social media strategy for prevent

Social media strategy for Prevent

Prevent Box 20133, 104 60 Stockholm phone +46 8 402 02 00 fax +46 8 402 02 50 e-mail [email protected] web www.prevent.se

ContentsIntroduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Background............................................................................................................................................ 3

Prevent as an organization and how social media contribute to fulfillment of objectives................... 3

Staff......................................................................................................................................................... 4

The present situation............................................................................................................................ 4

Services................................................................................................................................................ 4

Prevent and social media today ........................................................................................................... 5

Communication framework ................................................................................................................. 7

Social media – what are they? ........................................................................................................... 8

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 8

The role of social media in communication......................................................................................... 9

Strategy and target groups................................................................................................................ 10

Overall message when working with social media............................................................................ 10

Strategic aims in working with social media ..................................................................................... 10

Goals .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Target groups ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Implementation .................................................................................................................................. 14

Monitoring and measuring................................................................................................................. 14

Prevent Box 20133 104 60 Stockholm telephone 08-402 02 00 fax 08-402 02 50 e-mail [email protected] web www.prevent.se

Introduction

This is Prevent’s social media strategy document. Its purpose is to describe how Prevent canuse social media and thereby increase the organization’s presence on the web. This kind of web presence is being experienced by more and more of our target groups as relevant and will therefore contribute to Prevent’s credibility and accessibility. This document is based on Prevent’s existing communication strategy. How can social media help spread knowledge of work environment issues where today there is ignorance?

The communication strategy states that “to fulfill this broad mission, Prevent must continuously and by a variety of means communicate with the outside world”. This is the starting point for working with social media and this strategy will help with prioritization of platforms.

Background

Prevent as an organization and how social media contribute to fulfillment of objectives

Prevent is a non-profit association in the field of the work environment and is owned by The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and The Council for Negotiation and Co-operation (PTK). The most important objective in the field is to create healthy workplaces where no one is harmed by working. With this perspective, the dissemination of knowledge via as many channels as possible is, of course, relevant, desirable and natural and makes Prevent and the information available on these questions more accessible.

The organizational concept is to strive for a safe, sound and healthy working life by cooperating with employers and unions to share knowledge and develop methods that support every workplace in managing the work environment. Prevent monitors the public dialogue and exchanges facts, knowledge and experiences with various players in the field. The organizational concept can be portrayed in social media to good advantage, especially with regards to cooperation and knowledge sharing.

The vision is that every management group, manager, safety representative and co-worker has the knowledge and applies the methods that lead to a safe, sound and healthy working life as well as profitable and competitive companies. This vision is supported by a structured approach to those social media channels which afford us the opportunity to transfer knowledge and put questions on the agenda.

Prevent’s goal is to help reduce work related injuries and sick leave. We are much more likely to reach this goal if we use more communication channels. For this reason, social media support Prevent’s overall operational goal while building Prevent’s brand.


Those messages identified in the communication strategy which touch upon cooperation, a holistic perspective and acting as a guide in the field of the work environment are strengthened as well with the help of digital media.

Staff

Today Prevent has 40 employees in the following areas:

• Management• Administration• Marketing (marketing/sales, orders/customer support, training/conferences)• Development• Information

Successful use of social media begins with internal consensus. Therefore it is urgent going forward that all parts of the organization are given the opportunity to take part in and influence the process. Using social media is no longer purely a question of providing information or marketing and an increased knowledge of social media among the entire workforce should be ensured by means of internal training at various levels.

A strategic investment in social media will help Prevent attain both organizational goals: the overriding idealistic goal and the subordinate commercial goal.

The present situation

Services

Using social media means complementing current communication channels with new ones in the digital arena. Here are some examples of the services Prevent offers today which would benefit from distribution, availability and development via social media:

Prevent.se functions as a support for target groups by providing the world’s largest work environment bookstore containing idea and reference books, training materials, handbooks, checklists, databases and DVD films. Through social media all this becomes even more visible and awareness of the site increases.

Training: open courses, tailor made company courses, correspondence courses,conferences. Social media make it possible, via previous participants and information about current conferences, to stimulate interest before, during and after the training we offer.


Facts and advice, web shop, Arbetsliv (Working Life) magazine, free tools (e.g. checklists), subscription services (magazine, newsletter, press releases). All that can be spread further in the appropriate circles for target groups via social media.

Arbetsmiljoupplysningen.se : as a “Reference book for beginners” in the work environment field.

Arbetsliv Magazine (Working Life). Sweden’s largest circulated trade journal on the work environment, six issues per year, free subscriptions, Arbetsliv on the web, weekly newsletters. The journal can develop further by means of greater interaction with the general public.

