Page 377 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

same content that others find useful. And very often, they have deeper questions
beyond the content — and are always seeking people who can answer those ques-
tions. All the major enterprise search vendors, such as Endeca (www.endeca.com),
which is now owned by Oracle, and Apache Lucene (lucene.apache.org) offer
some form of social search.

Allowing alternative access

Critical to the success of any intranet today — and even more so if it’s one that
needs to spur collaboration — is the ability to provide multiple ramps into the
intranet. You must build functionality so that employees can install a desktop
widget that serves as a mini-window that’s easily accessible to the intranet,
updating them on who has posted what and making it extremely easy to upload
content and share it themselves.

Similarly, building a mobile version of your intranet is important so that employees
can get updates on their smartphones and iPads about new information published
and collaboration spaces that they are participating in. Notifications are extremely
important tools that further collaboration and social influence. Each time someone
submits something to a collaboration space, the other members should be notified
(if they so choose).

Promoting the value of historical record

Wikipedia (shown in Figure 24-4) has done an immense amount to teach the
value of a historical record. Whether your intranet has wiki functionality (the
ability for anyone to format and edit the page), definitely make sure that the pages
have roll-back functionality (the ability to see previous versions of the page).

With roll-back functionality (or version control, as some people call it), employees
can always look at previous versions of pages. Or in the case of discussion areas,
employees can view earlier collaboration, which often provides great insight as
time passes. But more than that, the transparency that comes with having roll-
back functionality builds trust and openness in a way that no top-down commu-
nication can.

Giving your intranet a pulse

Intranet managers can learn a lot from the social web. Probably the most impor-
tant lesson is for you to give your intranet a pulse. To fuel those social connections
and encourage employees to collaborate with each other on the intranet, you must
make sure that the intranet provides the ongoing motivations for people to
collaborate.

CHAPTER 24 Encouraging Employees to Advocate for Your Brand on Social Media 361