At the start of a new year, people tend to create resolutions for themselves, generally focused on things they want to do more, or less, of going forward. From new exercise regimens to kicking bad habits, these resolutions are typically focused on accomplishing new goals and overall self-improvement, providing a clean state to kick start their year. But why stop there?
How many people do you know at your company? 100, 500, 750, 1000? If you were fortunate enough to be employed by a large company for a long period of time maybe you do know 500 people. Maybe you moved around and held various positions in a number of locations and you know 750. Let’s say that you are a natural “networker” as well and you know 1,000 people. Wow! That would be pretty amazing. When a challenge confronts you or when you need to bounce around some ideas around you have this incredible internal network to leverage. Lucky for you.
Some of the more challenging conversations you will have regarding your new social collaboration platform are with your front line business teams. These are the job functions that are at the heart of your organization. They have no time to waste and many will be skeptical of “hot trends” that might be long on promises and short on delivering. It is worth the time to spend with them as they have the most to gain from social tools.
I was fortunate to attend Jive World 2012 in October, and sat in on a number of sessions regarding community management, and internal and external communities. One of the presentations, “Breaking Down Walls: Work in Private with Anyone, Anywhere,” resonated with me. The idea that privacy is possible no matter how public your space, is good news to many businesses.
You may have heard about the 1% Rule of the Internet. Also known as the "90–9–1" rule, it states that 1% of people create content, 9% edit or modify that content, and 90% view the content without contributing. This rule is pretty spot-on throughout most of the Internet but using collaborative and social technologies, like Jive, gives us the opportunity to turn lurkers into contributors, creators, connectors and collaborators. On one community, we were able to raise the contribution rate from 12% to 22% in a three-month period.
At Social Edge when we kick off a new implementation project, the first question we often ask our clients is "What are the use cases?" For some, this is a great starting point. For others, this can be as clear as mud. So, we've asked two members of our team to describe use cases, and explain why they are so important to a successful community launch.
Have you been thinking about using an online external community to reach your customers in a truly helpful and "sticky" way? It's a fast-growing trend with which many large companies are exploring and experimenting. It makes sense when companies like McAfee, Wells Fargo, and Verizon Wireless are experiencing measurable successes with their external communities. McAfee, for example, reduced call volume by 26% and increased customer satisfaction by a whopping 25% (Source).
We're seeing growing adoption of cloud-based platforms for communities and social intranets, but can we call it a trend? Are we seeing companies switching from on-premise and hosted installations to Software as a Service (SaaS).
Earlier this month, Jive rolled out a variety of new features and functionality now available in internal, Jive-n, and external, Jive-x, communities. Community managers and system administrators can manually update their cloud instances to include these new features directly from the admin console with one click: System > Settings > News and select Enable.
Originally, I posted this in our Social Edge Jive Community, because we’ve been talking internally about the direction of our company as we continue to grow. I wanted to start the conversation with employees, first. But I also wanted to share my thoughts and beliefs on the purpose and mission of Social Edge to those who may be interested in our services.
When we first launched Social Edge, we imagined a flat organization with minimal hierarchies. Individual input and contributions were encouraged, no matter the level of experience. Our team is comprised of thoughtful and intelligent individuals, all of whom provide value to our clients. However, it's now time to consider the career progression of our team, as well as the opportunities available within our company.
Last week Facebook launched their much anticipated new enterprise social network offering, Workplace, formerly known as Facebook at Work. The service is designed to transform business communications by improving internal communication and collaboration. Workplace is a separate product from personal Facebook. Users have unique accounts within Workplace where they can create and join groups to collaborate virtually with their coworkers, although the option to link accounts is available in a user's settings.
Over recent years we’ve seen a focus on metrics showing more direct top and bottom line impacts and ROI for online communities. Jive's upcoming “PeopleGraph” promises to “re-establish people as the center of enterprise social networks." In this post, strategist Simon Scullion shows us how Jive's REST API can be used for Social Network Analysis.
