One of the core tactics within a social media or content marketing plan is creating a platform for internal communication. This is especially true if a company has multiple departments. Decentralized activity is the best way to scale a social media program, but there also needs to be governance throughout the process.
Initially, we always suggested using Tumblr for internal communications, but recently my colleague at Manayunk.com, Martha Vidauri, introduced me to Wikispaces. In this article, I will explain 4 ways to use Wikispaces to boost internal communications.
Multimedia Sharing
There are endless possibilities of what can be shared within Wikispaces. It is one of the most customizable tools that I have seen to date, not to mention it is free. From the latest event video to excel spreadsheets, the ease of uploading is quite amazing.
If you are comfortable with uploading files to WordPress, this will be straight forward.
Topic Related Discussion
Within each project or department wiki page, there is a tab for discussing the latest developments. This is useful for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
With decentralized activities in social media, there will inevitably be questions and concerns, and providing the tab for real time discussion will help augment in-person training workshops.
Real Time Updates During Crisis Situations
One of the elements of a social media crisis plan is creating real time information for employees to keep up to date on the latest developments. It is vital to supply accurate information for employees to relay to customers, press, and other key stakeholders.
I would create a special page for unique crises, and send a companywide e-mail update directing everyone to the wiki page.
Permission Levels
Creating governance is on the minds of the executive team, with good cause. It could get messy if everyone was allowed to change pages at any time they wanted. A rogue employee could completely wipe out key information or worse, take the information to a competitor or the press.
Wikispaces allows the administrator to lock pages from being changed, and also the admin can assign increased authority to a couple of members within the network.
Conclusion
In order to scale your social media efforts, whether you hire an outside social media company like us, use internal resources, or both, it is suggested that you use Wikispaces. The platform is free, and if you want additional functionality, there are paid upgrades. If you are not up to the point where you are decentralizing your social media activities, this is something to consider in the future.
Are you using technology to boost internal communications. If so, what tools are you using?
