1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Identify the major electronic media used for brief business messages and describe the seven compositional modes needed for electronic media 2. Describe the use of social networks, user-generated content sites, and community Q&A sites in business 3. Describe the evolving role of e-mail in business communication and explain how to adapt the three step writing process to e-mail messages 4. Describe the business benefits of (IM) and identify guidelines for effective IM in the workplace 5. Describe the use of blogging and microblogging in business communication and briefly explain how to adapt the three step process to blogging 6. Explain how to adapt the three-step writing process for

2 Media innovations empower customers and other stakeholders, and help companies connect with audiences in new ways. Although have reduced the amount of control that businesses have over the content and the process of communication, today’s smart companies are learning how to adapt their communication efforts to this new media landscape and to welcome customers’ participation. Social media are also revolutionizing internal communication, breaking down traditional barriers in the organizational hierarchy, promoting the flow of information and ideas, and enabling networks of individuals and organizations to collaborate on a global scale

3 4 Today’s business communicators have a broad range of options for sending brief messages (from one or two sentences up to several pages long): Social networking and community participation . Social networking sites such as and LinkedIn, user-generated content sites such as Flickr and YouTube, and community Q&A sites provide a variety of communication tools, including status updates, user comments, and personal profiles, that support brief messages. E-mail is a primary medium for most companies, although it is being replaced in many instances by social networks, instant messaging, blogging, , and other tools that provide better support for instant communication and real-time collaboration. Instant messaging (IM). After consumers around the world began to adopt IM as a faster and simpler alternative to e-mail, businesses weren’t far behind; computer-based IM usage now rivals e-mail in many companies. IM offers even greater speed than e-mail, as well as simple operation and— so far at least—fewer problems with unwanted messages or security and problems.

5 . Phone-based text messaging has a number of applications in business communication, including order and status updates, and sales messages, electronic coupons, and customer service. Texting is also used as a back channel during meetings and presentations, giving audience members the opportunity to ask questions and share information. Blogging and microblogging. The ability to update content quickly and easily makes a natural medium when communicators need to get messages out in a hurry. Microblogging systems such as are also being used widely in business, for everything from research and collaboration to customer service. Podcasts are the online equivalent of recorded radio or video broadcasts. Businesses are now using podcasts to replace or supplement conference calls, training courses, and other communication activities. Online video. Sites such as YouTube serve up videos to millions of viewers every day. Creating high-quality videos requires some time and expertise, but even the simple video functions now widely available in cameras and mobile phones can be useful for many other communication tasks.

6 While most of your business communication is likely to be via electronic means, don’t automatically dismiss the benefits of printed messages. Here are several situations in which you should use a printed message over electronic alternatives: •When you want to make a formal impression •When you want to stand out from the flood of electronic messages •When you are legally required to provide information in printed form •When you need a permanent, unchangeable, or secure record Obviously, if you can’t reach a particular audience electronically, you’ll also need to use a printed message.

7 While most of your business communication is likely to be via electronic means, don’t automatically dismiss the benefits of printed messages. Here are several situations in which you should use a printed message over electronic alternatives: •When you want to make a formal impression •When you want to stand out from the flood of electronic messages •When you are legally required to provide information in printed form •When you need a permanent, unchangeable, or secure record Obviously, if you can’t reach a particular audience electronically, you’ll also need to use a printed message.

8 The benefits of electronic media are numerous, but as lean media, they often lack the ability to convey nuances and raise the risk of miscommunication and unnecessary conflict. Given the spontaneous and sometimes anonymous nature of electronic media, you will sometimes need to work hard to keep your emotions from getting the best of you when you’re writing. Similarly, if you find yourself “stuck in a loop” with someone, sending message after message trying to resolve some point, or you are confused or offended by a message, consider picking up the phone or arranging an in-person meeting. All users of electronic media also share the responsibility for information security and privacy. One careless move is all it takes to release sensitive information or expose an entire network to security risks.

9 As electronic media continue to evolve, business professionals often need to keep learning the operational details of new systems. Fortunately, you can succeed with written communication in virtually all electronic media by using one of the following compositional modes: Conversations. IM is a great example of a written medium that mimics spoken conversation. The ability to think, compose, and type relatively quickly is important to maintaining the flow of an electronic conversation. Comments and critiques. One of the most powerful aspects of social media is the opportunity to express opinions and provide feedback, whether it’s leaving comments on a post or reviewing products on an e-commerce site. On the downside, rants, insults, jokes, and blatant self-promotion are usually of little benefit to others. Orientations. The ability to help people find their way through an unfamiliar system or subject is a valuable writing skill. Writing effective orientations can be a delicate balancing act because you need to know the material well enough to guide others through it while being able to view it from the perspective of a “newbie.” Summaries. At the beginning of an article or webpage, a summary functions as a miniature version of the document, giving readers key points while skipping over the details. At the end of an article or webpage, a summary functions as a review, reminding readers of the key points they’ve just read.

