

Social Media at IBM

We dont have a corporate blog or a corporate
Twitter ID because we want the IBMers in aggregate
to be the corporate blog and the corporate Twitter
ID,
says Adam Christensen, social media communications
at IBM Corporation.
We represent our brand online the way it always has
been, which is employees first. Our brand is largely
shaped by the interactions that they have with
customers.
Thousands of IBMers are the voice of the company.

Social Media stats for IBM

No IBM corporate blog or Twitter Account
17,000 internal blogs
100,000 employees using internal blogs
53,000 members on SocialBlue (like Facebook for
employees)
A few thousand IBMers on Twitter
Thousands of external bloggers
Almost 200,000 on Linkedin

As many as 500,000 participants in company crowdsourcing jams

50,000 in alum networks on Facebook and Linkedin

The Results

Crowd-sourcing identified 10 best incubator businesses,

which
IBM funded with $100 million

$100 billion in total revenue with a 44.1% gross profit

margin in 2008
Christensen says to date theres not an effort to tag a return on
investment to its social media efforts.
I think if youd ask any senior executive at IBM, How important
is it for our employees to be smarter?, inherently they
understand that these tools can play in helping with that,
Christensen said.
I dont see myself rarely or ever having that hard conversation
on the value of engaging employees in these spaces.

Case Study #2

The Macanta Story

Founded in 2009
Fully operational August 2010
1st Twitter account 2009
2 person company
Melbourne based
Focussed on consulting in IT Service Management

Social Media at Macanta

Facebook page
1

Linkedin accounts

Twitter accounts

Regular blogs
Regular White Papers
Monthly Podcast

Results
Signed up:

1st USA partner in April 11 met on Twitter

2nd USA partner in May 11 - met on
Twitter
Invited to run Antipodean Podcast by industry expert
who runs global ITSM Podcasts met on Twitter
Feedback from industry peers in Australia we are
perceived as a well established player in the
industry.
Feedback from industry peers across the globe we
are perceived as one of the key players in the industry
both globally as well as in Australia

Summary

Social Media is here to stay

Plan to take advantage of it

Plan to manage the risk

This includes managing staff performance

Thank You

breed.lewis@macanta.com.au