Posts tagged communication

In a bid to slip the collar of everyone’s freshly minted Business Rules for Twitter users, I’ve been hunting for new backgrounds that please me, and I stumbled across a wallpaper collection by the supremely talented Barbara Hulanicki.

As I mentioned, I’m feeling rebellious. Nothing new there, I was born to be subversive - while my sister was trying hard to look like Farah Fawcett I was nailing blakeys to the bottom of my monkey boots to see if I could actually make sparks fly from under my feet. (I couldn’t).

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Being a jobbing copywriter you learn a thing or two about clear communication. There’s no big secret to it - but you’d be suprised how easy it is to drift off in an attempt to be different, exciting, unique and interesting.

Those qualities are all excellent - but what you really need to be is clear. If you’re facing a blank sheet today, try answering these questions on the page. When you get to the end, you’ll have the bones of your presentation/blog post/article.

Five easy steps to good copy | toe, heel - kick, ball change,  ball change!

1. What are you really trying to say? | Keep it real simple.

2. How does your message relate to the problem/goal/opportunity/situation?

3. What needs to happen and how will you know when it works and when it’s right?

4. What does your company and/or your audience gain by doing it or lose by not doing it? | Sell the benefits!

5. What action do you want your audience to take now? | Never leave them  hanging.

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In the spirit of recycling -and on the back of the linkedin/twitter link up announcements - here is a post I prepared much much earlier (7th October 2009) on the subject of social media machinery.

Busy busy …
I’ve been busy today, tidying up my online profile across a number of platforms. I always struggle with a collective noun for the blogs, microblogs, network profiles, share sites and bookmarking doodads that make up online activity. I’ve decided on platform for now - if you’ve got a better, more elegant word for it all, please leave a comment and let me know. I’ll start using it immediately.

While connecting my facebook public profile with my twitter and trying to find a ‘follow me’ widget I might like to sprinkle across my platforms, it struck me that I have gone about creating my online profile in a most haphazard way. Anyone following my digital footprint would be forgiven for thinking they were tracking a hopeless, digitally ambiguous, drunk. This magpie approach has been really useful for me. I’ve picked up on new opportunities as I’ve found them, had fun learning new things and grown in confidence and authority with some ‘new’ communication channels.

All of which has helped me offer sane and simple advice, when asked, on how to use the social media, emerging media channels available online to ‘make some noise’ or to research and engage with stakeholders. So before you link your twitter to your linkedin account and start weaving your profile together all over the internet, take a moment to do some joined up thinking about what is really going to work for you. Next page: Start with a stakeholder plan…

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A great writing style for your business articles, blogs and letters is casual and conversational. Read your text aloud before you press that button. If your piece sounds like your natural tone in conversation, then it will flow well for your reader. If it sounds like you’re back in school reciting from a set text then it’s back for another edit for you my friend.

Don’t dismiss Social Media

While social media flag wavers, stamp their feet in annoyance at the ‘slow to adopt’ businesses still staring at their feet and marketing departments, engage each other in worried, excited conversations about adding online channels to the marketing mix without the comfort of traditional metrics to hide behind – I’m wondering why the internal communication specialists aren’t chucking their hats into the ring.

One of the most exciting applications for the explosion of social media channels is surely the opportunity it gives organisations to engage in dialogue with their people.

Set aside for a moment the concerns any business has when approaching a new channel for communication, and discount too the hysterical accusations from the social media evangelists – that business is frightened of the power of the people, no they’re not – they’re waiting to see the hard evidence of ROI that supports changes in policy in any well governed organisation.

It’s all about | word of mouth

Mass communication channels that allow ‘real-time’ information exchange are a powerful and exciting tool for colleague engagement.  Look past the ‘noisiest’ of the channels like twitter, youtube and facebook and go in search of online tools that you can adapt and adopt for your business communication needs.  Your can start to explore the possibilities opening up for internal communications within the context of your existing strategy.

Better still, you can use the opportunity to engage with social media to review and clarify your company’s current corporate and product positioning as well as your mission and vision statements. Make sure everyone knows what your company stands for.

Here are 8 tips to help you embrace social media in your colleague engagment strategy:

# Tip 1. Get help! You’ll need input from across the organisation, HR, legal, IT and operations for starters and it’s a cinch your marketing and pr department will want to take a view too. Set up an informal lunch session to brainstorm social media, use it to find your experts, enthusiasts and champions.

# Tip 2. Engage with your stakeholders from the get-go.  You can use social media techniques to do that, run surveys – set up a wiki etc. Put together an editorial team of employees, assign activities and set a regular schedule to discuss and share their findings.

# Tip 3. Think outside the twitter, youtube, facebook box. Internal communications can be well served by forums, wikis, blogs and fileshare applications to promote collaboration. If you don’t know about crowd sourcing – find out about it now.

# Tip 4. Don’t panic. You need to approach social media channels in exactly the same way as any other channel. Understanding the limitations and best use for each type. Remember you will be setting up a new way to share information and receive feedback – social media channels are conversation channels, so levels of mediation and responsibility will need to be agreed and communicated to manage them well.

# Tip 5. Review your communication policies and consider strengthening them to cover social media usage. Many organisations lock out their colleagues from using facebook and twitter on work time. There are internal versions of these channels which may suit your organisation’s culture better.

# Tip 6. Social media channels can be a fantastic tool in support of organisational change. If you are looking to put greater power and responsibility into the hands of your colleagues then setting up internal social media ‘clones’ could support your communication strategy in support of cultural change.

# Tip 7 Don’t be a bore. Be honest, open and inclusive. Listen and respond to conversations and let them evolve. Ask questions and offer genuine, consistent information. Your objective is to create opportunities for conversation with your employees and offer them channels for genuine two way feedback.

# Tip 8 Establish clear objectives and metrics to keep the numbereenies happy. Remember, to measure a successful engagement programme it isn’t just about ROI.  Use engagement benchmarking techniques to measure the full impact of using social media to expand your word of mouth reach.

Turn up, Tune in or drop out …

Your people have already wandered off from the water cooler and found a more engaging way to spread the word. At the very least you need to find out where they are hanging out and what they’re saying.

If you’re really switched on, you’ll join the conversations and maybe even set up a place where you can encourage them to happen naturally.

Make a start today - review what you know about social media and decide to find out more. That much is free!

louise@copymojo.co.uk | www.copymojo.co.uk