10 As electronic media continue to evolve, business professionals often need to keep learning the operational details of new systems. Fortunately, you can succeed with written communication in virtually all electronic media by using one of the following compositional modes: Conversations. IM is a great example of a written medium that mimics spoken conversation. The ability to think, compose, and type relatively quickly is important to maintaining the flow of an electronic conversation. Comments and critiques. One of the most powerful aspects of social media is the opportunity to express opinions and provide feedback, whether it’s leaving comments on a blog post or reviewing products on an e-commerce site. On the downside, rants, insults, jokes, and blatant self-promotion are usually of little benefit to others. Orientations. The ability to help people find their way through an unfamiliar system or subject is a valuable writing skill. Writing effective orientations can be a delicate balancing act because you need to know the material well enough to guide others through it while being able to view it from the perspective of a “newbie.” Summaries. At the beginning of an article or webpage, a summary functions as a miniature version of the document, giving readers key points while skipping over the details. At the end of an article or webpage, a summary functions as a review, reminding readers of the key points they’ve just read.

11 Social networks are online services that enable individuals and organizational members to form connections and share information. These networks have become a major force in business communication in recent years. This section examines business communication uses of social networks, user-generated content (UGC) sites, and community question and answer (Q&A) sites.

12 Here are some of the key business applications of social networks: Gathering market intelligence. With hundreds of millions of people expressing themselves via social media, smart companies are listening. Recruiting and connecting. Companies use social networks to find potential employees, short-term contractors, subject-matter experts, product and service suppliers, and business partners. Marketing communication. Customers and potential customers don’t join a network merely to be passive recipients of advertising messages. Instead, they want to connect with fellow enthusiasts, share knowledge about products, communicate with company insiders, and influence the decisions that affect the products they value. This interactivity expedites conversation marketing, in which companies initiate and facilitate conversations in a networked community of customers and other interested parties. Fostering brand communities. People in brand communities are united by their interest in particular products. Formal and informal brand communities are becoming an essential information source in consumer buying decisions. Location-based social networking. Mobile consumers are a significant economic force, through their purchases and their influence on others.

13 Social networks offer lots of communication options, but with those opportunities comes a certain degree of complexity. Follow these guidelines to make the most of social networks for both personal branding and company communication: Choose the best compositional mode for each message, purpose, and network. As you visit various social networks, take some time to observe the variety of message types you see in different parts of each . Join existing conversations. Search for existing online conversations. Answer questions, solve problems, and respond to rumors and misinformation. Anchor your online presence in your hub. While it’s important to join those conversations and be visible where your stakeholders are active, it’s equally important to anchor your presence at your own central hub—a web presence that you own and control. Facilitate community building. Make it easy for customers and other audiences to connect with the company and with each other. Restrict conventional promotional efforts to the right time and right place. Persuasive communication efforts are still valid for specific communication tasks, such as regular advertising and the product information pages on a website. Maintain a consistent personality. Each social network is a unique environment with particular norms of communication. However, while adapting to the expectations of each network, be sure to maintain a consistent personality across all the networks in which you are active.

14 The business communication value of sites such as YouTube goes beyond the mere ability to deliver content. The social aspects of these sites, including the ability to vote for, comment on, and share material, encourage enthusiasts to spread the word about the companies and products they endorse. As with other social media, the keys to effective user-generated content are making it valuable and making it easy to use. Creating compelling and useful content is the key to leveraging the reach of social networks. Therefore, provide content that people want to see and share. In addition, the content must be easy to find, consume, and share. For example, a branded channel on YouTube lets a company organize all its videos in one place, making it easy for visitors to browse the selection or subscribe in order to get automatic updates of future videos. Sharing features let fans share videos through e-mail or their accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.

15 Community Q&A sites, on which visitors answer questions posted by other visitors, are a contemporary twist on the early ethos of computer networking, which was people helping each other. Community Q&A sites include dedicated customer support communities such as those hosted on Get Satisfaction, public sites such as Yahoo! Answers, and member-only sites such as LinkedIn Answers.

