By The Social Business Council with Sandy Adam, Vishal Agnihotri, Stephane Aknin, Chris Dittrick, Patrick O’Brien, Dennis Pearce, Sharon Lina Pearce, and Simon Vaughan Published October 22, 2013

1. 4 Essential
Steps to
Social
Network
Critical Mass
By The Social Business Council
with Sandy Adam, Vishal Agnihotri, Stephane Aknin, Chris Dittrick,
Patrick O’Brien, Dennis Pearce, Sharon Lina Pearce, and Simon Vaughan
Published October 2, 2013

2. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
4 Essential Steps
to Hit Critical Mass
Before a user invests time and energy into a social
platform, they have to know they will receive value in
return. The conundrum that every social business
professional faces is that the greatest value is only
realized when there is a critical mass of individuals on
the platform. So how does one grow from nothing and
hit this critical mass? This white paper explains how.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview on how to create a
critical mass of users on an enterprise social network. The topics covered in
this paper are:
• How to quickly display value
• How to allay user fears of participation
• How to onboard individuals
• What to measure to keep the community growing.
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3. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
Be Quick to Display Value
In order for a user to invest their energy into a
platform, they have to see that there will be a return
on their investment. If there is not a clear, short path
to value, adoption is constrained.
Tips: Showing ROI
• “[Show ROI through] success stories and
anecdotes: someone who was able to land
a big customer, solve a problem, etc.
thanks to our content management and
collaboration tools. If you are looking to
justify the system prior to implementation,
you might turn it around and also look for
stories of failure where the organization
lost money or time because there was not a
system in place.”
Start with a thorough exploration. Understanding
how a user will benefit from the platform begins with
knowing their pain points, workflows, and other
motivations to connect with others in the
organization and share information. Bringing key
stakeholders together for workshops, interviewing
employees, and mapping out current workflows are
great ways to uncover possibilities for low
investment, valuable wins.
• “Process improvement: this is where you
can get unambiguous ROI if you capture
process baseline data prior to
implementation and then measure later to
look for improvements in speed, quality,
etc. Any processes that depend on having
the right information at the right time are
good candidates.”
Focus on manageable use cases. In the early stages
of building out an ESN (Enterprise Social Network) it
is a good idea to focus in on two or three
manageable use cases that promise a lot of pull
from the organization. Success in these initial
projects will demonstrate the value of the social
program to the rest of the organization. Make sure
that these initial use cases are closely aligned with
business objectives, as success here will drive home
the importance of the initiative to those who are on
the fence.
• “Employee surveys: asking questions along
the lines of "how satisfied are you with the
information you have to do your job" can
be an indicator of the need for a KM
system, and used as a baseline to refer
back to after implementation. Periodically
reissue the survey to see how or if things
have changed. I also have occasionally
done SNA-type surveys to see how
connections between employees are
Activities in this early stage should include:
1. Generating user profiles and behavioral models
for key user segments
changing.”
2. Designing the IA (information architecture) to
complete key workflows
3. Developing user journeys (for both present and future states) to inform
development
4. Identify quick wins closely tied to business objectives.
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4. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
Allay Fears
Moving to a transparent workplace is intimidating for many people. Your users
will worry about increased scrutiny on their work or making mistakes such as
posting discussions in the wrong group. Much of this depends on company
culture. If a firm does not have a culture of open collaboration and
transparency, then the shift to this new way of working will be quite difficult.
Also, if employees are not used to learning from each other and
collaborating, then sharing one’s work is a big step.
Leadership should set the tone through active participation in the social
network. Others will follow their lead. As more people start working
transparently, others will join in to participate in what they see as a lively
community that has executive sponsorship.
Tip: Setting the Tone
A clear governance model can remove fears. What
“Some of the best posts are a clever mix
is allowed to be posted where? What can be shared
between professional and personal
inside a private group versus open forums? What is
perspectives. CEOs can be very good at that,
the tone of the community? Is it strictly professional,
sharing a piece of their day-to-day, while
or is there room for off-topic conversations?
opening debate for some business-oriented
Establish guidelines that show how to interact
topics. It helps people get to know each
without breaking rules. People sometimes don’t
other, it creates a culture of openness that
eventually leads to efficiency in the
participate, because they don’t know how. Empower
company.”
them to become active on the platform by showing
them how to participate through simple, clear
guidelines. In these guidelines, be explicit about the
understanding that there will be honest mistakes, and that they will only
serve as a learning opportunity.
