What is an enterprise social network?
Can you imagine life without social media? Your employees can’t either. What if you brought all the benefits of public networks inside your organization and used them for secure communication, knowledge sharing, and management? That’s what enterprise social networks do, and they have even more benefits to offer their users.
How does an enterprise social network work?
The discussion about the potential of enterprise social networks lasts for at least a decade. However, it is the events of recent years and their consequences (development of remote work) that have contributed to their growing popularity. The principle of their operation is well known on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The increased interest in such solutions can be combined with the development of the Employee Experience concept. ESN meets the needs and habits of employees who use social media daily. And at work, they also expect simple and intuitive solutions.
Given these expectations, the main roles of the enterprise social network are primarily:
- enabling quick communication among employees,
- enabling collaboration within teams in different locations (for example, with the help of creating project groups),
- managing projects,
- expressing appreciation and commenting on current organization’s events,
- enabling employees to express their opinions with surveys, comments, or emoticons,
- sharing knowledge and resources (free access and corporate files flow).
What is the role of an enterprise social network for the employees and organizations?
Most social media users, of whom there were 4.62 billion worldwide at the beginning of 2022, are looking for more than entertainment and news. The enterprise social network has similar potential: with its help, you can effectively build employee engagement. How?
Fast communication increases its frequency, which strengthens relationships. In close-knit teams, where employees feel comfortable, collaborative processes are faster and more efficient. The level of creativity also increases, and employees are more willing to share their unique expertise. However, the benefits of implementing an internal social network do not appear automatically in an organization. Therefore, when implementing it, it is worth remembering a few rules.
How to run an enterprise social network effectively?
The three most important steps in implementing an enterprise social network are:
1️⃣ Communication campaign – before and when implementing ESN we communicate its goals of benefits employees will gain by using the new tool.
2️⃣ Integration with other tools enables sharing content from other modules, cooperation on different levels, interaction, quick access to other content, expressing opinions, etc.
3️⃣ Data analysis – data collection and processing will enable ongoing monitoring of employee engagement and verification of what works and what doesn’t.
How to encourage people to use ESN
Despite many similarities with public tools and encouragement from the employer, employees may still be reluctant to use enterprise social networking for purposes other than direct communication. One of the most common reasons is reluctance or fear of expressing one’s opinion. This is directly related to the organizational culture and overall sense of safety. Before asking employees to express their opinions publicly, make sure that your company’s actions are consistent with its stated values and that it is ready to receive feedback from employees. Only after you’ve made employees feel safe can you encourage discussion with open questions, content generation, tagging each other in posts, and spreading the word.
A well-utilized enterprise social network is a powerful tool in integrating employees and helping to build employee engagement. Some sources say that with social technologies employees’ productivity can increase by 20 to 25%. However, this requires both the right tools and a culture of openness and trust.
Why should you use Workai’s ESN?
Workai is one of the most effective ESN tools on the market. As a cloud-based service, it provides its users with complete security. It contains many functionalities that support mutual communication, integrating employees, and inviting them to co-create internal communication in the organization. Enterprise social network from Workai is an intuitive and easy-to-use tool, both on the employees’ and the organization’s side. Thanks to the advanced analytical module Workai provides up-to-date, real-time data which helps organizations to better adjust the communication to employees’ needs.