16 E-mail had a long head start on other forms of electronic communication, and it has been a primary communication medium for many companies. However, newer tools such as instant messaging, blogs, microblogs, social networks, and shared workspaces are taking over specialized tasks for which they are better suited. Therefore, e-mail can seem a bit “old school,” but it is still one of the more important business communication tools.

17 E-mail has compelling advantages. First, e-mail is universal. Anybody with an e-mail address can reach anybody else with an e-mail address, no matter which systems the senders and receivers are on. You don’t need to join a special group in order to correspond. Second, e-mail is still the best medium for many private, short- to medium-length messages. Unlike IM, for instance, midsize messages are easy to compose and easy to read on e- mail. Third, e-mail’s non-instantaneous nature is an advantage when used properly. E-mail allows senders to compose substantial messages in private and on their own schedule, and it allows recipients to read those messages at their leisure. However, using in the workplace does involve some challenges. For instance, e-mail presents considerable legal hazards. Therefore, many companies now have formal e-mail policies that specify how employees can use e-mail, including restrictions against personal use of company e-mail service and sending material that might be deemed objectionable. E-mail hygiene refers to all the efforts that companies are making to keep e-mail clean and safe—from spam blocking and virus protection to content filtering. Every e-mail user has a responsibility to avoid actions that could cause trouble, from downloading virus-infected software to sending objectionable photographs.

18 The ease of e-mail communication is its greatest strength—and its greatest weakness. Because sending e-mail is so easy, it is often overused and misused. Consequently, attention to e-mail etiquette is vital, and that starts in the planning stage. Most importantly, make sure every e-mail you send is necessary so that you don’t contribute to the deluge of messages of dubious importance. Moreover, many busy professionals are struggling to keep up with the flow of email messages; some reporting that they receive as many as 50 messages per hour from colleagues and clients. When analyzing your audience, think twice before sending copies to multiple recipients with the “cc” (courtesy copy) function. Conversely, as a manager, make sure that your e-mail habits don’t cause productivity problems for your staff. Be sure to respect the chain of command. In many companies, any employee can e-mail anyone else, including the president and CEO. However, take care that you don’t abuse this freedom.

19 Perhaps the most important single point to recognize about e-mail in the workplace is that the nature of business e-mail is dramatically different from that of personal e-mail. As a general rule, the time you might save with careless e- mail writing won’t make up for the damage it can do to your career. The subject line in an e-mail might seem like a minor detail, but it’s actually one of the most important parts of every e-mail message because it helps recipients decide which messages to read and when to read them. Missing or poorly written subject lines often result in messages being deleted without even being opened. In addition, many e-mail programs display the first few words or lines of incoming messages, even before the recipient opens the messages. In the words of social media expert Steve Rubel, you can “tweetify” the opening lines of your e-mail messages to make them stand out. In other words, choose the first few words carefully to grab your reader’s attention. Think of the first sentence as an extension of your subject line.

20 Particularly for important messages, a few moments of revising and proofing might save you hours of headaches and damage control. Also, lean in favor of simplicity when it comes to producing your e-mail messages. A clean, easily readable font, in black on a white background, is sufficient for nearly all e-mail messages. Take advantage of your e-mail system’s ability to include a signature (most corporate systems support this). The signature gives your messages a more professional appearance and makes it easy for others to communicate with you through other channels. When you’re ready to distribute your message, pause to verify what you’re doing before you click “Send.” Double-check your addressees to make sure you’ve included everyone necessary—and no one else. Don’t set the message priority to “High” or “Urgent” unless your message is truly urgent. Finally, if you intend to include an attachment, be sure that it is attached.

21 22 For both routine communication and exchanges during online meetings, IM is now widely used throughout the business world. Business-grade IM systems offer a range of capabilities, including basic chat, presence awareness, remote display of documents, video capabilities, remote control of other computers, automated newsfeeds from blogs and websites, and automated bot capabilities. Text messaging has a number of applications in business as well, including marketing, customer service, security, crisis management, and process monitoring. However, since IM is currently more versatile and more widely used in business than text messaging, the following sections focus on IM. However, many of the benefits, risks, and guidelines that pertain to IM will pertain to text messaging as well.

23 The benefits of IM in meetings (and in the workplace in general) include its rapid response to urgent messages, lower cost than both phone calls and e-mail, ability to mimic conversation more closely than e-mail, and availability on a wide range of devices from PCs to phones to PDAs.

