4 ways social media improves work productivity (and 3 ways it doesn't):

The corporate world's response to the phenomenal growth of social media has ranged from enthusiastic
embrace to abject horror.
What one enterprise may consider a fantastic tool for building its business, another may determine to be a
threat to the bottom line.
Both are right, depending on how social media tools are used by their employees. Here are some ways social
media can help your employees be more productive, along with some ways it accomplishes the exact opposite.
1. Employees can find information they need faster
The Internet has made more information available to more people than ever before. There's tremendous value
in that.
However, there's a downside: The Internet firehose can make it extremely difficult to quickly and easily find
solutions to problems, even when a user does a specific search. After all, when you "Google" something, you
don't get just one answer; you get pages and pages of search results. And they're not necessarily ranked in
order of value to you. This often leaves users wading through search returns, some of which provide
conflicting and even inaccurate information.
But when users turn to their social networks for information, they frequently get prompt, helpful and accurate
answers.
Here's a brief example to which many of you probably can relate: About three years ago, I was trying to figure
out how to get a keyword-based Twitter stream on a Web page. (Those are very common now, but back then
they weren't.) I tried finding a solution through Google, but the search results weren't helpful. Then I posted a
question to my Twitter followers. Within five minutes I got three specific responses, with links. Two of the
responses recommended the same app. Problem solved.
Workers around the world have had similar experiences getting information through Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Quora and other social networking platforms. Having a real (and knowledgeable) human being
answer a question beats relying on an algorithm any day.
2. Social media = professional networking on steroids
Professional networking usually is thought of in terms of career advancement, and there's no doubt it's critical
for that purpose.
But networking also can help you do your current job better. The right social networking connection can lead
to contracts for your business, ongoing professional advice and awareness of educational opportunities
(webinars, etc.) that can enhance a worker's performance.
Further, a good social media network is a pipeline for professional talent. The next person you follow, friend or
connect with could be your organization's next star employee.
3. Stress relief
Make no mistake: Social media can be abused in the workplace (more on that later), but when used in
moderation it offers a welcome break from the daily stress of a job.
Whether it's checking out a funny video recommended by a Facebook friend or reading an interesting blog post
tweeted by one of your followers, social media offers a brief escape that can replenish a workers' energy and
give their mind a rest before they return to the rigors of the job.
A study published two years ago by Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne concluded that the
mental relief provided to workers from judicious use of social media sites, blogs and YouTube during office
hours increased productivity by 9%

4. Helps build teamwork, cohesiveness

This is especially true of companies in which employees are working from different locations. In-house tools
such as private social network Yammer and wikis can allow groups working on specific projects to keep
teammates updated in a more efficient fashion than email or the telephone (does anyone use those things
anymore?).
Watching a project come together bit by bit through a workplace social network in and of itself can fuel
commitment, enthusiasm and a collective sense of purpose and achievement. It also can keep people
accountable, which is never a bad thing.
The rather unfortunate flip side
But there's another side to the social media coin, one that many of the self-proclaimed SM "experts," "gurus"
and "ninjas" don't like to talk about all that much: Social media can be - in fact, has proven to be in many cases
-- a productivity drain.
A March survey by social email software vendor harmon.ie, conducted by market research firm uSamp,
concludes that the "proliferation of collaboration and social tools designed to increase productivity is actually
costing businesses millions of dollars per year in lost productivity."
Specifically, harmon.ie says, here's why:
1. Workus interruptus
Social media is a source of constant work interruptions. The harmon.ie survey of 515 email users working at
U.S. companies reveals that "nearly 60% of work interruptions now involve either using tools like email, social
networks, text messaging and IM, or switching windows among disparate standalone tools and applications. In
fact, 45% of employees work only 15 minutes or less without getting interrupted, and 53% waste at least one
hour a day due to all types of distractions."
So while working at home may spare you the maddening bother of a chatty cubicle neighbor, escaping the
social media time-suck is more difficult.
2. Tempting the weak
Having your focus disrupted is one thing, but even worse, some employees will stop working by choice to
delve into their social networks because...well, because they can.
According to the harmon.ie survey, two out of three respondents said they "will interrupt a group meeting to
communicate with someone else digitally, either by answering email (48%), answering a mobile phone (35%),
chatting via IM (28%), updating their status on a social network (12%) or tweeting (9%)."
And that's during a group meeting! Those numbers undoubtedly rise when the employees are left to their own
devices at their desks. Why do you think there are so many well-tended farms on FarmVille?
3. Shallow Al
Constant interruptions - either initiated or suffered - not only rob employees of time on the job, they also have
a negative impact on the quality of a worker's thoughts.As anyone with small children knows, you simply can't
focus if you're routinely being sidetracked, voluntarily or not. Deep thinking requires sustained concentration.
(And "now where was I?" doesn't qualify as a deep thought.)
Look at it this way: If Facebook or Twitter existed a century ago, Albert Einstein's famous equation proving
mass-energy equivalence might have looked like: E=...LOL, dude!
Clearly there no easy answers. Social media in the workplace is here to stay, and companies that block access
to social networks and non-business Websites (nearly half do, according to the harmon.ie survey) run the risk
of alienating employees and losing out on the many advantages created by the social revolution. Probably the
best thing to do is focus on a worker's effectiveness, and not waste time and energy in a morale-debilitating
clampdown.

