Social media opens many more channels for the customer and contact center. However, public social media sites, by definition, do not belong to the enterprise and are not under their control. Social media sites keep popping up, some to be successful and others to disappear.
Should the social media site in enterprise use be provided by the enterprise or should public be used? Steve Taylor of www.webtorials.com and I were discussing this question. Steve pointed pout social media within an enterprise can be very useful. Many employees know their friends but may not know someone on another floor or building.
Jive Software is one example of an enterprise social networking platform that can be operated by the enterprise for the benefit of the employees, their external contacts, such as vendors and suppliers, and marketing efforts. Enterprises are filled with experts on many subjects; the human resources department may be able to inform an employee of a potential expert available, but usually not in real time. Using Jive allows employees to locate the expert resource and arrange communities of interest within the enterprise, while still retaining control of the content and access to the information. Therefore do not assume that public sites are the best solution for the enterprise internal social networking.
Who uses what public site for what purpose is important to determine. Linkedin is better suited to getting a job and networking with professionals with common interests. Steve said that about 80% of the Linkedin users provide their personal, not business, e-mail addresses.
One of the primary decisions that enterprise has to make is "What kind of information do they want to derive from the social media sites?" A second question is "What type of sites will best suite the needs of the enterprise?"
Steve at Webtorials.com conducted a survey of their community to measure the usage of social media. The participants of the survey are primarily technologists in ICT who plan for next generation networks. “Social Networking in the Workplace” by Steven Taylor, Webtorials Analyst Division is available at: http://www.webtorials.com/content/featured/webtorials/special-projects/.
The respondents to the survey mentioned these social networks as their primary choices (multiple choices were allowed):
* Linkedin 82.6% * Wikipedia 66.3% * Instant Messaging 65.6% * Facebook 64.8% * YouTube 58.1% * Twitter 45.2%
The values of social networking to this webtorial community were:
* Improved workgroup communications * Connecting to peers within the organization * Connecting to peers outside the organization * Improved feedback
The responses demonstrated that social media users operate on multiple sites. However, the sites selected do vary in their utility. Linkedin users were using the site for professional purposes. Linkedin is also used by contractors to communicate with potential business partners and vendors. Facebook users were using the site for less business and more personal reasons. Twitter is being used for social instant messaging. One company uses YouTube to distribute videos to employees. Companies that use social networking to start a marketing effort usually move to traditional methods once a successful contact has been made.
The information on each of these sites varied considerably. The Webtorials community felt that e-mail (68.6%) was the most important method for getting updates vs. SMS, RSS feeds or listserv. A corresponding survey of other social media sites may have a different conclusion.
Steve noted that "When we started this study, we knew intuitively that social networks were going to have a major impact. But even so, we still probably vastly underestimated how profound this impact would be. One of the major areas that we're now finding to need major-league integration is the contact center and social networks."
The Webtorial.com site has a white paper by Avaya, "Contact Centers Go Social" that discusses the impact of social networking when dealing with customers. This paper provides guidance for the enterprise contact center and its involvement with social media. Several keys points were made:
* An article from Cone Inc., states that 93% of the social media users believe companies should have a social media presence.
* Enterprises have to dedicate staff to locating and analyzing the social media sites for people, groups and forums that deal with the products and services offered by the enterprise.
* Always answer any communications even if it only a "thank you" note to ensure that the person knows that they being listened to and not ignored.
* As part of the of the public site analysis, these questions need to be answered: --What conversations does the enterprise want to be a part of and which sites are to be ignored? --What sites have a loyal and active following? For example MySpace has a high abandonment rate. --Where are the relevant conversations taking place? The enterprise has to assume the new sites will be added to the list and other sites will disappear in time. Keeping up with the changing landscape will be a continuous effort, not a one time event. --The enterprise has to have both a manual and automated processes for listening to the conversations. --Who should respond to the conversations and in what form?
These challenges for the enterprise create new opportunities while placing a different type of burden on the contact center. The social media sites will require constant monitoring. Some of the monitoring decisions that must be addressed are:
* Who should be responsible for the monitoring?
* Where should the issues and conversations be routed within the contact center?
* There are many departments within an enterprise. Which departments should be responsible for the responses to the questions and issues?
* The enterprise has to review their existing technologies, mostly software that will be impacted. What software and training will be required for a successful effort?
* How does the enterprise measure the effectiveness of the social media responses? This is difficult question to answer at this time. There may be a number of measurements possible but I am sure they will be modified over time with experience.
There is no doubt about the encroachment of social networking on the contact center. The impact of social networking will increase dramatically in the future. How the enterprise uses social media will be a very public effort. You don't want to see your mistakes broadcast on the Comedy Channel or YouTube. The enterprise's reputation can be bolstered or harmed depending on their use of social networking.
