Corporate social networks: benefits, challenges, tips and solutions

For many companies, the benefits of using corporate social networks (CSNs) are still unclear, and sometimes misunderstood.
Often confused with social networks used for showcasing or professional networking (Facebook page, Linkedin profile, Twitter account, etc.) to communicate with external audiences, they are nonetheless invaluable tools for collaboration and internal communication.
What is a corporate social network, and what exactly is it used for?

If you're here, your missions involve management, communication and collaboration.
If you're looking for information on how to set up a social networking strategy, why not read on and find out how to set up a CSN to facilitate collaboration within your company?

You'll learn that it's possible to boost your employees' productivity and commitment around a solid corporate culture based on knowledge sharing.

Let's take a step-by-step tour, with a few bonus software examples: Facebook's corporate social network and its alternatives!

See all software Enterprise Social Network (ESN)

Corporate social networks: definition

An Enterprise Social Network (ESN) is a community of individuals and legal entities, called members, linked by a platform for professional purposes.
These members can be a company's employees, but also its customers, shareholders and partners.

Intranet 2.0 and knowledge management

The CSR is the logical evolution of the corporate intranet, combined with the collaborative platform dimension.
It's the digital workplace, based on the sharing and pooling of knowledge.

Be careful not to confuse CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) with CSN (Corporate Social Network)!

A tool for internal communication or collaboration?

You could say it's a hybrid of the two.
Strictly speaking, it's not an internal communication tool, as exchanges are not only top-down (from HR, marketing, etc. to employees), but multi-directional, where each member has a voice.

Nor is it a purely collaborative tool, where groups are created for a specific purpose, such as launching a project or preparing for a committee meeting.

The best definition is "socialization tool", where everyone can share ideas, best practices or launch initiatives. It's a powerful lever for transmitting knowledge.

According to information management consultancy Spectrum, and its annual Spectrum Benchmark study, the primary vocation of corporate social networks is information sharing:

• information circulation,
• content co-production,
• knowledge capitalization,
• collaboration through conversation.

The CSR trend in a few figures

In 2010, Gartner Inc. and IBM predicted that by 2014, social networks would have replaced e-mail as the primary medium of internal communication for at least 20% of corporate users.

But a November 2017 study by the Intelligence RH & RSE chair at the Institut de gestion sociale et des ressources humaines (IGS-RH) and BDO gives us these statistics:

• 58% of large French companies have set up a corporate social network
  (40% of organizations of all sizes, and 80% of CAC 40 companies);
• only 25% of managers and 17% of employees use it on a daily basis.

Among employees, the study distinguishes :

• the passive (48%),
• refractory (29%),
• adopters (17%), who are not afraid to expose themselves,
• the tactical (6%), who use it "to look good".

Data protection and legal compliance

An enterprise social network is secure, and guarantees the protection and confidentiality of the data of the companies and professionals who use it.
Security is based on :

• authentication and verification of network members,
• encryption of communications within the network or between a company and its customers.

Since June 2009, the G29 institution (grouping of European CNILs) has also defined fundamental rules applicable to corporate social networks, such as the establishment of default settings limiting the dissemination of data, or the right to delete personal data, etc.

The use of CSRs also raises questions of rights, with regard to the French Labor Code and the Data Protection Act. Sensitive issues include

• risks of harassment and discrimination
• the right to be forgotten, particularly after an employee has left the company,
• consultation and use of CSRs :
  • by employee representatives,
  • as a tool for monitoring employee activity,
  • as part of appraisal interviews.
    NB: the French Labor Code stipulates that "the Works Council shall be informed and consulted, prior to any decision to implement the system in the company, on the means or techniques used to monitor employee activity"; and that "no information concerning an employee personally may be collected by a system that has not been brought to his or her attention beforehand".

It is therefore essential to draw up a deontological charter, reassure users and ensure that the CSR platform is secure.

Why use a corporate social network?

For its functionalities

The CSR is based on two fundamental concepts

• the enriched profile, which highlights employees' expertise and interests,
• the wall or news feed, which enables you to follow the activity and key information of your company, partners and customers, colleagues, and exchanges around a particular theme.

