Internal communications training agency Melcrum has announced the foundation of a Social Media Benchmarking Group – a community of communications practitioners pioneering social media for internal communication at large organisations.

Meeting quarterly to share successes and challenges in an open-discussion format, the group will also help organisations build a business case for social media and get senior management and IT buy-in. It will also provide guidance on how to integrate social media tools with existing intranets.

The group is designed specifically for internal communicators leading social media initiatives at large organisations. Membership already includes companies such as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Ericsson, RBS, HSBC, Belron, SABMiller and Axa.

Melcrum CEO Victoria Mellor said: “Our shared cost membership model means that members will get high-quality benchmarking and research at a fraction of the cost of hiring a consulting firm.”

Marged Lloyd, senior manager of online communications and group corporate affairs at Standard Chartered, says it is widely accepted that social media is making a dramatic difference to the way organisations need to communicate with their staff. “Most also agree that new corporate approaches are needed,” she said. “The question is, how do you know which approaches work?  And how do you measure their effectiveness? In this relatively new environment, there are no rules set in stone – so peer-to-peer collaboration and shared experience is so important.”

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