New book addresses most common pitfalls of internal social networks

London, United Kingdom, 12/04/2013 / SubmitMyPR /

There's a Social Enterprise revolution going on. The new collaborative tools like Yammer, Chatter and Jive are changing the way employees communicate and collaborate all over the world. Yet, the path to a successful enterprise social network is not easy. In fact, research firm Gartner estimates that through 2015, 80 percent of social business efforts will not achieve the intended benefits.

Internal Social Networks The Smart Way is a practical guide book that addresses the most common problems internal communications professionals and other “internal change agents” face when trying to make a social network part of their organisation’s communication culture.

“One reason why so many internal social networks fail is the belief that an enterprise social network is like Facebook and it should grow organically. A more effective approach is that of internal movement building”, the author Virpi Oinonen says.

The book is unique because it’s aimed for those who are driving the change on the ground - and these are not usually senior managers. This book gives tools to drive change even if you wouldn’t be in a position of power in your organisation.

“I’ve been in that situation, and I know how difficult it can be to change people’s behaviour and rally support from the top. The good news is that it is possible to make social inroads even into a traditional, hierarchical organisation”.

Senior managers might be interested in the book to get a glimpse of the challenges their staff face with internal social networks and get ideas on how to support them in the process.

In the book Virpi Oinonen shares strategies and stories of those who have successfully introduced collaborative change within companies as diverse as Cargill, Molson Coors, and National Australia Bank. This is backed with a wealth of research evidence from the likes of McKinsey and Gartner. It gives the reader not only a path to follow but resources and practical tips on how to oil the wheels of change within an organisation.

There's one other ingredient which makes this book special - cartoons! Author Virpi Oinonen believes in the power of visual explanation, and she has not only illustrated the book but also created 50 high-resolution downloadable cartoons and infographics that explain the key concepts in a clear and fun way.

Internal Social Networks The Smart Way is a Business Goes Social publication and can be purchased from www.businessgoessocial.net.

The content of the book is applicable to most enterprise social network tools (Yammer, Jive, Chatter etc) but the examples are drawn from Yammer.