In our latest Spitfire Speaks video, one of our Account Executives, Karen Scattergood, discusses social trends to consider using for employee communications. She offers some easy, effective tips on how to engage your employees in a medium many are already quite familiar with: social media.

When you think about social media, you probably envision a quick, convenient way to keep in touch with family and friends. While that’s true, social media can also be a valuable tool for professional communication. 

Here are the highlights:

Why are Platforms like Facebook and Instagram so Popular?

• They’re relatable. Being relatable helps your audience identify with your message.
• Your audience sees shorter messages more frequently, which makes it easier for them to retain the information and stay engaged.
• You can incorporate photos to make the message simpler to understand and more exciting to read.
• It allows people to be part of the conversation.

Instead of talking at your employees, social media can help you talk to them and better yet, with them, allowing their voices to be heard as well.

Professionally-Driven Social Media Platforms

Yammer is a collaboration tool created by Microsoft that helps companies connect and engage across the entire organization. It can be used to start conversations, share knowledge and build employee communities.

Platforms like Yammer allow employers to:

• Communicate with their entire employee population or target specific segments with ease.
• Encourage people to participate and share their own experiences (which they love to do!).
• Get employees talking while continuously reinforcing participation. This, in turn, disseminates the employer’s message to more people.

Example of How Social Media Can Boost HR Communications

If you’re rolling out a new benefit like pet insurance, use social media to encourage employees to submit pictures of their pets to help promote the new program!

Grab Your Audience’s Attention

Communicating in our professional lives can and should occur in a similar way as it does in our personal lives. And if the message lacks appreciation or attention from the audience, much like any other message on social media, it will be scrolled over until it fades away into obscurity.

Shoot for an attention-grabber with each employee communication, but know that if something doesn't stick, it simply wasn’t meant to be and try something new for the next one.

Strive for Employee Engagement

There are three key drivers to engaging employees in social media communications:

• Making the message relevant.
• Getting people to talk about it.
• Encouraging and motivating them to have fun.

Remember: People come back for fun. They don’t come back for boring…

Make Mundane Topics More Exciting

Certain subjects like, let’s say, life insurance or AD&D, can be tough to “spice up” for your employees. Luckily, HR can use social media communication to make the information around the topic more enticing. This helps ensure people don’t see Open Enrollment as a hassle or chore. How?:

• Incorporate captivating and playful visual components like memes. You can use an online meme generator to easily create them.
• Crack a few inside jokes from the company archives. Every organization has its own set of funny material!
• Allow employees to submit their own photos and memes to liven up the conversation.
• Challenge the entire workplace to a caption contest.
• Create a designated “Selfie Wall.”

Above all else: get people talking!

Make Sure Employees Look Forward to Hearing from You

Instead of adding another email to an overflowing inbox, use social media to get your employees looking forward to hearing from you.

In doing so, you’ll soon find them engaging more consistently with your messaging and retaining the information you send their way.