For the second time, Evolve has investigated how Dutch organizations use internal social media to create communities that have a lasting impact. The goal? Provide a broad, comparative view of the current state of affairs in the field of internal communities. 117 organizations took part.
In in 2014, Evolve investigated for the first time how far Dutch organizations are with the use of internal social media. We concluded that many organizations had started working with internal communities with enthusiasm and in full conviction of the added value. nevertheless, it also became clear that the field was still in its infancy and there was a lot of room for professionalization.
117 organizations participated in the follow-up study, 91 of which report using internal social media. The participating organizations were (again) compared on the basis of the maturity model for internal social media developed by Evolve. This model does not look at current success, but at the extent to which the preconditions for achieving that success have been fulfilled per organization.
Increasingly professional, room for growth
In particular, the design of internal social media is becoming more and more professional. For example, important organizational activities such as moderation and activation are now more often invested in job descriptions – and therefore less without obligation. More organizations are also setting goals for the use of internal social media. Where in 2014 these goals were mostly hung on page views, posts and interactions, now more attention is paid to what the platform contributes to the organization.
In addition, it turns out that the responsibility for the internal platform is regularly shared. Although the communication department is usually (ultimately)responsible, we see that the substantive responsibility for internal social media also lies with the business. Nevertheless, there is still enough room for growth. The ‘ improved goals’have yet to be translated into KPIs and targets. After all, you may wonder how valuable your goals are if you can’t measure whether you’re achieving them.
While the added value of internal social media – also outside the communication department-is recognized, organizations also indicate that employees still only need the internal platform to a limited extent to do their work and improve products and services. This is where the next step lies for many organizations: let internal social media really add value to work processes, make this measurable and steer it towards the intended results.
