social media, social media in the workplace, workplace communication

The Power of Social Media for Workplace Communication & Distribution

Summary:Whether you are a manager, business leader or HR professional, social media could just be a platform to bring your workplace together.

The Power of Social Media for Workplace Communication & Distribution

Summary:Whether you are a manager, business leader or HR professional, social media could just be a platform to bring your workplace together.
social media, social media in the workplace, workplace communication

Table of Contents

Learn more about social media enterprise use by visiting our first blog post in this series by clicking here

There are many ways to leverage social media at your place of work. Whether you are a manager, business leader, team member or HR professional, social media could just be a platform to bring your workplace together and elevate how communication and information is being shared particularly in a way that encourages input, collaboration and sharing.

Enterprise Social Media for Workplace Communication

Not too long ago, I shared with you the uses of enterprise social media at work. For those that need a refresher, see the graphic below. You can read more about the use of social media for enterprise by clicking here.

uses-of-social-media

When it comes to social media for collaboration and information distribution, social media is a great way to involve employees and brand ambassadors from all positions and levels within your organization with the purpose of sharing news, information and resources.

I can speak from personal experience that social media is a powerful tool for workplace communication, particularly an engaged audience when it comes to mobile. I currently communicate mostly through social media for both personal and professional purposes. The challenge for business leaders is that there is not much solid data and case studies shared in mainstream media supporting the use of social media for enterprise communication and distribution. Consumer numbers are in support of social media communication and use for distribution. The average American spends 1.8 hours a day communicating on a mobile device vs. 1.6 hours a day on their computer. That’s 3.4 hours a day engaging using technology that is often associated with work even if we don’t factor in that over 50% of all mobile activity is social media related.

team-work-communication

Social Media Improves Employee Engagement & Productivity

Social media as a communication and distribution tool is particularly important for team members who are working together from distances whether on separate sides of the office or the other side of the planet. My team works remote in different time zones. We work on different schedules because of time zones, family situations or just to help balance our personal with our professional lives. The work still gets done, blogs get published and deadlines met. But most importantly, we work well together and communicate effectively thanks to the power of social media.

Social media does more than help us communicate, it keeps us engaged and happy especially at work where we spend more time than with our families working, sharing and interacting with individuals who are part of an organization which changes every single day.

Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report shows that remote workers are more engaged than their on site colleagues. Remote colleagues are 31% engaged versus their in office counterparts at 28%. These same remote employees also log more work hours being more productive with the primary catalyst to their communications related to work being email, virtual meetings, telephone and social media.

remote-workers-social-media

 

Engagement and Innovation Through Crowdsourcing

Last week while attending the SHRM Diversity Conference, I sat in a session that discussed social media use within the company was linked not only to collaboration but the increased sharing of information and internal crowdsourcing. Cisco used their social media platform for idea generation focused on workplace diversity. Nearly 600 suggestions and ideas were submitted and employees were then able to vote on the best ones submitted by their colleagues. Just under 5,600 votes were cast generating real time engagement, sharing and communication with employees throughout the global company.

It’s case studies like these from Cisco that help demonstrate the vast ways social media can be used for communication and information distribution to serve different purposes. The key is for organizational members and teams who oversee and develop internal communication efforts to work together to make sure messages, campaigns and communication strategies that leverage social media don’t overshadow or overlap each other lessening the power that social media can bring.

Learn more about social media enterprise use by visiting our first blog post in this series by clicking here

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One Comment

  1. I feel like I am never able to communicate with my team at work when I need to. I like that you mention how, through social media, your company was able to get a lot done despite different schedules and times zones. I can see how using some sort of communication method at work would be helpful for businesses where there is a lot of collaboration required. Thanks for sharing!

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