Share This – sneaky peek into my chapter

Where can you read about a hoverboard, using social media to solve internal comms issues, the future of using social media for internal communication and how boosting employee engagement affects the bottom line of organisations?

The answer is in my chapter of Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, which is due out this Friday, 20 July in both print and digital formats.  You can follow the conversation about it via Twitter #CIPRSM and on the CIPR Facebook page.

Since highlighting its launch last week, the book has topped the Hot New Releases list on Amazon in the Business, Finance & Law category and also spent time at the heady height of number 49 in the  ‘hot new releases’ overall on the site, beating John Grisham (62), Jamie Oliver (66), Fifty Shades (77) and Jackie Collins (86).

Considering those positions of Share This are on pre-orders only that’s good going and I think demonstrates that the timing of a book like this is spot on as there is clearly a gap for it.

It is a crowdsourced social media book from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and more than 20 of the UK’s leading practitioners in the field of digital communications and public relations contributed to it.

The book is split into 25 chapters over eight topic areas, covering the media and public relations industry, planning, social networks, online media relations, monitoring and measurement, skills, industry change and the future of the industry.

How social media are changing internal communication
My chapter focuses on employee engagement: how social media are changing internal communication. Last week I mentioned the video introduction I recorded and you can view it on YouTube or via this page to get a sneaky peek of what is in this section of the book.

I’ve selected a short extract from my chapter here too:

The title of this chapter is Employee engagement: how social media are changing internal communication.

sharethisAre they changing it? I think so. Employee expectations have certainly changed over the past few years as people wish to communicate in their professional lives in the same way that they communicate in their personal lives. 


Expectations have shifted, so employees expect more – more speed, more transparency across organisations and from senior leadership, more information and the ability to comment immediately. 
It’s not good enough to have to wait until the next publication of the monthly magazine. Employees expect to be able to have their say and share their views in real time, in the same way they do at home. This is where I think social media are changing internal communication and employee engagement. 


Steve Jobs said, ‘You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want some- thing new.’ I think that quote sums up internal communications perfectly. In essence, once you’ve gathered your focus group feedback and employee survey opinions, produced an action plan and rolled out something new, employees are thinking ahead to the next aspect of communication and their expectations have shifted again. 


In the same way, it’s not enough for communications professionals to simply know the difference between the various social networking tools and techniques on the market; you need to be able to demonstrate how organisations can use social media to improve day-to-day business.

The science bit
Share This has been endorsed by Lord Sugar; Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes); David Meerman Scott, International bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR; Paul Mylrea, Director of Communications at the BBC; Professor Tom Watson, Professor of Public Relations, Bournemouth University; Marshall Manson, Managing Director, Digital, EMEA, Edelman; and Avril Lee, Partner, CEO London, Ketchum Pleon, among others.

Where can I get it?
Share This will be available on Friday 20 July in hardback (RRP: £16.99) and digital format (RRP: £10.99). It is available to pre-order from WileyAmazon and various other retailers. Wiley is currently offering 20 per cent off until Thursday 19 July – see the CIPR Facebook page for full details and the code you need.

As ever, I welcome your feedback, so do please share your thoughts with me by commenting below or tweet me @AllthingsIC.

The book is being officially launched at Google’s campus in London this Wednesday and I’m looking forward to seeing the other authors and discussing all things comms related,

Rachel.

First published July 2012.

Comments

  1. Sonsoles Lumbreras says:

    Rachel!I just read your post about this book and I think it’s a must-read for me now! hope to buy it soon. It’s being a busy summer for me so I hardly have time to catch up with your posts! hope everything is going well.

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