What is an Enterprise Social Network? Top Benefits and features

Companies are introducing enterprise social media networks (ESNs) to their organizations to help employees stay engaged and become more efficient. This guide will define ESNs, explain the social technologies employees use to communicate and collaborate within the company, and how social media platforms help enterprise companies perform better. 

What is an Enterprise Social Network?

An enterprise social network is a private internet social network. A company’s enterprise social media network is not the same as a public social media network like LinkedIn, which is for professionals. 

Enterprise social networks make collaboration easier when the company has some team members working remotely and others working from the company’s offices. They usually include the following elements:

• Collaboration tools
• Instant messaging
• Project management
• Task management

All of these elements are included in the same communication platform. An enterprise social network (ESN) is exactly the right medium for encouraging team members to communicate and collaborate across silos. It leads to a higher level of employee engagement and more creative idea-sharing. When these tools are used together, it also leads to higher productivity. 

Where Enterprise Social Networks Came From

How did enterprise social networks get started? In the early 1990s, internet users began going online to connect and form communities based on shared interests. At that time, websites were very popular places for sharing content. These early examples formed the basis for modern social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, which many people use today. 

Social networks for businesses such as Jabber and Yammer also started to become popular. Yammer was a social network in the same vein as Facebook but used exclusively for internal communications. It allowed users to communicate with each other through the platform’s interface. Businesses saw value in having a single platform on which to communicate and collaborate. This made it easier for users to stay up to date. Microsoft acquired Yammer in 2012. The company then used the Yammer model to build Microsoft Teams. 

Use Cases of Enterprise Social Networks

Businesses are starting to understand the capabilities of enterprise social networking software to create value in their organizations by improving communication, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. The following are some examples of use cases for enterprise social networking software:

— Internal Communications

Enterprise social networks encourage users to engage in informal conversations. They are wonderful for building relationships among coworkers. They are very effective for communicating change in the workplace, clarifying corporate policies, or introducing new employees to the rest of the team.

— Team Collaboration

When a group of employees is working on a presentation or preparing a report, team collaboration software can streamline the process. Enterprise social networks make it easy to collaborate with other team members to get work completed. 

— Community

The Community function creates branded spaces where people who have common responsibilities and interests can share their knowledge. These individuals can gather and build relationships, which increases employee engagement and translates into higher job morale. Employees are happier and more productive.

— Social Customer Service and Extranets

At times, company employees may need to work with an external team (such as contractors and public relations firms) to launch a new product or service. These shared projects must be conducted in a controlled environment. Extranet software with enterprise social networking capabilities has the capability to monitor and provide direction for these types of projects. 

ESN software gives users a collaborative, controlled space that has enough flexibility to get the work completed. Its collaboration tools allow work teams to transfer files, share ideas, and interact in real-time. 

Customer support can be improved with ESNs. Customer service representatives can use the company’s internal network to acquire knowledge while the public-facing part of the ESN software can provide support from the inside. Only one system is used by the company, which eliminates the need for steep learning curves when training team members. 

Some systems can integrate with ticketing for advanced customer service, which improves efficiency and speed when providing customer support. The customer describes the type of issue they are having by filling in an online form, and a customer service representative will respond to the queries in the order they are received. The customer can provide billing or receipt numbers to help the customer service representative. The team can respond to issues at any time of the day to keep customer satisfaction levels high.

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Why is an Enterprise Social Network Important for a Business?

Enterprise social media benefits can positively impact employees’ professional lives and help the company to thrive. 

Efficient Communication

ESNs streamline communication between coworkers by replacing lengthy email threads with either public or private communication channels. Workers can communicate using private channels and messaging within the ESNs. Employees can track the conversations and make sure they are not missing out on any crucial details. 

The technology makes company directories more accessible. Employees don’t need to spend time looking for email addresses to send coworkers messages. Instead, they can find their colleagues in real-time for communication purposes.

Cloud-based Knowledge Repository

Enterprise social networks function as an all-access platform. Employees can get access to all company documents, such as:

• Data gathered for various projects
• Guides
• Industry news
• Research papers
• Training resources 

Integrating a cloud-based knowledge repository streamlines the company’s document management. It also allows employees to access the most current version of any file. A centralized knowledge repository makes onboarding new employees quicker and easier. Since they can gain access to information right away, they can start contributing immediately.

Internal Social Network

ESNs are a good place to set up informal channels to build camaraderie between employees. They can discuss topics that interest them in a virtual space. Workers can be encouraged to share facts about themselves and form closer ties with their coworkers, even if they are working in different locations.

