Social Business Begins With Internal Communication

Social media is an extremely powerful tool in today’s business world. Social media interaction and engagement is a lot more personal and can feel very intimate, and studies indicate that more meaningful business relationships are built on social networks compared with those forged via email communication.

Social business is therefore critical for companies big and small, however training your staff to engage with social tools can be challenging. Therefore it is essential to start your social business strategy internally – not only will your employees get to grips with social tools, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Businessfriend, but they will also develop more meaningful relationships with one another. “People are developing more real relationships, especially with executive leadership, which in turn means more influence for good ideas, transformation change and sales,” wrote Sarah Gilbert, social business expert.

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Internal Communication

Social networks, especially those built specifically for business communication, can play a huge part in building and developing relationships between business executives and their employees. Unlike a company memo sent via email or a press release splashed on the home page of the company website, social media communication feels a lot more direct and intimate – employees feel like they are communicating directly with their senior managers.

Direct Communication

Social media communication is a lot more personal - it allows comments, and looks informal and employees feel like they are having a more engaged conversation with the executive. As a result, they are more inclined to comment, share or embrace the message. In other words, this is an opportunity for business leaders to feel like they are talking directly to employees, but more importantly, for employees to feel like they are involved in a conversation, not just receiving directives from the boardroom.

So if you are thinking about a message that must resonate with people, then think about using a social media platform before anything else. It will feel more like a conversation and less like a mandate.