Basic functions include :

• creation and management of public or private discussion forums, with invitation of participants,
• mention of members using the "@",
• definition of #hashtag to create threads marked by subject,
• subscribe to internal or external news feeds,
• profile management: photo, address, profession and links to sites and social networks,
• select and archive information via "Like", "Recommend" or "I'm interested" buttons,
• post messages on the wall,
• document management and retrieval (maps, shared agenda, shared documents, attachments, events, notes, links, etc.).

source Lecko survey 2015

For its advantages

• an easy-to-use, fun interface,
• a personalized news feed,
• real-time monitoring of selected information (notifications),
• teamwork, such as mobilizing colleagues around a problem,
• breaking down silos and creating cross-functional links,
• encouraging employee involvement and commitment,
• knowledge sharing, social learning (defined by UNESCO as "the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes, by connecting with others, via synchronous or asynchronous electronic media"),
• improving productivity by encouraging this sharing,

20% of working time is spent searching for information, and the CSR helps reduce this time.

Source: McKinsey & Company 2016 study

• enhancing skills, complementary talents and creativity,
• facilitating the emergence of collective intelligence,
• providing business and/or sector intelligence,
• encouraging socialization within the company and the creation of links, particularly for multi-site or international companies,
• creating a new employee experience,
• facilitating the integration of newcomers,
• adapting to new technological uses,
• integrating tools such as shared diaries and event planners,
• employee advocacy: make your employees your ambassadors and develop your employer brand.

source Lecko Study 2015

Beware of potential drawbacks or obstacles

• If the tool can be adapted to the new generations, it must also be intuitive, so as not to put off the older ones: the use and links created are intergenerational and the tool federates;
• Some will see CSRs as a waste of time and an additional workload;
• The expected decompartmentalization is not forthcoming, for reasons of inhibition on the part of certain employees (tone control and ease of writing required) and fear of control;
• To avoid inappropriate exchanges and get off to a sound, controlled start, it is advisable to set up editorial and deontological charters (exchanges between employees, moderation carried out by the company);
• A poor choice of CSR software, unsuited to the company's needs, corporate culture or employee profile, can lead to disinterest and abandonment of the tool.

According to a November 2017 article in La Tribune, CSRs are said to reproduce the hierarchical relationships they are supposed to erase, since they are decided and chosen by management, and groups often launched at the initiative of managers.
According to the aforementioned joint study (Institut IGS-RH and BDO), 87% of contributors to a group belong to the team of the manager who created it. So much for cross-functional exchanges...

There are also concerns about the management of personal data, particularly since the Facebook leak scandals.

The article points out that to overcome these obstacles, two concepts need to be taken into account to ensure the smooth implementation of your CSR: training and the right to make mistakes.

How to set up a corporate social network?

• reflection phase with definition of :
  • objectives,
  • needs,
  • functionalities required,
  • rules (editorial and ethical charters),
  • the person(s) responsible for the project (community managers),
• Selection of the appropriate tool, following a study of existing solutions,
• test phase by a restricted steering committee (functional testing and suggestions for improvement),
• deployment phase (support for all employees, training, integration with existing company tools, communication),
• phase of use and analysis of its adoption, appreciated or ignored functionalities, for adjustment.

Bonus: a few tips for publishing on CSRs

As with traditional social networks :

• keep your profile up to date,
• publish relevant, targeted information to interest your employees,
• use a variety of formats (photos, infographics, videos, content curation, etc.),
• get your staff involved, and respond to comments quickly,
• invest a little time, publish regularly,
• analyze your statistics to adapt your contributions.

Focus on 4 solutions

As corporate social networking becomes more widespread, the volume of data in circulation will increase. That's why the cloud has become the model to bank on.

Beware, however, of the criteria of data reversibility (the possibility of recovering all your data in the event of a change of provider) and data hosting location. Not all countries guarantee the same level of data protection, particularly the USA (cf. the Patriot Act).