Centralized Collaboration

Placing all the company’s shared documents, task assignments, and project data in one platform makes it easy for employees to keep track of projects. Enterprise social networks make it easier for teams to collaborate no matter where the individual members are located. These platforms work well for teams that are fully remote or partly remote. 

A communication network that allows all employees to collaborate in real-time improves overall employee morale. It helps all team members feel as though they belong. Fostering a sense of belonging is important among employees during times when team members may not have the opportunity to meet their colleagues face-to-face.

Encourages an Inclusive Corporate Culture

Enterprise social network software can’t transform a company’s corporate culture to make it an inclusive one. The corporate culture must be well established before the decision is made to introduce an ESN or any online tool. An ESN can clarify company culture for new hires and remote employees who aren’t in the company’s offices daily. 

When these workers watch videos and read content about their coworkers, it helps them get a clear idea of the company culture. They can feel comfortable about communicating with their colleagues and sharing their ideas, which can only benefit the company as a whole. 

Increases Employee Productivity

In many companies, employees use several tools to find information, collaborate, and communicate with each other. They must switch between them throughout the day, which ends up wasting a lot of time.

An ESN that integrates with popular work tools the employees are familiar with, such as Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, and Slack allows employees to access these apps in one place. They can work much more productively as a result. 

Encourages Cross-team Collaboration

The ESN makes it easier for teams within the company to collaborate. The communication platform allows them to share documents for projects they are working on together. Document managing is made easier and more convenient. 

Drives Transparency within the Company

An ESN enhances transparency within the company. It creates a sense of being part of something bigger and encourages employee engagement. The transparency of an internal social media network makes it easier for a manager to share when an employee has done a great job with the rest of the team and the entire company. The positive feedback will encourage the employee to continue working hard and may influence others to follow suit.

Remote Workers Feel Included

Remote workers don’t have the advantage of asking the person sitting near them a question when they have a problem at work. If their company has deployed an ESN, their coworkers are available to them through the enterprise social media networking tools. 

All users can ask questions and make comments publicly or privately to stay connected with their fellow employees and managers. They can read company updates from executives and feel as though they are connected to what is happening in the corporation.

Supports Professional Communities

The ESN allows employees with similar business interests to share their knowledge. These workers can ensure that the group has current information related to their professional interests. The group can share their knowledge with other employees through blog posts and lunch-and-learn sessions. The group can also function as an in-house source of expertise for employees who have questions in this area.

Internal Communications – Measurement to Mastery

Enhance your internal communication strategy and learn the impact of communication done right.

What are the Main Features of an Enterprise Social Network?

An employee social media platform is made up of several features meant to engage and empower employees, no matter where they work.

Communities of Interest

Communities of interest allow employees to connect and bond through their personal interests and hobbies. Participants can share their interests with their colleagues using text posts, photos, videos, and links. These social interactions are important for remote workers to help them feel connected to their coworkers. 

Employees can bond around any topic they are interested in from cooking to rock climbing or pets. All they need is a few colleagues who share their interests to get a group started. 

Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are established to allow employees and teams to share their professional knowledge in specific disciplines. Company experts have the opportunity to connect and engage with each other around specific practice hubs. 

Employees can ask specific questions and gain expertise by sharing their experiences with the group. Experts can be made available to provide feedback and support. The communities of practice can store documents related to their expertise and make them available to employees. 

Diversity and Inclusion

Ideally, a company’s workforce should reflect the community. When the workforce is diverse and inclusive, the business has less turnover because the company creates a welcoming environment for everyone. 

The company can encourage diversity and inclusion by creating an online center for affinity groups to meet in Open Communities. Everyone is welcome to read, engage, and comment. By sharing thoughts and opinions, employees from different backgrounds and points of view will learn to understand and appreciate each other. 

Employee Dashboard for Google Workspace/Microsoft 365

Employees can get access to the work apps and resources they need in a centralized interface. Interfaces can be customized to meet the needs of each employee so that each worker can be productive and collaborate easily with their team and coworkers. 

Apps can be organized according to the ones the employee uses most often. Alternatively, employees can add or remove apps to organize their interface to suit themselves. A worker can access their favorite apps with a single click. 

Employee Directory

Employees can post their professional profiles in the employee directory. The profile can include the employee’s skills, department, location, education, and anything else the employee wishes to share. 