In working with social media, the general perceptions of Prevent’s issues should be kept in mind. For Prevent the work environment field is a frame of reference. But for many, perhaps most people active in working life today, thoughts or conversation about the work environment are rare, and for that reason most do not see the work environment as a whole. Work environment as a term is used no doubt most commonly by the already well-informed, while the general public relates more easily to individual issues such as stress, conflict, leadership, noise, development, well-being and so on.

Work environment as a term is often seen as old fashioned and loaded, perhaps even boring, although important. The field is perceived, no doubt, as consisting of laws and regulations. If Prevent is to change that picture, social media are a good place to start.

There are, as well, a number of terms and concepts which are associated with work environment that appear often in both traditional and new media. These are terms such as the following:

• Health• Health maintenance• Leadership• Organizational development• Company/organization culture• CSR• Lean production

To the extent that it is desirable, Prevent can use social media to supply a holistic perspective when a more fragmented or superficial view is presented by others.

Prevent and social media today

An addendum added to Prevent’s policy in 2008 stated that employees were not permitted to use Facebook privately during working hours.


Prevent has a Facebook page which, to date, has not been marketed and a YouTube channel to which a few video clips have been uploaded.

In terms of employees’ social media skills, about half of Prevent’s staff are on Facebook and can, as a group, be said to belong to the so-called digital immigrants. About 10 staff members use social media regularly and a handful are extremely active and present in many ways (primarily LinkedIn, Twitter, Google-services and sharing of links and media).

Involvement pyramid

The model above divides social media users into six levels. The vertical dimension of the pyramid represents intensity of involvement with low involvement at the bottom and deep at the top. The horizontal dimension, which is to say in the width of the pyramid, shows the relative number of people in each level. As a whole the model presents a picture in which the large base of Prevent’s target groups is only slightly or somewhat involved and a smaller number deeply involved.

The pyramid can also be seen as an involvement ladder; social media users start at the bottom and the more involved they become, the higher they climb in the pyramid: the more knowledge and skills, the greater the involvement. In the bottom of the pyramidcommunication and relationships are technology dependant and most messages automatically

Lead, create possibilities

Share knowledge, express ownership for issues

Contribute time, involvement, money

Recommend and support

Aware and curious

Interested and conscious


generated. At these levels technology helps us to reach large numbers. Here we are speaking of websites, data bases, e-mail, computer generated Facebook status reports and microblog entries containing, for example, links to blog entries. The higher we come in the pyramid the greater the interaction and involvement. Above level three in the pyramid we begin building personal relationships. This is where digital and analogue communication merge. Organizations can use this way of thinking to form a more holistic view of how the various communication activities fit with one another and identify those activities which can tap into the greatest involvement in a wider sphere. Who, among those we communicate with, is most successful at spreading the knowledge that Prevent has? It is often readily apparent where involvement is greatest.

Applying this model to Prevent today, we find there are few who support and contribute, which is to say few who create content, comment on or review what takes place on the net. Approaching social media means, for Prevent, making it easier for the four lowest levels of the pyramid to become more involved in work environment issues.

The clear and marked desire among staff members for Prevent’s participation in social media will be of great assistance to us in continuing the process. Furthermore, the organization already has working methods that are well adapted to this new media landscape, where it is vital to stay up to date and react quickly when others discuss Prevent’s key issues. Prevent knows how to do that in other arenas and can make use of those skills when adding digital communication tools. This means that internally it will be easy for us to see social media as relevant. The methods are there; now it is only a matter of learning to use new tools and understanding how this new media landscape functions.

Communication framework

The existing framework and the conditions Prevent operates under must, of course, be taken into account in working with social media. In choosing communication channels in the future we must ensure that:

1. What Prevent says and does is in collaboration with labor market parties

2. Lobbying and politics remain outside of Prevent’s purview

3. Prevent does not interfere with competition in the market place

4. Prevent remains solution oriented and maintains a holistic perspective

An ongoing discussion of where the limits are in these questions should be a part of our work going forward. On which issues can we and on which can we not “stick our necks out”. These limits may be stretched a little if we choose the solution oriented focus named in point four.Social media let us show that we are an organization made of “flesh and blood” and it is possible to do that without damaging the framework within which we operate.


Social media – what are they?

Introduction

Social media are digital communication channels through which we share experiences, knowledge, opinions and content with each other. Independent of time and place. Social media are tools for dialog and conversation which we use because the company/organization wants to make its presence known. There must be a basic agreement about appearing in as many arenas as possible to reach the organization’s target groups.

Basically social media are about choosing new distribution channels for the knowledge and skills that Prevent has in work environment questions. The traditional communication channels are built on print media such as brochures, ads, newsletters and our own homepage. Now there is a whole new range of additional communication tools.

The services available on the net today gathered under the umbrella term social media are communication tools. As such they are comparable, developmentally, to cave paintings, print media, telegraph, telephone and TV in terms of what they mean for our ability to communicate.

Social media are neither a technological nor a generational question. They are a new attitude to the world around us and a new way for an organization to connect with its target groups.

