Do you think there is someone in your company who knows everything? Highly unlikely, or in fact not possible as long as more than one person works there. And the fact that no one knows everything is, in my opinion, the single strongest reason for introduction of internal social media (ISM) in a company.

Is this the guy who knows it all?

Earlier this week I wrote about how to persuade your top management to implement internal social media into your organisation. (See What Cinderella Can Teach Top Management About Internal Social Media).

One of the general benefits of applying the principles of social networking to internal communications is reduced workload for HR and IT staff.  Problem solving gets shared across the company, and specific issues can be addressed more quickly by drawing on a bigger pool of resource.

But there are also specific aims for internal social media in every organisation. Global companies such as Dell, Nestlé and Nokia each have their own approach to implementing ISM.

Today I’ll show you the reasons behind why these three giants have chosen to implement internal social media networks.

Dell uses ISM for collaboration

“Our employees use Chatter to be more productive and to interact more easily and frequently – particularly vital when you have people working remotely and offices around the globe”, writes Aadil Bandukwala, Dell Voice at Forbes.com. He continues:

“The software sends updates on people, projects, and files employees care about automatically.

People can follow their leaders’ updates and interact with them on an open platform, increasing engagement.

CEO Michael Dell is an active participant. His recent post about Dell’s successful bid to acquire Quest Software drew a chorus of cheers from around the company, not to mention a number of questions whose answers are visible to everyone.”

Click here to read the entire story.

Nestlé crowdsources innovation ideas

Nestlé is developing an internal social network to crowdsource innovation ideas from employees across the world.

Pete Blackshaw, head of digital and social media at Nestlé says they are working on ways to apply the principles of the social network to internal knowledge sharing. He adds:

“At a very high level I believe that listening systems will help companies get to insights a lot faster at lower cost. And that is very promising for us.”

Click here to read the entire story.

Nokia aims at bringing out the company’s unique authentic voice

Nokia utilizes social media in many of its divisions. Nokia’s Social Media Communications team was established in early 2008 with the aim of improving inter-company communications and engaging employees.

The objective of the Nokia Social Media Communications team is to encourage the use of social media internally to bring out the company’s unique authentic voice and to engage in social media externally on behalf of Nokia, and contributing to product and service announcements by opening up a dialogue and driving online engagement.

According to Molly Schonthal who worked on the company’s Social Media team in North America, the BlogHub is Nokia’s most powerful and effective social media tool that is used internally. What makes it so effective? Schonthal explains:

“The BlogHub lowers barriers for employees to find conversations relevant to them. Rather than the company dictating a corporate culture and controlling  the line of internal comms should flow, the BlogHub allows employees to better understand messaging by communicating with people whose opinions matter. Everyone has a voice.”

Click here to read the entire story.

Is social media a part of the internal communication at your workplace? What’s your experience? Please do tell!

Image source: www.briansolis.com

About the author

Anna Rydne is a communications specialist, a mother and a small business owner. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, she's determined to uncover the secrets of how successful people and companies communicate. Anna has a special interest in social media marketing and personal branding and she believes the road to success is trying. She tweets about all things comms, social media and marketing @CoSkills and writes for SteamFeed.com twice a month. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology. Contact her at anna@communicateskills.com.

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