24 Of course, wherever technology goes, trouble seems to follow. The potential drawbacks of IM include security problems, the need for user authentication, the challenge of logging messages for later review and archiving, incompatibility between competing IM systems, and “spim” messages. Fortunately, with the growth of enterprise instant messaging (EIM), IM systems designed for large- scale corporate use, many of these problems are being overcome.

25 Although instant messages are often conceived, written, and sent within a matter of seconds, the principles of the three-step process still apply: Planning instant messages. Except for simple exchanges, take a moment to plan IM “conversations” in much the same way you would plan an important conversation. A few seconds of planning can help you deliver information in a coherent, complete way that minimizes the number of individual messages required. Writing instant messages. As with e-mail, the appropriate writing style for business IM is more formal than the style you may be accustomed to with personal IM or text messaging. Completing instant messages. The only task in the completing stage is to send your message. Just quickly scan it before sending, to make sure you don’t have any missing or misspelled words and verify that your message is clear and complete.

26 To use IM effectively, keep in mind some important behavioral issues: the potential for constant interruptions, the ease of accidentally mixing personal and business messages, the risk of being out of the loop (when you are away from your PC or other IM device), and the vast potential for wasted time. Regardless of the system you may be using, you can make IM more efficient and effective by following these tips: •Be courteous when using IM; unless the message is urgent, use email or another type of message. •Unless a meeting is scheduled, make yourself unavailable when you need to focus on other work. •If you are not on a secure system, do not send confidential information. •Be extremely careful about sending personal messages—they have a tendency to pop up on other people’s computers at embarrassing moments. •Do not use IM for important but impromptu meetings if you cannot verify that everyone will be present. •Do not use IM for lengthy, complex messages; email is better for those. •Try to avoid carrying on multiple IM conversations at once to minimize the chance of sending messages to the wrong people. •Follow all security guidelines designed to protect information and systems.

27 A blog (short for web log) is an online journal that is much easier to personalize and update than a conventional website. Blogs have a unique ability to encourage interaction with a large, geographically dispersed audience.

28 Good business blogs and microblogs pay close attention to several important elements: •Communicating with personal style and an authentic voice •Delivering new information quickly •Choosing topics of peak interest to audiences •Encouraging audiences to join the conversation

29 Blogs are a potential solution whenever you have a continuing stream of information to share with virtually any online audience. Here are some of the many ways businesses are using blogs: Project management and team communication. Keeping project teams up to date. Company news. Informing employees about general business matters. Customer support. Answering questions and offering tips and advice. Recruiting. Telling potential employees about the benefits of working at a firm and responding to their questions.

30 Public relations and media relations. Sharing company news with both the general public and journalists. Policy and issue discussions. Offering a public forum for discussing legislation, regulations, and other broad issues of interest to an organization. Crisis communication. Using blogs is a convenient way to provide up-to-the- minute information during emergencies, correct misinformation, or respond to rumors. Market research. In addition to using their own blogs to solicit feedback, today’s companies should monitor blogs that are likely to discuss them, their executives, and their products.

31 Brainstorming. Online brainstorming via blogs offers a way for people to toss around ideas and build on each others’ contributions. Employee engagement. Blogs can enhance communication across all levels of a company. Viral marketing. Bloggers often make a point of providing links to other blogs and websites that interest them, giving marketers a great opportunity to have their messages spread by enthusiasts. Influencing traditional media news coverage. The more prolific bloggers who provide valuable and consistent content are often considered experts in their subject matter and are often called upon when journalists need insights into various topics. Community building. Communities of readers can “grow” around a popular blog, as readers participate in the flow of ideas via comments on various posts.

32 The three-step writing process you’ve already learned is easy to adapt to blogging tasks. The planning step is particularly important if you’re considering starting a blog, because you’re planning an entire communication channel, not just a single message. Pay close attention to your audience, your purpose, and your scope. Except for team blogs and other efforts with an obvious and well-defined audience, defining your target audience can be a challenge. You want an audience large enough to justify the time you’ll be investing, but narrow enough that you can provide an identifiable focus for the blog. Unlike a personal blog, in which you typically write about whatever interests you, a business blog needs to have a business-related purpose that is important to both your company and your chosen audience. Defining the scope of your blog can be a bit tricky. You want to cover a subject area that is broad enough to offer discussion possibilities for months or years, but narrow enough to have an identifiable focus.