Social media consist of a number of services: from chat, texting, blogs, podcasts, microblogs, social networks, uploading and sharing of photographs, music and videos to e-mail, online games, virtual worlds, localization services and wikis.

The knowledge Prevent chooses to distribute can be developed in dialog and cooperation with others. The user generated evolution of the message and the opportunity to create something new together are the lynchpins of the new net based economy. Organizations that are governed by the desire to keep information hidden and that believe they can control communication will not develop. The power of open and shared communication is a lubricant for the spread of relevant knowledge and makes it easier for others to spread facts, knowledge and experiences that concern work environment issues.

The web today is based largely on mutual communication – with everyone contributing content. Visitors to a net service today stand, themselves, in the center and demand to be able to contribute their own knowledge, their own content and their own questions and to be able to integrate them with those of others. They want to see how their contributions change the site. They want to be able to comment even on their own contributions and easily share what they have found elsewhere on the web.


The role of social media in communication

The media landscape today consists of three overlapping spheres: owned media, earned media and bought media. Each of these three spheres now has a social media dimension in which an organization should make active choices. The media landscape today is an interplay betweenthese three spheres:

OWNED MEDIA is the sphere that the organization/company itself controls. It includes the website but also the mobile phone site, organizational blogs, and the organization’s own presence on, for example, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Slideshare.

EARNED MEDIA is the sphere in which the organization/company takes part without paying. It could be others’ blogs, comments, tweets, reviews, or likes on Facebook, pushes on sharing sites, forums and editorial content on radio and TV.

BOUGHT MEDIA is the sphere in which organizations/companies buy space. This includes,of course, ads, print media, and TV and radio advertisements but also banners, search word advertising etc.

A social media strategy ensures, on one hand, the opportunity to appear in the owned media channels of the social media and on the other aims to boost earned media profile. That is to say that a structured approach to social media leads to others discussing Prevent or above all work environment issues in comments and blog posts as well as forwarding links, articles, course registration forms, etc.

That the three spheres of the media landscape have begun to merge with one another has changed journalists’ work in many ways. Newsrooms often have short deadlines and must compete with web media’s methods for getting news out in real time to large numbers of people. Even magazine editors work actively now to solicit reader contributions and to find news and ideas for articles in social media. A presence in these discussions is thus a way of making Prevent’s work environment knowledge visible.

Relation

Communication Information


Strategy and target groups

Overall message when working with social media

To internally and externally make plain that Prevent is a part of the digital media landscape and that this landscape is a natural tool to use to increase knowledge about and involvement in workplace environment issues.

Strategic aims in working with social media To create a common viewpoint on social media

To increase the level of knowledge at Prevent of the consequences of the new media landscape for our own work as communicators

To create conditions for conducting a relevant dialog with our target groups via the net

To create conditions under which other parties can spread facts, knowledge, skills and experience and educate others about work environment issues

To portray work environment issues from a holistic perspective

To create conditions for making social media a relevant part of the communication strategy that Prevent is based on.

Goals Increased active use of social media at Prevent

More traffic to Prevent’s home page via social networks and social media

Better coordination between our various communication projects Increased visibility on relevant searches

Greater interest in our courses, materials, etc.

A greater percentage of well informed individuals in Prevent’s main target groups A greater percentage of well informed journalists and others who mold public opinion

Target groups

Prevent’s chief end user target groups are as follows:

Managers

Occupational health and safety representatives HRM staff

Other employees

To reach the above target groups, Prevent must at times work through third parties, so-called intermediaries. An example of extremely important intermediaries in working with social media are those journalists and opinion molders who are powerful in social media. Other intermediaries of interest can be found in training organizations, governmental authorities, employer and employee organizations and occupational health services as well as players who offer work environment services.


The target group model below was developed for and used in Prevent’s earlier communication strategy project:

Target group segment

In square 1 are those with a low level of knowledge and no expressed need of more knowledge. Here the perspective is more individual than role based and these individuals are not involved in work environment related issues. Not a primary segment in the strategy under construction for Prevent’s ongoing media presence, but possible receivers for Prevent’s message when Prevent chooses to become visible outside the usual channels of communication. Here for example a link from a blog to an article or mentions by friends on Facebook could awaken interest and tempt these individuals to find out more about work environment related issues.

In square 2 are those with a low level of knowledge who have expressed a need for more. They should be prioritized. Those in square 2 will be reached to some extent by the active individuals in square 3 but equally as much by Prevent’s increased presence in social media. Just as in square 1, they can be reached via their friends’ networks, via a bulletin from Prevent

High level of knowledge

Low level of knowledge

Expressed need No expressed need


informing them that the organization is now active in social media, via a puff for a blog post or by a live or recorded segment from a seminar. This is a target group that appreciates a fast response from Prevent when questions arise in the organization’s area of expertise.

