Five ways to gain and sustain your edge in digital comms

How are leading companies achieving digital success in their employee communication?

Luke Dodd, Digital Content Manager at communication research organisation Melcrum @Melcrum is here to show us how.

Over to you Luke…

You may have noticed that Melcrum has been in the grip of a digital obsession since the beginning of the year.

This Spring saw our Digital Communication Summit take place (you can watch the highlights below) and the release of our latest research study Gaining and Sustaining the Edge in Digital, Social and Mobile Communication.

With both of these ‘events’, we’ve been dazzled by how the internal communication community has pushed forward with innovative digital approaches and keeping employee experience a priority.

Melcrum reportIt’s with that in mind that we want to share this innovation with you through our free Special Report, 5 Expert Practices to Gain and Sustain Your Edge in Digital Communication providing a snapshot of how leading companies are achieving digital success in employee communication.

Detailed below are the five best practices found in the Special Report, sourced both from the Gaining and Sustaining the Edge in Digital, Social and Mobile Communication study and from exceptional case studies on Melcrum.com:

1. IKEA: Right-sizing digital investments to meet business needs and deliver value

The technology hype clouding business reality means today’s leaders and internal communication professionals are struggling to understand what the best digital communication looks like, and how to define a strategy and set the right goals to ensure the greatest return on investment. Tweet this

Yet by conducting an annual Digital Workplace Maturity Assessment like IKEA does, companies can take a more analytical approach to setting objectives and allocating resources so digital investments meet the needs of employees – and the business.

2. the adidas Group: Building personalised platforms to improve user experience

Customised – and consumer-oriented – platforms often fail to fit today’s collaborative and rapidly evolving digital workplace. To be productive and effective, employees need simplicity and flexibility – not the hype of social technologies. For world-famous sports brand the adidas Group, agile and UX design principles were the key to building a personalised and more powerful platform.

3. Enbridge: Designing content for the user-in-motion

Globalisation, rapidly evolving technology, and employees who are more mobile – and influential – than ever before, mean designing content for users-in-motion, and not for the mobile device, is critical.

With ‘unwired employees’ often in remote locations, a dedicated mobile app makes sense for this global energy provider. While Enbridge could have chosen to optimise its intranet or public website for mobile use, only an app designed for employees-on-the-move serves their specific needs.

4. Thomson Reuters: Crowd-sourcing innovation to solve business issues

Thomson Reuters Melcrum Digital communication allows us to bypass organisational charts, democratise problem-solving – and boost innovation. By harnessing employee insights and collaboration, crowd-sourcing can surface creative solutions to big organisational issues and opportunities.

What’s more, rewarding and recognising employee contributions – and the business results they bring – inspires more people to take part.

But to be successful, crowd-sourcing must be structured. Using such a methodical approach, Thomson Reuters solicits targeted yet creative input from its employees, and identifies responses that help solve business problems, spark break-through innovation and unlock value. Tweet this

5. AMP: Using gamification for deeper engagement and behaviour change

Turning ‘work into play’ is a hot trend for organisations looking for new ways to communicate strategy, encourage innovation, and grow employee engagement and loyalty. IT research firm Gartner estimates that by the end of 2014, over 70 per cent of organisations in Forbes’ Global 2000 list will have at least one ‘gamified’ application.

(Further reading: The Gartner research – Rachel)

So what does it take to get gamification right?
Clear business outcomes, attractive rewards and professional development opportunities for employees, and a sophisticated use of technology are key drivers. And certainly ones that worked to engage thousands of employees at AMP.

The Australian financial services company saw a boost in employee engagement at its prestigious business innovation event, the Amplify Festival, after tapping into people’s natural desire to compete, learn and have fun.

Want to know more? You can download the special report here.

Post author: Luke Dodd.

Thank you Luke. What do you think of the information he’s shared? For me, context is always king – what’s right for one company may not be right for yours. I would be interested in knowing more about the culture in each of the organisations mentioned and how the decisions that were made to gain and sustain the edge in digital comms aligned with how the company communicates.

Got some thoughts or a comment? You can share it below or you’re welcome to Tweet me @AllthingsIC.

TBYThe Big Yak
The Big Yak unconference from The IC Crowd is now just days away. If you’re attending, please see our dedicated website for all you need to know including address, timings, travel info etc.

If you’re not able to join us, you can follow the conversations online @theICcrowd and via the hashtag #thebigyak.

This is the second year we’ve hosted the event, see my previous article from 2013 to discover what happened at the first one. I’m looking forward to the return of the yak at the weekend and meeting up with other communicators.

We’ve been taking delivery of some seriously smart swag over the past few weeks, thank you to all the fantastic sponsors who are making it possible for the event to be free for comms pros to attend. We literally couldn’t do it without you.

Rachel

Date published: 24 June 2014.

Comments

  1. […] of these success stories (it’s a great blog with plenty of useful resources – check it out!). A guest post a few months ago by Luke Dodd, Digital Content Manager at comms research group Melcrum, gave a few […]

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