When someone in the company wants to connect with an expert, they can consult the employee directory. It also highlights employees’ special skills and talents that may not be immediately obvious from their job titles.

HR Portal

Employees need an efficient HR communication portal to access information, documents, news, and other resources. The HR portal can remind employees about important dates like open enrollment. It can also display answers to common questions and announce new arrivals and internal moves within the company. The HR portal can be used to post surveys to collect employee feedback, display an internal job board, and show employees shortcuts to HR apps. 

Leadership Corner

The leadership corner is the company CEO Blog. This is a great way for the company leader to communicate with all employees. Through the blog, they can provide information about company strategy, and news, and gain feedback. Employees can ask the CEO questions and all employees can read the answer in a blog post. 

The CEO blog can include surveys and polls on topics of interest to employees. The executives can keep their fingers on the pulse of how employees feel, which can only improve relationships between the two.

Learning Center

The learning center is the online home for departmental training. Employees visit there for departmental training and professional development for all teams. It is also used to share information about training sessions and upcoming events. A learning center is also a good place for employees to find helpful articles about how to acquire new capabilities to excel at work and learn how to be better employees.

Onboarding Center

The onboarding center helps to make a new employee’s first days and weeks with the company a great experience. It guides the new hire through a set of steps to help them get connected and engaged with the company from the start. The employee enjoys a personalized experience that is clear and manageable for them. It can reduce the time it takes for a new hire to become acclimatized to their new workplace. 

Policy Hub

A dedicated policy hub allows employees to gain access to critical business information and news necessary to ensure compliance. It should include the employee handbook, ethics policies, company insurance information, and data security procedures.

Video Center

The company video center is a comprehensive catalog of internal and external videos. It includes onboarding materials, training videos, sales assets, and marketing materials. 

The videos can be hosted with Sharepoint Online or Google Drive. They can also be linked externally to YouTube. The content can be customized by displaying it in thumbnails or in a list format. 

How to Set up an Enterprise Social Network for your Company?

When setting up an enterprise social network site for your company, you’ll want to proceed logically. 

1. Review the company’s existing systems

Before making any changes, it’s a good idea to get a thorough understanding of the tools and manual processes employees are using to get their work completed. Ask employees what is working and what isn’t working for them. Repeat this process frequently throughout the implementation. 

Conduct individual sessions and offer workshops to teams and departments throughout the company. Capture employee feedback with anonymous surveys. 

2. Update company content before moving it to the new system

It takes time to move documents and metadata. Updating all the company’s user details will also take a considerable amount of time. To be successful, an ESN relies on its connection to the company content. Be sure to have a plan in place for moving content and maintaining it after the move. 

3. Develop a formal adoption strategy

Make a plan for training employees on the new system. All employees won’t be able to train at the same time, which means a schedule must be established. Once everyone has been trained, there needs to be somewhere within the system where employees can go to refresh their memories if they get stuck.

When new features are introduced, post instructions on user forums. Host lunch-and-learn sessions for employees who would like someone to guide them through the new options. Some employees would rather send an email or post a message online with their questions. Give them that option too, so they can get assistance in a way that they feel comfortable with. 

4. Establish guidelines for using the enterprise social media platform

Before launching the ESN for the business, employees should set guidelines for acceptable use. These guidelines should cover appropriate business etiquette when using these social tools. Compliance guidelines should also be discussed. 

5. Recruit socially active employees to help with adoption

Find employees who are already active on social media sites. These workers can bring their experience and enthusiasm to the table to encourage their coworkers in getting on board with the company ESN. They can also be a source of help and support for employees who may have questions or concerns about participating in discussions or posting comments using the ESN software. 

6. Avoid using the ESN as a silo

Introducing an ESN to the company is meant to share information between teams, not keep it limited to silos that are only accessed by specific groups within the company. Unless the information is specifically marked as confidential, it should be shared openly so that more employees can access it and benefit from it. Shared knowledge will allow workers to become more competent, confident, and efficient when performing their duties.

7. Design the business enterprise social network for mobile applications

Many employees will be accessing the ESN with a mobile device. Be sure that the enterprise social network is designed with this in mind. If employees can’t read the login screen easily or access the apps they want to use, they won’t continue to use the ESN on their mobile devices.

8. Use the ESN to streamline your business

Integrate the ESN with the company intranet along with email and messaging capabilities. Integrate the enterprise social network with business apps employees are already using. This step will streamline your business and help employees to become more efficient. 

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