Involving employees in the 2.0 communication strategy: THE CONVERSATION CHALLENGE

The reputation economy has forced brands to join a new world of conversations. The old times of the information control and the opinion forming elite have ended up and the multi-stakeholder conversations approach (where everybody talks to everybody no matter they are employees, journalists, regulators or customers) is the new paradigm. From the consumers perspective, the most trusted sources of information are the regular employees (‘a person like me’ in words of the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer). In addition to that, according once again to the Edelman research the new consumer needs to hear companies’ information 3-5 times to believe the messages.

In this context, companies’ employees are absolutely necessary to deal with all this new world of conversations not only offline but also in the 2.0 environment. The Chief Communication Officers have now more than ever a strategic role in promoting these conversations in the right way (which means building a positive reputation). How? Building trust (falling barriers down, defining play rules, etc.), empowering staff (training, tools, support, etc.), developing a strong story telling and proactively identifying new conversation spaces and opportunities.

Below I include a more detailed presentation that I used in the European Communication Summit 2014 in Brussels.