Benefits

Like every other profession, project management has embraced social media with varying levels of success.

Earlier in this Unit, we defined social media as websites and apps that allow users to create and share content; including:

• Social networks (for example, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter)
• Media sharing networks (for example, YouTube, Instagram)
• Blogging networks (for example, Tumblr, Medium)
• Discussion networks / forums (for example, Reddit, Quora)
• Review networks (for example, Yelp, Glassdoor)

The discussion in this topic focuses on interactive networks and communities (as opposed to the asocial and asynchronous file management assets of an organization, such as its intranet).  

So, what are the project management-specific benefits of using interactive social media?

For the project management office (PMO), the intra-organizational potential of social media includes:

• Knowledge sourcing – project teams can share and start conversations about lessons learned in real-time 
• Knowledge sharing – snippets of organisational best practices, including changes to policy and procedure, can be pushed and promoted to the network
• Knowledge gamification – project teams can be incentivised and engaged with lessons learned, policy, procedure, and best practice through frequent (but not obtrusive) polls, quizzes, and contests
• Communities of practice – project teams can quickly and safely ‘ask the experts‘ in their organization for help resolving project issues or challenges they are facing

Beyond these internal and organisational-specific benefits, project managers can use broader social media to efficiently and effectively:

• Identify and connect with new stakeholders
• Micro-target stakeholders by their demographics and interests
• Monitor stakeholder levels of power and interest, as well as any issues or risks they discover
• Inform stakeholders of progress, changes, and the management of their risks and issues
• Consult stakeholders on key project decisions
• Involve stakeholders in reference or pilot groups, or as project participants (for example, in market research or clinical trials)
• Recruit project teams, including staff, consultants, and contractors

Project teams can also enjoy significant productivity savings through the careful use of social media

Teams can be better coordinated, face-to-face meetings can be held online or avoided altogether through chat groups and video calling, and subsequent travel savings can also be enjoyed.

Yet with great power comes great responsibility – in the next lesson we will look at some of the risks to social media use in projects and how they can be optimally managed.

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Risks

Because social media is a low-cost, everywhere utility, managers can sometimes underappreciate its risks.

Stakeholder conversations

Many project managers use social media to push information to stakeholders without recognizing that people expect conversations on these channels.

Because unanswered comments or feedback often give rise to anxiety, frustration, and anger, project managers must ensure sufficient resources are dedicated to reciprocal engagement.

Don’t feed the trolls!

The conventional social media wisdom is to ignore intentionally provocative, derogatory, or inflammatory comments, as it only encourages more of the same – a battle you are unlikely to win!

That said, if public commentary is enabled, it should be moderated in as close to real-time as possible to ensure (if nothing else) your feed is not spam-botted to death.

Data privacy

Especially when using social media to recruit stakeholders, you should ensure that any identifying or otherwise sensitive information you gather is adequately secured.

Security includes not just protection from hackers but also limiting access internally in your project to only those with a need to know.

Work-life balance

Project team members may default to using their personal profiles to represent the project on social media.

This can create reputational risk for your organization if these profiles are equally visible and contain content that may offend segments of the community.

You should also be conscious of the need to turn off project chat outside of work hours, which is difficult to do in a 24/7 media cycle.

As you may already have inferred – and as you will see in the next lesson – organizations and the projects they deliver must devote significant time and resources to optimizing social media use.

Yet because social media is typically ‘free,’ the temptation exists to acquire and engage with as many channels as possible; after all, that is what all the blogs (selling us social media) tell us what we should do!

But if no one likes or follows your Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook pages and posts, do we really need to make these investments?

As with all things project management, a mini-business case that challenges and justifies the costs, impacts and risks of social media (versus the ‘do nothing’ option) may well be worth it.

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Developing a policy

A good social media policy is a living document that provides guidelines for your organization’s and projects’ social media use. 

An official policy can help you: 

• Maintain your brand identity consistently across channels 
• Treat legal and regulatory sensitivities with awareness 
• Prevent a security breach 
• Prevent a full-blown PR crisis 
• Act quickly if a crisis or breach does happen 
• Be upfront with your employees regarding their own social media responsibilities, and 
• Encourage your employees to own and amplify your brand’s message 

Define your team’s roles

Who owns which social accounts? Who covers which responsibilities on a daily, weekly, or as-needed basis?

It might be helpful to include names and email addresses so that employees from other teams know who to contact.

Responsibilities to assign might include:

• Daily posting and engagement
• Daily customer service
• Strategy and planning
• Advertising
• Security and passwords
• Monitoring and listening
• Approvals (legal, financial, or otherwise)
• Crisis response 
• Social media training for other employees

At the very least, this section should establish who is authorized to speak for your brand on social media – and who isn’t.

Establish security protocols

In this section, you can provide guidance on identifying and dealing with the myriad social media risks, including those we identified in the previous lesson.

Questions answered here include:

• How often do your account passwords get changed? 
• Who maintains them, and who has access to them? 
• Is your organizational software updated regularly? 
• What about devices? 
• Who should employees talk to if they want to escalate a concern?

Make a plan of action for a security or PR crisis

One goal of your social media policy is to prevent the need for a social media crisis management plan; however, it’s best to have both. 

Consider whether these should be two separate documents, especially if your social media policy will be public-facing.

Your crisis management plan should include an up-to-date emergency contact list with specific roles: not just the social media team, but your legal and PR experts, all the way up to the C-suite.

Guidelines for identifying the scope of the crisis, an internal communication plan, and an approval process for response will also help you handle it as quickly as possible.

Outline how to stay compliant with the law

Details will vary from country to country, or even region to region, so consult your legal counsel. 

But at minimum, your policy might touch on the following:

• Copyright isn’t a no-brainer, so it’s best to explain how to comply with copyright law on social media, especially when using third-party content.
• Privacy is key. Do all of your employees know how to handle customer information, for instance?
• Confidentiality refers to respecting your organization’s internal information. Whether you have your people sign non-disclosure agreements or not, they should be aware of the ramifications of disclosing information on social media that the organization considers private.

Provide guidance on personal social media accounts

Posting hate speech, threats of violence, harassment, or racial epithets on social media may violate the law, your organization’s code of ethics, or both. 

Regardless, employees should know they will be held responsible for what they say.

Even when the posts in question aren’t outright illegal, it might be interesting for your employees to think about how 17% of American workers admit they use social media to find out more about the people they work with. 

And they’re more likely to find information on social media that lowers their opinion.

Encourage appropriate participation in project conversations

Your social media team probably speaks your brand’s voice in their sleep. And your official spokespeople are drilled to answer tough questions on the fly. 

But what about everyone else? How do they stay accountable to your organization?

You may wish to advise your employees to post disclaimers stating their relationship with your organization, and that their opinions are their own. 

For instance, Adidas encourages employees to identify themselves and “make clear that you are speaking for yourself and not the Adidas Group.”

Meanwhile, Walmart asks that employees avoid engaging in conversations about Walmart entirely!

Finally, as you draft your policy, don’t get caught up in tutorials or details. Just like the social media landscape itself, the nitty-gritty will inevitably change, and fast!

Source: Hootsuite