With the advent of social media, many communications departments are rethinking how they communicate with employees. During the early years of the internet, communications were driven to employees through a top-down approach. In other words, a business leader worked with the communications department to craft the message and then disseminate that message to the workforce. However, in today's environment, this top-down approach often excludes the opportunity for employees to generate and contribute content.
An example to help illustrate this point can be seen in something as simple as allowing comments for articles. Communications departments used to just post an article on the company intranet to help communicate key messages. Today, these same articles can be posted with the option to allow employees to comment on the article itself. Employees can contribute simply by expressing their opinion. Often, these comments can carry more weight than the actual article itself and the communications department has little to no control of the messaging that develops.
Communications
This perceived loss of control with Web 2.0 formats can create problems with the management team. While a communications department might support user-generated content, a business leader might find some of the information that is created to be negative or harmful in nature-even if the information adheres to company policies and guidelines regarding social media behavior. It is therefore critical for business communicators to have the full support of the executive management team before implementing social media tools.
With much of the content being generated outside of the communications department, many communicators are redefining their roles within the communications process. While there will always be a need for top-down communications, there in now a need for social media monitoring and participation. Business communicators should no longer solely be focused on generating messages for the management team; instead, they should also be focused on helping foster discussion amongst employees and then communicating the key points from those discussions back to the management team.
Understanding the Changing Role of a Corporate Communications Department
John is a regular contributor to the CommDiscussion [http://www.commdiscussion.com/forumdisplay.php?2-General-Discussion] communications forum and discussion board. Business and corporate communicators are welcome to join the site for free! Learn what others are doing in business communications and share your insights and best practices.
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