It sounds exciting in theory, but how much of a role does social media really play in internal communications? Research and training firm Melcrum decided to undertake a survey to find out. Here, Melcrum’s Rebecca Richmond shares the findings

Melcrum recently conducted a global survey across internal communicators with the aim of identifying trends around the use of social media. With over 2,600 responses, the survey data, along with case studies, expert interviews and toolkits, forms the basis of our report, ‘How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues’. Here are just a few of that report’s key findings.

1. Global communicators split

The profession is divided on the ROI from social media. In fact, those who believe there’s a clear business case and those who do not are split almost down the middle; 48% believing the business case is “very clear” or “clear”, with 45% suggesting it’s “very unclear” or “unclear”.

2. Knowledge sharing and collaboration are biggest benefits

The biggest benefit for those who do see the ROI and have used it to build a business case (54.3%) is getting employees to talk, share information and collaborate. Building communities was second, while connecting to and learning from Generation Y employees was found to be the third most effective use of social media.

3. What policy?

More than half (52%) of communicators report that their organisations don’t have a social media policy. Of those that do, 78.7% have a “principles and purposes of use section”, 74.2% have a section outlining the importance of abiding by the laws of copyright, libel and rights, while 69.1% have guidelines on appropriate use of various platforms. Some 38% of those with a policy cite guideline inconsistency as an ongoing challenge.

4. Leaders still have a long way to go

Nearly one in five leaders don’t take part in any online communication with employees. Encouragingly however, a quarter (24.3%) regularly blog, and almost a third (29.7%) participate in online Q&A sessions with employees.

5. Internal roles transformed

Social media has changed the role of internal communicators; from controlling communication to influencing colleagues. One respondent commented that the landscape will soon no longer lend itself to “managed” communications. He continued: “The world in which communicators now operate is one where the personal relationship is king, where the line between consumers and employees is blurred… glued together by an intricate web of connections between individuals, defined by individuals, bypassing often irrelevant organizational structure.”

6. Loss of control biggest fear

The principal barrier preventing internal communicators from implementing social media tools within their organisations is management fearing loss of control and reputational damage with almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents suggesting this as “very tough” or “tough” to get past.

7. Email still strong

The use of social media within global organisations has not seen a reduction in email traffic with only 13.1% of respondents suggesting they’ve witnessed a fall in emails sent.

8. Metrics for beginners

Global teams stick to the basics when measuring the impact of social media using website data and analysis or intranet traffic figures. Almost two-thirds (61.6%) said these were the only measurement tools in use.

It’s fair to say that companies are beginning to tune into social media as a viable comms channel. And beyond the survey data, the case studies featured in our report show that in-roads have been made into how organisations are leveraging the channel for real business impact. There is, however, still a long way to go – as some of our findings here suggest.