6 social media management tools ready for the enterprise

Social media is taking over. Most CIOs already know this startling reality. It's a major player in marketing,
tech support, customer management and sales. In fact, it's hard to think of a piece of IT where social media
does not have at least a presence - if not outright dominance.
In some ways, this change happened in a blink. Major companies such as PepsiCo and Merck now use social
media to drive their brands and, in some instances, lead the charge for other marketing efforts. Companies such
as McDonald's now use social media to launch new products. The one-on-one nature is an astounding IT effort
when you think about how many people retweet a marketing message, asking questions and seeking support.
According to an IBM survey of CIOs, social media is second only to direct sales in terms of overall priorities
within an organization. You can see why when you do a simple search and find, for example, 8,000 mentions
of @FedEx in one afternoon or 5,000 mentions of the @NASCAR brand in one hour on race day. Social
media is a broad category that involves public data, users collaborating and commenting, video sharing and
even comments on articles such as this one.
Most large companies use an enterprise-grade social media manager. Fortunately, this market is bubbling over
with innovative apps. These offer a unique blend of features. Keep in mind that, for each tool, pricing varies by
the size of your company and the team members involved.
Gremln: Bring Process, Compliance to Social Media Management
Marketing departments, which tend to like to throw ideas against the wall and see what sticks, can use Gremln
to make sure they comply with regulations such as the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (
FFIEC).
Companies can restrict a search for social media chatter to a certain area. If there are other banks with the same
name in other areas, you can restrict a search to a specific city. When you do, you can enter the conversation
with people discussing that tops. The key feature is the capability to block certain keywords and phrases; a
bank might block the word "promise" from being used in a post, for example. Finally, there's an approval
process for all posts.
Gremln users can also track link clicks, right down to the actual sale of a product, with pieces of embedded
code on a product page that show how that link performed in terms of actual sales related to Facebook and
Twitter activity.
SocialCompass: Manage Social Marketing in Multiple Locations
Social media is a gold mine for technical marketing. SocialCompass lets you search for keywords and phrases,
such as "tacos for lunch," and then engage the person who posted that phrase in a conversation. Like most
enterprise tools, SocialCompass lets you focus on a specific geographic area so you can target ads
appropriately. It's intended for large companies such as Starbucks, Best Buy or anyone who needs to manage
social marketing in multiple locations.
One key feature is the capability to link this activity. If a social media expert at your company finds someone
talking about a brand name such as Taco John's in one area, the tool lets you track his activity and then offer a
reward based on how he retweets that reward.SocialCompass reports can show how all this social media pays
off in terms of clicks on the actual reward links and how many people then share the link with friends.
UberVU: Easily Post to Multiple Platforms
When posting or replying, your teams can use the same posting interface for each connected social media
platform. A smart scheduler helps your teams post during busy times of the day - posting in the morning about
Nike, say, since that's when most people are posting about their morning jog. Teams can also find influencers
based on their followers and real-time activity and then engage with them about the company brand.
Shoutlet: Post Faster Thanks to Built-in Content Library
Shoutlet is another high-end tool that helps social media teams post to networks. Like most enterprise-grade
tools, this tool provides the typical post scheduling, team approvals, task assignments, and detailed reporting
functionality you'd expect. But there are some key features that go beyond the basic toolset for managing
social network streams.
One is a built-in content library. As teams post, they can quickly access an online repository of logos, photos
or coupons. When a team member chooses an image, Shoutlet automatically determines whether that image
will work on the selected social media platforms. The scheduler can hold a new post until a Facebook page has
a certain number of likes, too.As for reports, there are detailed views but also ways to generate summaries for
executives that show just the relevant facts, such as new likes for one Facebook page.
Bottlenose Enterprise: Discover Trends, Compare Social Marketing Campaigns
Bottlenose, one of the most unique social media tools we've found for the enterprise, is more of a discovery
tool to learn about brand sentiment and trends. It uses a unique "sonar" interface, where trending topics are
shown in a real-time circular graph. A company such as Ford could use Bottlenose to search for the term
"truck" and see, in an instant, which topics are trending. Critical discussions - "heavy-duty" or "F-150" - would
be seen in a larger size or brighter color.
The reporting features are also unique. Social media managers can see historical data around a brand and make
comparisons between brands - seeing how many discussions were taking place between Ford and Chevy over
the past few months, for example.
One key reason to use Bottlenose is to measure the effectiveness of a social media campaign. For example,
when Acer hired Megan Fox to do an ad promoting a new laptop, it could have used Bottlenose to measure
discussions on the brand or compare one marketing push against another, based on the timeframe and
keywords.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Multiple Enterprise Social Platforms
One of the most powerful suites for managing enterprise social media is Salesforce Marketing Cloud. The tool
includes Radian6, which helps companies analyze social media activity; Buddy Media, which is used to
publish social media marketing materials; and the Social.com advertising platform, which helps teams create
and manage large-scale social media rewards and coupons.
Radian6 is powerful because of how it connects with so many social channels - the typical Twitter, LinkedIn
and Facebook feeds as well as blogs, community sites, video channels and even the forms and comments on
other posts. You can search for sentiment around a brand such as FedEx and see how many people are
discussing that brand or how many complaints follow a snafu (say, tossing a box over a guardrail). In fact, if
you post a complaint now about FedEx on Twitter, there's a good chance someone's using Radian6 to find your
issue and interact with you to resolve the issue.
Buddy Media, meanwhile, helps you publish an eye-catching marketing campaign through social media and
drive people to a Facebook page so they "Like" it or share it with friends. It's almost like Adobe Photoshop for
the Web; you use templates to create the marketing material, then publish and track the messaging for your
company brand.