43 ways to use yammer

43 Ways to Use Yammer | 2

Yammer makes communication faster, easier, and more relevant to each person—not to mention that it’s been a breeze from an IT standpoint.

Tobias Klauder | VP of Global Information Technology | Razorfish

Yammer is as awesome as you make it.Whether you’re the new guy at a tech start-up or the founder of a multi-national corporation, your work

environment is an important key to the success of your job and your company. Communication is key—

and Yammer is the most valuable communication tool in the office. Here’s how to get the most out of it.

Start here


WHERE TO USE YAMMER: ONLINE + ON YOUR DESKTOP + ON YOUR PHONE + AT HOME + ON A + ON A BUS + IN A + ON YOUR IPAD + IN BED + IN LINE + IN A WAITING ROOM + ON A + AT SCHOOL + BY THE POOL + AT THE THEATER + UNDER THE SEA + ON A + AT THE SALON + IN KANSAS + AT THE OFFICE + AT THE LIBRARY + ANYWHERE WITH AN INTERNET CONNECTION.

but not while driving

during intermission


Tell everyone what you’re working on.

We’ve found Yammer to be an excellent tool for identifying and connecting to the correct set of people for any given project, idea or opportunity.

Wilbur Swan | Senior Director of Product Management | ContactNet

Tell people exactly what you’re an expert in. Play tag.

If you mention someone in

a post, tag them by using

the “@” symbol—that way

they’ll know they’ve been

mentioned and get to feel

popular.

Your job title doesn’t always

do your background justice.

List languages you’re fluent

in, musical instruments

you play, that certificate in

conflict resolution, and your

excellent marshmallow

roasting skills. You never

know when those things

might be needed.

Show your true face.Post a profile picture

that’s actually of you.

When the people who

notice you on Yammer

recognize you in the

hallway, the conversation

might just spread into

the offline realm.

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USE YAMMER ON SICK DAYS

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But wait, it’s not about work—or is it? You’ll make connections that you

wouldn’t have otherwise. Then, if you ever happen to need something

work-related from a group member, they’ll be happy to help. Because

heck, anyone who loves daschunds can’t be all bad.

Start a group for everyone else who loves dachshunds.

Because we’re better connected, we have more of a sense of community and can operate at a higher level of efficiency.

Nick Weaver | Chief Operating Officer | Stanford Student Enterprises

Seek out coincidences.

Upload the project.Whether it’s the new logo

or a sales spreadsheet,

Yammer is the perfect

place to share what you’re

doing. Post almost any

file type of almost any

size, and the people you

choose can preview and

download it right from

Yammer. Don’t forget to

give it a topic to make it

easily findable later.

Check out other people’s

profiles. You might discover

a hidden connection with

a colleague, like a shared

birthday or mutual love

of medieval folklore. Point

out the coincidence and

see where the conversation

leads.

Give every post a topic.Topics make posts easy to

find later, and easy to link

earlier conversations to

new ones.

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All organizations have hurdles. Maybe it’s reaching a

certain target market, finding a bigger office space,

or making a department more appealing to job

seekers. Sharing these issues on Yammer is only the

first step—once they’re resolved, let everyone know

and thank them for pitching in. Next time, they’ll be

even happier to help.

Say “Thank You”

Any company which isn’t running Yammer right now is missing out on the best communication and productivity tool available in the market today. It’s a massive game changer. We got everyone [at Mahalo] to agree to do 1-3 updates a day and it’s taking the level of communication to a new height that we didn’t think was possible.

Jason Calacanis | CEO | Mahalo

Share what the competitors are doing.

Share best practices.Maybe you’ve developed

your own, learned some

at a recent conference, or

downloaded a white paper.

Share them with the team

so you can spend less time

justifying and more time

working.

Next time you read a blog

post on the Joneses, share

the link! With everyone in

the company keeping an

eye on the other guys, you’ll

be able to carve out that

corporate niche like never

before. Plus, nothing unites a

team like a common enemy.

Post something every day.You can post anything—

your progress on a project, a

link to something inspiring, or

that rumor you heard about

the company’s biggest

competitor.

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We know you have them.

POST AN IDEA

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People in the office aren’t all that different

from people out of the office—they can’t

resist pictures from events. Yammer is the

perfect place to record the whole thing—

up until the projector died.

Post pictures from the big meeting.

Employees from one continent ask a question and employees from another continent respond with crucial real-time information and suggestions. Our client service has improved through Yammer: as it’s demand-led, these connections wouldn’t occur otherwise.

Niall Cook | Worldwide Director of Marketing Technology | Hill & Knowlton

Answer questions.Ask questions.Need to find a third party

vendor? A location for

the next shoot? A caterer

for the big meeting? Tap

the invaluable pool of

knowledge that is your

Yammer network.

If someone took the time

to ask a question, reward it

with an answer—even if your

answer is just “you should

ask @Bill from accounting.”