Another issue when choosing your solution concerns the APIs it offers. These are application programming interfaces that enable :

• enable your solution to evolve, thanks to available functionality bricks,
• better adapt to your existing tools,
• enable interaction with your application environment, by directing your content to your CSR platform (known as a hub),
• to facilitate successful adoption of the tool within the organization.

While the initial trend was towards tools that could do everything, demand is now shifting towards tools that offer a better user experience (UX quality).
CSR tools continue to develop while focusing on the essentials, which is why many of them are becoming collaborative and social platforms.

Jamespot, the CSR pure player turned collaborative and social platform

Jamespot stands out for its high degree of customization. With over 80 integratable business applications, most of them free of charge, it connects all your business tools (CRM, etc.) to its platform, and converges all the tasks performed on third-party applications.
It socializes your existing applications, while blending seamlessly into your business ecosystem.

The tool also offers :

• groups that can integrate a wiki, a document base, tasks, a calendar, and specific workflows depending on the business context,
• a suggestion box,
• distribution of news flashes and internal surveys,
• real-time document co-editing and versioning,
• the Jbot bot, which responds to users' questions, drawing on the questions and answers they have already formulated.

The plus

• 13 years of expertise,
• an à la carte cloud offering thanks to numerous APIs and widgets,
• a high level of parameterization.

Netframe, the simple collaborative platform

Netframe is based on three complementary skills: a chat, an RSE and a document database (GED) to combine immediacy, information sharing and corporate knowledge structure, according to the appropriate timeframe.
However, it does not offer interoperability with other social networks, the editor preferring a solution that does not offer superfluous functionalities, but rather well-developed, easy-to-use modules, such as document management and project management.

The tool also offers :

• project geolocation, planning, visualization and tracking,
• an internal personal skills manager,
• a powerful video API,
• push notifications,
• document management that adapts to your workspace, groups and discussion threads.

Features

• shared agenda by group or project,
• on-demand synchronization with your personal calendar,
• integrated photo gallery.

talkspirit, more than a social network, a collaborative platform

This tool, combining CSR, EDM and chat, has been widely adopted by organizations. Talkspirit is ergonomic and facilitates the dissemination of information thanks to structured conversations and the freedom to choose the content that appears in the news feed.
It's a complete solution that meets both the expectations of managers in terms of internal communication and cohesion, and the needs of teams in their day-to-day work.

The tool also offers :

• the ability to assign a task to one or more people via publications,
• tags to mark the progress of your projects,
• identification of your colleagues' skills, expertise and location,
• simultaneous document co-editing, revision and versioning,
• the Pipedrive bot, enabling you to create opportunities, add comments or request information from a dedicated chat channel.

Key benefits

• instant reception of information from your business applications, so you can share it in real time with your various teams,
• expertise: the solution has been around since 2008,
• evolution: reinvented in 2015 for a better user experience.

Workplace, the CSR from the giant Facebook

Workplace has been available to businesses since October 10, 2016; it has the advantage of a familiar user experience and easy deployment, thanks to an interface similar to Facebook's (the adoption rate is close to 90% within a single company).
But the Facebook brand is both a plus and a minus for the CSR platform, following recent privacy concerns. Companies are concerned about data resale, even though the publisher claims "no gateway to public accounts".

The tool's features include

• team discussion groups (several levels of confidentiality) or projects,
• integration of 50 cloud applications,
• work with other companies in groups,
• powerful chat similar to Slack, and live video broadcasting,
• integration of personalized chatbots into groups or messaging feeds to automate tasks.

Benefits

• available in 100 languages,
• the premium version is free for non-profit associations and educational institutions,
• customization (white label, layout and themes).

Comparative table of corporate social networks

See all software Enterprise Social Network (ESN)

Socializing the world of work

Valuing the skills and knowledge of all employees, to the benefit of the company's collective intelligence, is now well established. This can create a motivating employee experience that also benefits the company's brand image.

From this point of view, corporate social networks have everything to offer, provided you think about your needs in advance, communicate your strategy well internally, establish a secure framework and opt for the tool that suits you.
The key word here is "adoption" by your employees, so that you can reap all the benefits.