Involving Other Functions in Building Strong Social Media Presence

Social Media change the way we do business. How many times have you heard this statement from the social media consultant? Maybe you are convinced, and you want to change the Human Resources Management function. On the other hand, is the leadership team convinced of the idea to be strongly present on Twitter or Facebook? Do they trust these websites to allow employees to share innovative ideas to make them even more revolutionary?

It is the business that will develop most of the content. Human Resources needs the buy-in of the leadership team to bring any visible change to the organization. However, how to involve the business in the development of the social media strategy?

The leadership team represents the Business and makes all strategic decisions. Becoming widely present in social media is a strategic decision, and HR should manage all stakeholders properly. HR needs to make alliances with other functions like Marketing, Product Development, Customer Care, and Communications. All these functions can benefit strongly from the definite GO decision.

The strategic alliance of Marketing, HR, and Communications in the organization, can push a difficult decision through the leadership team. The alliance can collect many benefits, and it can prepare a realistic plan how social media introduction can change the corporate culture in the company. Most leaders are not satisfied with the culture in the enterprise, and they want to make a strategic shift. Social Media can be used to build the burning platform.

Moreover, Human Resources needs to prepare a detailed list of all benefits for the organization. It cannot focus on benefits for Human Resources; it has to consider the whole company. The leaders do not support initiatives that do not bring improvements to all. They want to balance the effort, costs and profits. They require a balanced approach.

HR has to list all benefits for the organization like:

employee engagement;
breaking silos in the organization;
employee empowerment;
know how utilization;
innovations support;
direct communication;
stronger partnership of the leadership team with employees;
visibility of the organization on the market;
brand name development;
influencing top talents;
many other opportunities.

Today, most social media consultants focus on the social recruitment. They ignore other opportunities because they are thought to be introduced into a daily business life. They prefer a quick solution that is visible and helps the organization enlarge the pool of talents. However, the leadership team is more focused on the general sustainability of the business.

The leadership team will be especially interested in following areas:

employee engagement;
breaking silos;
innovations support.

All three areas promise a positive impact on the performance and productivity of the organization. Each business needs to grow the profits, cash flow, and the market share. Most companies suffer to sustain the reliable growth rate, and they need to change the internal environment to unblock the full potential. The employee engagement, breaking silos and innovations are the most promising continuous business improvement brought by social media.

Employee engagement is a hot topic for Human Resources. Social media can help to attach employees to critical business issues. They can discuss, share ideas with the leadership team. They can receive instant feedback, and they can ask to become responsible to bring a solution. Most businesses lose employees because they feel no trust from the leadership team and Human Resources. Social communication can unblock the potential of employees to become responsible again. Most employees do not want to make stupid decisions; they want to improve the quality of outcomes. They wish to be a valuable part of the team.

Silo thinking and silo management is a serious management issue impacting the productivity negatively. Social media can break silos in the business because employees are free to discuss and connect as they want to. They do not any permission from the manager. The leadership team can encourage employees to connect directly, and it can decrease the power of the line management. Line managers block unofficial channels because they want to have a full control.

HR Marketing Section Contents

HR Marketing:

Basic HR Marketing Principles

Social Media:

Gamification of Human Resources:

Gamification