In square 3 are those with a high level of knowledge who have expressed a need for more. Naturally they should be included and made aware of Prevent’s increased presence on the net. They should also be given greater opportunities for sharing their knowledge. For this target group it is crucial that most of what is on the web appears as social objects, i.e. information that is easy to share. They are aware of Prevent and communicate with the organization in everyday life. They are ambassadors whose interest and thirst for knowledge should be cultivated.

In square 4 are those with a high level of knowledge who have not expressed a need for more. Our starting point here is that even they can become involved in connection with new publications, new findings etc. It may even be possible to involve them in spreading their knowledge to others. It may also be advantageous to supply them with links, embedded codes and invitations to puff news from us in their own networks.

The same model can be used to advantage to map some of the social media services that Prevent is considering using. Below we see a mapping of those social media services which are most appropriate for the various target groups, using the matrix of target groups above as our starting point:

Social media services for the target groups

High level of knowledge

Low level of knowledge

Expressed need No expressed need

Most important for group 2 is to show that Prevent and the information exist

Most important is to make it possible for group 3 to share

Presence can inspire group 4 to act as ambassadors


It is interesting to combine the target group matrix with the involvement pyramid on page 5. The pyramid shows how one can rise in involvement from having hardly been interested or aware to the highest grade where one can, through involvement in social media, actually affect an organization’s ability to run its operation. This pyramid can be seen as a process, in that the target groups that the organization succeeds in reaching can “climb up” in involvement. How communication is packaged influences how easily it may contribute to increased involvement. It is as well interesting to see how Prevent’s social media presence contributes to our efforts to reach more of those in square 1 of the target group matrix. This group is not even in the pyramid today. They are entirely unaware of our organization. The levels of the involvement pyramid can be usefully combined with the target group matrix as in the diagram below:

Target groups in the involvement pyramid

That means, consequently, that we can look upon social media as a way of giving our target groups the conditions necessary for climbing upwards in the involvement pyramid. Above allsocial media is about creating these conditions for many who are presently at levels 2, 3 and 4


in the pyramid -- that is to say those who follow, contribute and support. Also of interest is that through its understanding of how social media function as a communication channel, Prevent creates an environment in which I, as a recipient of Prevent’s message, can step directly in on level 3, as a supporter. This is indicated above by the two arrows to the left of the pyramid. It is thus possible to go from square 1 to square 3 without a long learning process. Those who are supporters in other situations, that is to say, for example, have recommending as an established behavior and use the “like” option, will also exhibit those behaviors when offered knowledge and information about new questions.

Through a widespread presence in social media, Prevent creates conditions that make it easier for more people to find their way to the first step in the pyramid and, additionally, for more to step on the pyramid at the same level of commitment they have in other issues that engage andinspire them.

The involvement pyramid describes those roles available to us today, thanks to new communication channels, when we become aware of and interested in an issue. Prevent’s use of social media contributes to a faster progression from square 1 to square 3 in its own target group matrix, by means of greater numbers becoming interested in and aware of work environment issues. More of Prevent’s target group members will find themselves in square 2, with an appetite for more knowledge.

ImplementationStrategy is transformed into practice by choosing actions and making contributions that are possible to follow up. This can be done, as well, at the departmental level and means, furthermore, that each department can choose whatever number of platforms time and resources allow.

Monitoring and measuring

The volume of new material that flows through social media is so enormous that to be able to monitor or even find all of it is, in principal, impossible. All the services that do monitoring have chosen strategies for gathering as much data as possible but none can claim complete success.

It is important in addition to understand that these services offer varying degrees of access to content. When it comes to Facebook, for example, only “open” profiles are available. For Twitter it is necessary to understand both hashtags and retweets and weight them properly when making measurements.

Actively listening to what is said about one’s own brand and those subjects that touch on one’s business are very important for all brands. In doing so today it is also possible to systematically and continuously measure penetration, share of voice and the effectiveness of campaigns in the new media.


Social media are still a relatively new ingredient in the media mix and the Swedish language is relatively small, globally speaking, so that development of measurement methods and monitoring services has not come as far as other media coverage. Development is rapid now and both new and established players are developing services to support best practice measurement of contributions to social media and monitoring of the ongoing conversation on all platforms.

Before setting up either monitoring or measuring, we should carefully establish which terms we want to monitor and which goals we want to measure.

We should differentiate between, on one hand, simply monitoring the ongoing conversation, which means listening on a broad basis to discussions on subjects in our brand’s interest and reacting specifically to that which is said, and, on the other hand, identifying trends and tendencies in our sphere and responding proactively in our own and others’ media platforms.

Measuring is a matter of starting from established goals and carrying out a structured measurement with: a beginning, a number of measurement points, and an end point. This is true for both specific social media campaigns and ongoing measurement of day to day efforts in social media.

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