Organisations today use a wide variety of social media platforms both internally and externally, but whether you are chatting with a client on LinkedIn or involved in a discussion with your boss on Yammer, there are some basic techniques to ensure to get the most out of your social experience. On the internal company network or out on the Web, social is organic and potentially chaotic, but despite potential perils it can have many benefits if managed well. 

Companies are attracted to the potential for enterprise social to provide a view into the firm’s conversations and ideas while external social networks are great ways to build a like-minded community. However social media also offers the potential to damage personal or brand reputation just as easily.

While enterprise groups are more likely to be managed,   some professional sites are unmanaged and have prolific number of groups.  

So how many interest groups do we need on a topic?  As individuals how many groups can we contribute to and how many can we gain value from?  A recent search in LinkedIn Groups with the words “knowledge management” yielded over 600 results.    Some were broad in their coverage and others specialised by industry, tools, product, language or geographical boundaries.   

Whether it be from posting or keeping up to date with the posts of others, it is important to be strategic about managing our own social media interactions.   Spreading yourself too thin across different groups and media platforms can led us to a disadvantage.   Productivity can be easily affected, as we may inadvertently monitor content that my lack depth or quality and therefore add little value to our time or attention. 

Choose groups whose members you respect and who are therefore more likely to contribute quality content.    By the same token contribute when you have something to say. 

Crowdsourcing

Utilising a social network for solving problems, improving a process or just seeking an opinion or solicit ideas is not a new concept.  The means and speed by which it is done and the dynamics involved with the support of social medial technology is new.  Depending in whether you are sourcing knowledge from within the enterprise or outside, tapping into the collective knowledge and wisdom of your “crowd” can yield fast results and you can be spoilt for choice.   

It can yield results that may have been hindered in the traditional workshopping or brainstorming sessions due to organisational or group dynamics.  For example within group situations there will be a variety of individuals characterised by personality or rank.  Depending on the culture, some group situations are such that participants will always agree or defer to what the boss says.  Or individuals who typically need time to think problems through may be overtaken by others with more outgoing styles who take centre stage and who may be prolific with their contributions.  Social media allows individuals with varying styles to be able to contribute and potentially shine. 

Crowdsourcing allows you to access knowledge from potentially groups of people you may not personally know.  It remove the barriers of gatekeepers and the invisible fence created by cliques.  It democratises the flow of knowledge.

But while knowledge becomes more freely and readily available within these situations, seeking those opinions out, especially in public social media needs to be done with care.  For example do not solicit ideas from the crowd if it means that you will be revealing competitive company information, giving clues to competitors about upcoming products or weaknesses within the organisations.  Any of this could mean that competitors gain an advantage.  By doing so you may inadvertently breach your company’s policy on disclosure of internal information. That in itself can have other professional consequences.  

Managing the brand called Me 

With Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yammer alone, the line between professional and social networking has become increasing blurred.  While managing your brand is not just about social media, it does pay to be mindful of how you want your online presence to be perceived.  What you say, what you say about yourself and others will impact your professional brand, regardless of the social media platform you engaging in. 

Effectively managing your brand starts with having a clear concept of your objective.   Is it contributing to your workplace, your profession or seeking out your next opportunity?   

What you do to manage your brand should align with your objective.  In doing you should also maintain your authenticity.   

Over self-promotion, especially with pumping out irrelevant low value content, may become simply a way for you to train your audience to ignore you as you develop a reputation for quantity and noisy posts rather than quality and helpfulness.   You may also find that your audience blocks your updates. 

Helping others and providing though leadership is the best form of self-promotion. By contributing innovative, useful or thought-provoking solutions or conversations, you are re better positioned to establish yourself as a thought leader within your online community and your wider network.  This in turn strengthens your brand. 

Posting inappropriately or without weighing the risks can also be damaging to your brand.  Whether right or wrong, existing or potential employers have an ability to monitor social media conversations.   There have been recent cases where employees have aired workplace grievances on social media sites.  Theses have led to dismissals or actions in industrial relations regulatory arenas .   The scope of social networking inside and outside the enterprise and the speed with which we collaborate and bring ideas to practical outcomes is yet another facet of our eve changing   professional landscape.  Our ability to manage and engage well in social communities will find its way into job requirements.  It is now easier to maintain ever growing super networks and with it the risks and benefits are multiplied. 

Taline Babikian is an Australian Information and Knowledge Management professional who has worked in financial services, professional services, Local Government, tertiary education, and manufacturing industries.