Top 15 post: Cas Scott

Social Media Engagement Project

Overview

Change management has been the biggest challenge for social media since its launch in December 2011. Tackling issues such as influencing Executive and ensuring education, policy creation, risk management, training and engagement. Social media launched in a conservative manner (to manage risks), with marketing the only authorised users and no access for staff at work. The next step is to manage the change process as we progress to a more inclusive and participatory social media approach. The Member Contact Centre have been trained to join the virtual social media team to respond to member banking queries, the next step is to focus on engagement.

The social media KPI’s for 12/13 are to achieve over 1,000 friends/followers. It is recognised that without staff support this target will be unachievable. The objective of the engagement project is to ensure access to a wider audience, greater reach and achieve momentum in social media.

There are 3 key audiences for engagement:

Staff,
Members, and
Community.

This project has involved influencing the Executive team to enable external internet access for staff (3 month trial period), to create an inclusive environment so staff can relate to our social media and become advocates for the ‘We’re Listening’ social community. Change management has played a big role in terms of influencing senior management and communicating with staff.

Staff were asked to share their Credit Union of the Year Boo-Yah moments on facebook, which aligned with the current advertising campaign.

Results To Date

The results to date have been positive, after 2 weeks we have seen an increase of over 80 facebook likes and over 50 twitter followers.

Reach and virality have significantly increased with staffs support with a 300% increase in these areas. The most recent facebook posts of Boo-Yah Moments have been the most popular articles to date as shown in Appendix 3.

Findings

The results demonstrate staff are interested and supportive of our social media platforms, however there is a need to address continuing momentum when the ‘Share your Boo-Yah’ campaign is over, and the trial internet access is reviewed.

Interestingly throughout this campaign there was an increase in campaign ‘Boo-Yah ‘ content posted but there was also an increase in customer service queries. Although I cannot prove the 2 are linked, research shows that the more active a page the more likely it is to attract dialogue and interaction.

Organisation wide training in social media needs further development, as many staff are concerned about how to interact with their employers social media to represent their personal views in line with policy. In addition to the current policy document, an e-learn is being pursued for staff to ensure they feel comfortable in supporting social media.

Once a months worth of data is available it will be assessed to identify changes in data consumption and its associated cost to the business, hours spent on social media channels, as well as gaining feedback from the organisation on staff impacts.

Conclusion

At the end of the September a Decision Paper will be presented to Executive, which will consider results, weigh up the costs and benefits of permanent staff internet access, staff engagement programs and provide a recommendation for Executive. This will require careful change management and planning to ensure staff of all levels needs are considered and addressed to ensure success for social media.

From the existing ‘Boo-Yah! Moments’ campaign results, it is clear that the organisation needs to pursue:

Permanent internet access for all staff,
A long-term staff engagement strategy for social media (including training), and
An engagement strategy for members and non-members.

I am currently investigating ways in which we can integrate staff involvement into campaigns to ensure an integrated marketing approach. Already concepts are being drafted for ‘move your home loan to credit union of the year’, which will continue to target staff and have a heavy member/non member focus.

Appendix

1. People talking about our page and virality of the content