When evangelizing Social Media, I find it difficult to share the value of Web 2.0 engagement to a numbers person. It’s not that they are inferior in any way, instead Social Media is one of those activities which blurs the lines in business. The good news is that Social Media increases business and enterprise employee engagement growth.
- 52% of organizations that adopt blogs, wikis, and social networking tools (among others) achieved best-in-class performance levels compared to 5% for those that didn’t. (Note to Aberdeen: I would have liked a definition of “best-in-class.”)
- The same tools were used within organizations that achieved an 18% year-over-year improvement in employee engagement. Companies that didn’t use these tools grew engagement by a mere 1%.
–Source: Social Media Today, 9/28/08; Aberdeen Group.
One major characteristic in business social media is trust in employees. This is important to maintain while exploring unchartered territory in the world of Web 2.0. Without trust, employees lose faith and may potentially result in attrition; possibly retribution against your company. But with faith and loose operation of social media operations, it can be a perfect blend.
Many organizations have different reasons to engage in social media — whether it’s corporate intelligence, employee engagement, internal training, marketing or advertising. No reason is any more important than others; but I want to remind folks to diversify their social media offerings and have balance and look at the big picture and make sure it all connects the dots.