Identify where the fear lies. Are employees worried about their work being
exposed to management? Are they worried about accidentally breaking the
rules? This data is essential when encouraging adoption. To overcome some of
the fear users may have, the following actions may help:
1. Developing clear guidelines for how the community should be used and
will be governed, including clauses around freedom of speech and
possible areas of contention such as religion and politics
2. Conducting online surveys to find out what users are afraid of
3. Ensuring leadership is active on the platform and demonstrating the value
of conversational/unpolished content contribution
4. Set a tone of trust on the platform. Employees should feel trusted to
make the right decisions as to what to share where. They should also feel
that it is acceptable to make honest mistakes.
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5. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
Onboarding
Adding an enterprise social network to the list of
communications tools is akin to giving everyone a
second e-mail inbox. To many, a new social network
just sounds like more work.
Insight: The Importance of the Profile
“Your personal profile introduces you to
your network; the one you already have
and the one you are creating. Your virtual
teammates will likely want to look at your
pictures. They can see what you look like,
what you and your family like to do on
vacation and if you have any pets. Since
they cannot walk by your desk and see
your photos and decorations, re-create a
bit of your desktop online.”
Interactive training. Hold hands on, interactive
sessions where employees cover the absolute
fundamentals: registration; creating a profile;
searching for people and groups; joining a group;
starting discussions; and creating, uploading, and
referencing documentation.
Manage expectations. It can be a long journey to hit
critical mass. And even when critical mass is
achieved, the community manager’s job doesn’t end;
it’s important to keep pushing adoption. One Council
member said that, "There may be people who are
slow on the adoption curve, yet are the one's with the
real ‘golden nuggets’ as far as business value goes.
You have to keep pushing education to get to those
people."
“You will continue to expand your network
as you look for and find people who work
in a certain department or have a particular
expertise. Describe your expertise in your
profile. If the profile allows for tagging,
remember that those tags should reflect
much of what your profile describes!
Encourage others to do the same; you need
to locate experts too.”
Some actions that you might want to take in this
stage are:
1. Run hands-on training to get people familiar with
the very basics of the social platform.
2. Keep users engaged after training by giving them
projects to work on.
3. Continue onboarding even after a critical mass
has been reached. Business value may come
from unexpected places.
Tip: Nurturing Activity
“I've found that nurturing our readers and
commenting back on their comments helps
them get excited about the platform. After
a short time they get brave and add their
own content, in which case I make sure to
comment on their posts. In some cases it
gets to be a little bit of a competition. If
they see their peers posting, they feel the
need to post as well. One strategy I use is
to pick a ‘champion’ and enlist them to
help me execute the nurturing program.”
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6. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
Measure What Matters
Are users receiving value from your community?
There are some basic rules of thumb that are used
by community managers.
Tip: Some Other Key Measurements
• Members active within the past 30 days.
How quickly and thoroughly are questions being
answered? Many community managers agree that
there should be a 24 hour rule. Each new post should
be responded to within a day. Also, it matters who is
answering the question. It is nice for the community
manager to answer a post, but a user will appreciate
it more if someone revered in the community took
the time to respond to them.
• Increase in active members to increase in
registered members. This will tell you
how you are doing at on boarding and if
people see value in the community.
• Most active members. A community
manager should pay the most attention
to the core members. They are invaluable
and will keep the community active even
in slow times.
Which discussion threads are the most active? For a
while, getting conversations going will be a bit of a
guessing game. Even though a community manager
might know the audience, some topics will resonate
with the community, and some will not. One should
look at the data to see which threads have the most
traction. This way, in the future, the community
manager will have a higher “hit” rate.
• Activity by group. A community shouldn't
be too spread out, because people will
miss new discussions and new members.
However, it should have enough groups
so people can find relevant content.
• Speed of replies to discussions. A good
rule of thumb is to have all posts replied
to within 24 hours.
Are there any particular times when activity is
highest? Does activity correlated with the date, with
new posts, or with newsletters? Once the community
manager has an idea for what keeps the community
buzzing, he or she will know what to do to keep the
community growing towards a critical mass.
• Content popularity. Each piece of content
can and should be measured. How many
people read it, how many responded to
it. This will indicate which content items
are most popular and should be focused
on in the future.
This list is far from exhaustive. In fact, the metrics for
online communities is a fascinating, deep topic.
