Now that we have discussed the ins and outs of the groundswell based on the relationship between the customer and the organization, there is yet another perspective to consider to create a successful groundswell!
In chapter 12 of Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies by Li and Bernoff, it talks about the groundswell inside of an organization. In addition, the chapter explains how internal groundswell benefits the management to employee relationship. Finally, the chapter highlights strategies for nurturing the internal groundswell. In the text, one of the three case studies mentioned was Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation.
“They tap the power of the groundswell of ideas among the people who best how your business runs your employees” (Li and Bernoff).
Basically, what Best Buy was able to accomplish was create a dynamic social workspace that treated employees as if they were people, not a company. They focused on support management, voiced opinions, and sought feedback from their employees using this new social community. They used forums for employees to comment and post about various pieces of technology that Best Buy would carry, and received input and opinions from other Best Buy employees around the world that were able to answer their questions because they knew more about the product based on first hand experience.
The key objectives that Blue Shirt Nation accomplishes:
- Listening: “with employees, listening can turn rapidly into problem solving” (Li and Bernoff 237).
- Talking: “post policy changes where everyone can read them and see how they’re playing in Peroria” (Li and Bernoff 238).
- Energizing: “amplifies (an enthusiastic employee’s) voice across the entire Best Buy employee bases. She spreads her positive thinking and advice, which has an impact on stores everywhere” (Li and Bernoff 237).
- Supporting: “employees can find the support they need from around the company” (Li and Bernoff 271).
- Embracing: “community turned out to be away to surface both ideas and great talent” (Li and Bernoff).
LinkedIn is a prime example of a social platform that utilizes the Best Buy case study. The platform is a popular business centered social hub for work related connections. It encourages people to develop a professional online environment that is easy to use. LinkedIn is strictly used for exchanging knowledge, ideas, and employment opportunities and has increasingly become a leading tool for helping individuals expand their networks as well as find jobs in their field.
The platform boasts many features that mirrors the strategy that Best Buy used in the case study. Not only can you upload your resume to the site, it also allows users to add keywords to their bio so other people can find you easier. This type of headline on your profile will boost your profile traffic and make you more appealing to employers seeking a specific characteristic or skill.
Another feature that LinkedIn utilizes is the ability for users to create a professional gallery with work examples, photos and video. Visual content and creating a portfolio of examples is very important for your profile page. From here, users of the platform can view each others profiles and reach out to connect with them with just one click. It’s that easy!
Overall, the online business platform has mastered what Li and Bernoff mention in Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Users of LinkedIn get to listen and talk to each through the online LinkedIn chat room. This energizes the platform’s groundswell, so more and more people recognize the trend and end up building a profile on the website. People then begin to create connections thanks to the algorithm of the site, making collaboration and communication much easier than Facebook for example. Again, users can also support each other through the ease of connecting through comments or chat rooms, which then leads to the embracing. Users of LinkedIn have learned to embrace the platform’s main goal, which is to help employers find the perfect employees that best fit their need for their company, which leads to valuable experiences on both ends.
This is why it is so important to have ideas to build the internal groundswell. It is one thing to have a strong following on social media accounts, but if there is no cohesiveness behind the screens of the people who manage those accounts, there is sure to be some issues. Whether it is a lack of a company atmosphere, lack of original ideas, or just unhappy employees in general. Companies need to satisfy all of the key factors that Li and Bernoff discuss with the Best Buy case study in order to maintain their social media presence. If there are employees that complain about how they are not being listened to or if the company is struggling with negative reviews both online and inside the company or organization itself, they may be deemed for failure.
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