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START A GROUP FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT

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Everyone loves to feel like an expert. Don’t be shy!

Ask someone for advice in their area of expertise.

People feel more connected to the company, more engaged, and more empowered. At the end of the day, that can only be good. It’s been amazing—Yammer is a bit of a celebrity at our company.

Jaimee Clements | Sr. Online Project Manager | AAA of Northern California, Nevada and Utah

Ask everyone what they think.

Put what you’d like to be doing more of in your profile.Your job title says nothing

about your aspirations.

Maybe you’re a copywriter

but you’d really like to be

doing more content strategy.

Pop it in your interests

and see what happens.

Or, if you prefer the hot

corporate buzzword:

crowdsource. Yammer was

made for crowdsourcing

anything from new taglines

to new water cooler

suggestions.

Post your challenge.Solve problems in real time

by sharing them and using

the power of every brain in

your company.

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FOLLOW SOMEONE

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Borders are meaningless on Yammer. Swap some war stories and

see what you can learn from each other.

Introduce yourself to your counterpart in Dubai.

If you’re an employee, you want to work in a great community, where you have friends and relationships. We’ve found Yammer to put those relationships in a focused, centralized and managed space. The number of people that follow and interact with you isn’t about who you are but about what you say, and that’s one of the great things about Yammer.

Nigel Dessau | CMO | AMD

Meet the vendors.

Ask the receptionist what she thinks.Great ideas can come from

anywhere, from the corner

office to the front desk.

Communities are that happy

place in the Venn diagram

where two networks can

interact.

“Like” the kind of thing you’d like to see more of.It’s basic psychology—

reward desirable behavior

with something nice. What’s

nicer than being liked?

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INTRODUCE YOURSELF IN PERSON WITH, “I’VE NOTICED YOU ON YAMMER!”

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Magic happens when people of different backgrounds begin to understand

each other in deep, practical ways. Cross-discipline collaboration results

in new ideas and new ways of seeing—and solving—problems. So when you

see someone you haven’t met on Yammer, don’t think “They’re not in my

department, I have nothing to learn from them.” Instead, think “They’re

not in my department! I wonder what I can learn from them?”

Talk to strangers.

Yammer is a learning goldmine. It enables those special connections we had created by bringing people together in the classroom to happen all the time.

Mike Petersell | Management Center for Learning and Performance Director | Pitney Bowes

Learn.Swap war stories.Share an environment

with someone long enough,

and you’ll inevitably start

swapping knowledge. It’s a

basic human behavior that

makes small groups nimble

and efficient. Yammer is the

environment you share with

everyone in your company,

no matter where they are,

so get swapping!

What if every water cooler

idea could be shared with

anyone in the company at

any time? Now that people

are sharing those ideas on

Yammer, they can be read

and contributed to by anyone

who’s interested, whenever

they’re interested—not just

when they’re thirsty.

Send private messages.Some ideas need careful

fostering in a safe environment

before they’re set free in the

Company Feed. Give them

that environment with a private

message that includes only the

people who’ll help it blossom.

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INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO THE NEW GUY

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It’s for their own good. The more information you and your

colleagues share about a client, the better you can meet

their needs.

Talk about clients behind their backs.

Yammer has enabled us to harness the wisdom of our people who are spread across multiple teams, geographies and brands to help achieve our purpose of delivering business solutions for competitive advantage.

Jeff Smith | CIO | Suncorp

Host a Yam Jam.From 10:30 to 11:30, we’ll

be brainstorming for the

new ad campaign in the

group “We Will Rock You.”

Be there or be square.

Plan events and invite people to them.Meetings. Office get-togethers.

Brainstorming sessions.

Movie night. Holiday parties.

Conferences. Happy hour.

If you want people there,

put it on Yammer.

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FIND OUT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS WORKING ON

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Hold a Yammer drill.

It is amazing how much this tool has cut down on email traffic and how much more efficient the interchange of information and ideas becomes.

April Downing | CFO | Dachis Group

Skip email.Email gets burdensome for

things like pictures of cute

kittens and brainstorming

with a group.

Answer a question with a question.After awhile, all the most common

questions will have been asked on

Yammer and every conversation on

Yammer is findable, linkable, and

joinable at any time. So send your

curious co-worker a link to the last

time someone asked that question.

No more repeating yourself.Yammer is a great for getting the feel of the office when you can’t

make it to the office. But what if no one can make to the office?

Snow happens. Hold a Yammer drill once a year, where everyone

works from home for a full day. Then they’ll know exactly what to

do when it counts the most.

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FINALLY LEARN THE NAME OF THE GUY YOU TOOK TOO LONG TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO, WITHOUT THE AWKWARD INTRODUCING YOURSELF PART

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Tell us how you use Yammer.Email us [email protected] helps us make Yammer more awesome.

now get to work!

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mailto:feedback%40yammer-inc.com?subject=Hello%20Yammer%21

43 ways to use yammer

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