Chapter Seven

Email and Social Media

for Business Communication

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Learning Objectives

LO7.1 Apply principles for writing effective emails.LO7.2 Explain how to handle emotion effectively in online communications.LO7.3 Describe strategies for managing digital message

overload.LO7.4 Explain characteristics of the emerging Social Age.LO7.5 Apply principles of effective social media use in professional settings.LO7.6 Build a credible online reputation.LO7.7 Describe the ethical use of social media for work.

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Most Effective Communication Channels for Coordinating Work

Table 7.1

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Creating Effective Emails

Email communication is the primary form of written business communication.

Most analysts expect it to be the primary tool for at least the next five to ten years in most companies

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Principles of Effective Emails

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Principles of Effective Emails

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Use Email for the Right Purposes

Email communication has few constraints (low cost, little coordination) and high control (the writer can think them out carefully, and they provide a permanent record)

It is rarely appropriate for sensitive or emotional communication tasks. It is also inefficient for facilitating discussions

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Ensure Ease of Reading

Provide a Short, Descriptive Subject Line

Keep Your Message Brief Yet Complete

Clearly Identify Expected Actions

Provide a Descriptive Signature Block

Use Attachments Wisely

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Less-Effective Email

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More-Effective EmailFigure 7.2

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Show Respect for Others’ Time

Select Message Recipients Carefully

Provide Timelines and Options

Be Careful about Using the Priority Flag

Let Others Know When You Will Take Longer than Anticipated to Respond or Take Action

Avoid Contributing to Confusing and Repetitive Email Chains

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Appropriate Response Timeto Emails

Figure 7.3

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Maintain Professionalism and Appropriate Formality

Avoid Indications That You View Email as Casual Communication

Apply the Same Standards of Spelling, Punctuation, and Formatting You Would for Other Written Documents

Use Greetings and Names

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Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility

Neutrality effect recipients are more likely to perceive messages

with an intended positive emotion as neutral

Negativity effect recipients are more likely to perceive messages

that are intended as neutral as negative

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Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility

Flames emails or other digital communications with

“hostile intentions characterized by words of profanity, obscenity, and insults that inflict harm to a person or an organization.”

Cyber silence nonresponse to emails and other

communications.

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Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility

Cyber incivility violation of respect

and consideration in an online environment based on workplace norms

Active, passive

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Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility

Reinterpretation involves adjusting your initial perceptions by

making more objective, more fact-based, and less personal judgments and evaluations

Relaxation involves releasing and overcoming anger and

frustration so that you can make a more rational and less emotional response.

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Less-Effective Response to an Angry Email

Figure 7.6

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Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility

Defusing involves avoiding

escalation and removing tension to focus on work objectives.

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More-Effective Response to Defuse an Angry Email

Figure 7.7

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Guidelines to Staying Responsive to Others

1.Check digital messages just two to four times each day at designated times

2.Turn off message alerts

3.Use rich channels such as face-to-face and phone conversations to accomplish a task completely

4.Avoid unnecessarily lengthening an email chain

5.Use automatic messages to help people know when you’re unavailable

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The Evolving WorkplaceFigure 7.8

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Communicating in the Workplace in the Social Age

Social Age an era in which

people engage in networked communication, collaborate across boundaries, and solve problems communally.

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Characteristics of the Social Age

Web 1.0 most Web pages were read-only and static

Web 2.0 read-write Web, where users interact extensively

with Web pages—authoring content, expressing opinions, and customizing and editing Web content among other things

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Comparisons Between User 1.0 and User 2.0

Table 7.2

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Characteristics of the Social Age

Increasingly, companies are adopting social networking platforms that contain Web 2.0 communication tools

These platforms contain many of the features available on social networking websites: user profiles, microblogs, blogs, wikis, and file uploading.

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Benefits and Challenges of Social Media in the Workplace

Table 7.3

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Internal Communication Tools for the Social Age

Organize Your Dashboard to Control Your Communication and Information Flow

Create a Complete and Professional Profile

Use Blogs for Team Communication

Use Wikis for Team Communication

Other Social Media Tools

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Sample Dashboard withEnterprise Social Software

Figure 7.9

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Use Blogs for Team Communication

Microblogs (such as Twitter) shorter blogs that contain just a few sentences,

are part of most enterprise social networking platforms

tools for broadcasting announcements and urgent information

Team blogs, project blogs

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Sample Team BlogFigure 7.10

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Use Wikis for Team Communication

Wikis collections of pages that anyone with approved

access can edit, thus lending themselves to collaborative writing.

allow employees to collaborate and participate in decision making more easily, creatively, and effectively

create a culture of transparency, simplicity, and openness

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Sample Wiki in Edit ModeFigure 7.11

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Guidelines for Using Social Media in the Workplace

Be an Active Contributor and Participate Often

Listen and Learn

Focus on Content

Make Your Content Accessible

Make Your Messages Authentic and Friendly

Be Responsive and Help Others

Respect Boundaries

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Manage Your Online Reputation

Personal brand A unique set of

professional skills and attributes that others associate with you

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Developing a Credible Online Reputation

Table 7.5

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Less-Effective Personal SocialNetworking Profile

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More-Effective PersonalSocial Networking Profile

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Use Social Media Ethically

Much more than your online reputation is at stake with social media use; the reputation and performance of your company is at stake as well

The line between what you believe is private use of social media and your role as an employee can be murky, since your private actions can damage your employer and hurt your career.

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Coca-Cola’s Social Media Guidelines

1. Adhere to the Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies.

2. You are responsible for your actions.

3. Be a “scout” for compliments and criticism.

4. Let the subject matter experts respond to negative posts.

5. Be conscious when mixing your business and personal lives.