Andrew Kratz, president and founder of Social Edge Consulting, shares his thoughts on the business value of communities in the first of a series of blog posts. In this post, Andrew talks about how his social journey began, his background working with collaboration platforms, and two challenges the community platform industry faces.
Andrew Kratz recently sat down with Kate Weaver, a community veteran and former Director of Extranet Communities at Health Catalyst. The purpose of their conversation was to discuss her experience migrating from one community platform to another. Kate’s story and insights will prove helpful to other community owners considering a similar path.
Social Edge president Andrew Kratz shares a story about one of the first "aha" moments he had with his company's internal community. With a simple update he posted, he was able to form connections with employees he may not have had the opportunity to connect with otherwise. Learn more about the benefits of transparency in the workplace in his post.
Some business leaders have expressed the concern that social interactions in an employee community will result in a loss of productivity. In this blog post, Andrew Kratz shares a story on how an interaction he had in such a social group ended up benefitting his organization and led to improved company outcomes.
Daniel Mudgett is an online community and systems expert who has led the implementation of multiple social collaboration and learning platforms. In this interview, Daniel talks about his experience implementing and managing a successful collaborative social intranet.
During the week of May 20th, Social Edge attended and sponsored the Verint Engage19 Conference in Orlando, Florida. Verint owns the Telligent community software platform. Telligent is a community platform that Social Edge began to partner with in 2017 as a solution for our community customers. Check out Andrew Kratz's recap of the conference here.
When you start your day, how many emails do you delete after just a quick skim or without even opening them? How many emails were you not cc'ed on but should have been? (A question you often don't know the answer to until it is too late). Learn more about how an internal collaboration platform can help ensure you get the communications you need.
Are you considering migrating from one platform to another, but unsure where to start? The concept of moving all of your content and users from one environment to another can seem daunting, but our experts work with you to simplify the process and ensure everything runs smoothly. The most important thing to do to get started? Audit your content.
What are the most common scenarios or use cases for an external-facing community? At Social Edge, we often work with external communities that are focused on customer support. While the nuances may vary from community to community, here’s what popular communities focus on.
Community Managers are the heart of any online community. As CMGRs, we love our jobs and are used to wearing many hats - from fostering engagement to facilitating member training sessions. In keeping with the theme of #CMAD2020, self-care, we wanted to share a few ideas from our team on how you can set your self up for success and prevent burn out.
Suddenly working from home? Struggling with the transition? After 8 years of primarily working remotely, the Social Edge team shares their tips and tricks to create an environment that enables you to successfully work remotely.
With millions of commuters now working from home, the transition from face-to-face in-person interaction to face-to-face screen interaction is a big change. In this article, John Reynolds, Social Edge VP of Technology, shares ways to optimize your home office setup and improve the quality of face-to-face screen time with your colleagues.
Social Edge Creative Director Allison Rouleau shares 5 tips on working from home with kids. To help you not only cope, but to excel and keep yourself and your kids happy during these challenging times. These are suggestions she has found that work for herself and her young family. Hopefully, they can inspire ideas for you and yours!
On behalf of #GivingTuesday, Andrew Kratz announces two charitable contributions we're making on behalf of the Social Edge team. We're backing our commitment to freedom & fairness with an investment in minority small-owned businesses and communities, and making a donation to an organization that's meaningful to our clients and our employees.
When Creative UX/UI designer Lakeishia Grant started her role at Social Edge, she knew things would need to be very different if she wanted to be successful, especially while working remotely. Here are tips she recommends for other deaf/heard-of-hearing designers - and their coworkers - to improve how to work together.
There is little doubt that historians will be analyzing 2020 for decades to come due to the impact of COVID-19, the US election, and the social justice movement. We look with optimism toward 2021 and a return to a new normal. With input from the Social Edge team, here are President and Founder Andrew Kratz's reflections on a most unique year.
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