33 After you begin writing your blog, the careful planning needs to continue with each message. Write in a comfortable, personal style. Naturally, your readers will expect you to be knowledgeable in the subject area your blog covers, but you don’t need to know everything about a topic. If you don’t have all the information yourself, simply provide links to other blogs and websites.

34 Completing messages for your blog is usually quite easy. Evaluate the content and readability of your message, proofread to correct any errors, then post the message using your blogging system’s tools. If your blog doesn’t already have one, be sure to include one or more newsfeed options so that your audience can automatically receive headlines. Finally, make your material easier to find by tagging it with descriptive words.

35 36 Microblogging is a variation on blogging in which messages are sharply restricted to specific character counts. Twitter is the best know of these systems, but many others exist. Many of the concepts of regular blogging apply to microblogging, although the severe length limitations call for a different approach to composition. Microblog messages often involve short summaries or teasers that provide links to more information. In addition, microblogs tend to have a stronger social aspect that make it easier for writers and readers to forward messages and for communities to form around individual writers. Like regular blogging, microblogging quickly caught on with business users to accomplish the following: providing company updates, offering coupons and sales notices, presenting tips on product uses, sharing information from experts, serving as the backchannel in meetings or presentations, and interacting with customers.

37 38 Podcasting is the process of recording audio or video files and distributing them online. Although podcasting is not used as widely as blogging and some other electronic media, it does offer a number of interesting possibilities for business communication.

39 The most obvious use for podcasting is to replace existing audio and video messages. Training is another good use. Sales representatives who travel to meet with potential customers can listen to podcasts to get the latest information on their companies’ products. Podcasts are also an increasingly common feature on blogs, letting audiences listen to or watch recordings of their favorite bloggers. In the coming years, podcasts may also begin to replace other media options as well. Real estate agents could record audio podcasts that potential homebuyers could listen to while walking through houses. Marketing departments could replace expensive printed brochures with video podcasts that demonstrate new products in action. Human resource departments could offer video tours of their companies to entice new recruits.

40 As with blogs, the three-step process also adapts nicely to podcasting. You’ve already chosen the medium, so focus the planning step on analyzing the situation, gathering the information you’ll need, and organizing your material. One vital step depends on whether you intend to create podcasts for limited use or to create a podcasting channel, designed for a wider public audience. If you plan on creating a channel, consider the topics you will address over time to make sure that you have a sustainable purpose. As you organize and move into the writing step, pay close attention to previews, transitions, and reviews. These steering devices are especially vital in audio and video recordings because these formats lack the visual cues that audiences rely on in print media. You’ll need to decide whether to (a) script your podcast completely then read it word for word or (b) improvise from a speaking outline and notes. In the completing step, keep in mind that making edits is much more difficult in an audio or video medium such as podcasting. Therefore, take extra care to revise your script or think through your speaking notes before you begin to record. The closer you can get to recording podcasts in one take, the more productive you will be. When each recording is ready, use your system’s tools to prepare the audio file and publish it via a newsfeed. You may also want to integrate your podcasts with a related blog. Doing so will allow you to provide additional information, and encourage feedback from your audience.

41 The equipment needed to record podcasts depends on the degree of production quality you want to achieve and whether you plan to record in a studio or on the go. Most personal computers, smartphones, and other devices now have basic audio recording capability, including built-in microphones, and free editing software is available online. If you need higher production quality or greater flexibility, you’ll need to add additional pieces of hardware and software, such as an audio processor (to filter out extraneous noise and otherwise improve the audio signal), a mixer (to combine multiple audio or video signals), a better microphone, and more sophisticated recording and editing software. You may also need to improve the acoustics of the room in which you are recording, to minimize echoes, noise, and other problems. Podcasts can be distributed in several ways, including through media stores such as iTunes, dedicated podcast hosting services, or on a blog with content that supports the podcasting channel.

42 43 This concludes the PowerPoint presentation on Chapter 6, “Crafting Messages for Electronic Media.” During this presentation, we have accomplished the following learning objectives: 1. Identified the major electronic media used for brief business messages and described the seven compositional modes needed for electronic media 2. Described the use of social networks, user-generated content sites, and community Q&A sites in business communication 3. Described the evolving role of e-mail in business communication and explained how to adapt the three step writing process to e-mail messages 4. Described the business benefits of instant messaging (IM) and identified guidelines for effective IM in the workplace 5. Described the use of blogging and microblogging in business communication and briefly explained how to adapt the three step process to blogging 6. Explained how to adapt the three-step writing process for podcasts For more information about these topics, refer to Chapter 6 in Excellence in Business Communication.

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