Richard Millington has a great post* to get someone started.
Some actions that you might want to take in this stage are:
1. Work backward. Define the business objectives first, then identify the ways
the community will act as a tool or catalyst to reach them.
2. Set up metrics to track if the community is operating like it needs to so
business objectives can be reached.
3. Keep an eye on community health metrics. The community is the strategy
to achieve the ultimate business metrics. Maintaining a healthy
community is vital to any social collaboration initiative.
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7. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
Conclusion
One of the reasons creating an internal social network is difficult
is because the greatest value is unlocked only after a large
amount of people are participating. Adoption velocity builds
slowly, so it’s important to be patient. With enough persistence,
momentum will kick in and the firm will eventually reap the
benefits of a network that has reached its critical mass.
What is the Social Business Council?
The Social Business Council explores the latest topics in social business and social
marketing, and provides a place for peers, colleagues, and world-renowned thought
leaders to share tips and best practices for the internal and external application of
social business.
Who is Dachis Group?
Dachis Group is a leader in data-driven social marketing solutions. Utilizing a
proprietary big data analytics platform, Dachis Group helps marketers master the
most valuable brand marketing channel in the world – the real-time social
conversations of their customers.
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8. 4 Essential Steps to Social Network Critical Mass | October 2, 2013
About the Authors
Sandy Adam, Social Media Marketing Manager at ANSYS - Sandy manages the
development, deployment, and strategic vision of the global social media
marketing strategy for ANSYS, Inc., driving brand awareness and engagement
with engineers in finite element analysis, (CFD) computational fluid dynamics,
electronics and electromagnetics, and design optimization. Sandy earned her
bachelors degree at Alverno College.
Vishal Agnihotri, Head of Knowledge, Americas Financial Services with Earnst &
Young - Vishal leads the Knowledge group dedicated to the Americas Financial
Servies Office, which supports the practice by scanning the market landscape
and identifying white space in key global accounts. She catalyzes the successful
pursuit of business opportunities, speed to market and overall competitiveness
through the use of Collaboration tools and Research and Analysis within the
Americas practice of 6,500 professionals. Vishal earned her bachelors degree
at The University of Leicester.
Stephane leads the business and change management program for the Global
Intranet Program. He heads up strategy for the AXA corporate website and is a
member of the communication steering community. He specializes in ecommunications, social business, community management, social media, and
online video. He graduated with his master's degree in International Trade from
The Universite Paris V.
Chris Dittrick, Enterprise Collaboration and Social Business Consultant, working
with Suncor Energy - Chris is responsible for the implementation of Suncor’s
collaboration roadmap. Chris utilizes his deep information technology and
consulting experience to facilitate his clients’ social journeys. He works with
teams to identify high value use-cases and sees a solution through to technical
implementation. Chris received his bachelors degree at The University of
Calgary.
Patrick O’Brien, Strategist at Dachis Group - Patrick works to develop social
media strategies for enterprises using insights derived from Dachis Group’s big
data social marketing platform. He also acts as the community manager for the
Social Business Council, a Social Business CoP for some of the world’s largest
brands. Patrick received his bachelors degree from The University of Texas and
his MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Dennis Pearce, Enterprise Knowledge Architect with Lexmark - Dennis started as
a plastics manufacturing engineer for AMP then IBM. He moved into IBM's
,
Plastics Technology Center in the 1980s where he developed an interest in
artificial intelligence and began working on manufacturing-related expert
systems. The AI interest morphed into a KM interest in the 1990s, which
prompted him to go back for his PhD that led to his present job. Dennis earned
his bachelors degree at Lehigh, his MBA at UNC-Charlotte, and PHD in Decisions
Sciences.
Sharon Lina Pearce, Social Learning Professional at Alcatel-Lucent - Sharon has
worked in collaborative training since the inception of an internal social network
at Alcatel-Lucent. Among her responsibilities are creating learning itineraries for
Alcatel-Lucent’s new personal learning environment, internal communication
and the training department contact for social network and language issues.
Lina earned her bachelors degree from The Johns Hopkins University.
Simon Vaughan, Social Business Consultant at Outside in Collaboration - Simon
is an evangelist for the adoption of Social Business, He has recently established
a consultancy practice to help organizations adopt Social Business. For two
consecutive years, he was announced as one of 50 Global IBM Collaboration
Champions. Simon graduated from the University of Wales, Swansea.
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