Nothing is more horrifying than setting up an Enterprise Social Network only to later find that it’s deathly quiet and only populated by lurking zombies, default avatars, and digital tumbleweeds. Like spooky graveyards in horror movies, ESNs are places people tend to avoid unless they see other humans there, too (preferably, live humans). So if you want to make sure your Enterprise Social Network discussions stay alive and active, you need to exorcise the demons of dullness and complacency.
Thankfully, it doesn’t require getting a priest or whittling down any wooden stakes. No, to prevent your ESN from experiencing this kind of slow, inexorable death, we’ve stitched together five ideas for jolting some life back into your company’s digital discourse.
Coworkers are a lot like people.
The key to getting widespread and active adoption of an Enterprise Social Network is to make spending time there compelling. And that’s not always easy in the beginning. Unlike friend-based social networks (which have inherent interest, drama, and cat pictures), coworker-based ESNs have to work a little harder to be interesting. Luckily, since most of your coworkers are likely people — regardless of their job title — they all have opinions and usually love any excuse to share them.
Here are 5 ways to breathe life into your ESN:
- Invite more voices: Be sure to invite folks to the subject (Actions > Invite People)
- Be a little provocative: Choose a polarizing topic (e.g., “What are our competitors doing right?,” or “How do you think our market will change the most over the next two years?”)
- Reach out to others: Cross-post your idea to people and Subjects where you think there will be natural traction
- Everyone loves polls: Leverage the tibbr polling feature (and allow others to add their own options, and make multiple choices)
- Post consistently: post each week with a new question to help build momentum and awareness, and invite others to jump in.
Use your company’s braaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnssssss.
To make your ESN as compelling as a friend-based social network, you just have to change the topics a little. Instead of posting something lame about Q4 sales figures, post something more provocative to challenge and intrigue your coworkers. A little smart sensationalism could spark positive and necessary conversations that can bring about solutions or identify problems that might never have seen the light of day otherwise. Alternatively, try adding a Subject for more compelling topics like “Radical Thinking” or “Crazy New Ideas,” and seed them with a few posts to get things going.
With just a little cultivation, the seeds you plant can grow into a meaningful center of new thoughts. It’s certainly not easy to keep coming up with interesting topics to post about, but the benefits are worth it.
To see how tibbr can help your company avoid being eaten alive by its competitors, get a free trial of the tibbr platform now.
