Promoting Communication among Interns

Creating social media accounts for a group of people whose primary need is better communication that is more inclusive to the entire group seemed very easy. My choices of creating a Facebook group, Twitter and GroupMe chat options seemed like a reasonable idea. However, I learned so much from coordinating these sites over the past week. After the end of the week, I realized that the social media accounts helped TREMENDOUSLY in increasing communication between the entire, scattered group of interns. The purpose of the accounts was accurate and fulfilled by the end of the week.

First, the Facebook page was one of the most successful accounts of the three options. This allowed for the interns to post pictures, posts, or create calendar events for the group. It was apparent being able to create events that allowed ALL of the interns know through Facebook, versus only the few that used to know due to receiving information via verbal or texting communication. There was a really good response in regards to interactions with the posts and Facebook page as a whole. I myself was very impressed and satisfied that the group has 26 members, which exceeded the 25 member goal I originally had.

I created a Twitter account @DeereInterns to promote events and happenings in the intern group. As a whole, I realized this was probably my weakest social media account. The poll I originally sent out to see which sites people would be most interested in following said that Twitter was the 2^nd highest social media site that people would interact with. However, after a week, I only had 10 followers and very few likes on the tweets, and interaction with the account. One thing I could have done better given more time would have been a “takeover twitter” where an intern would tweet about their day, post pictures of what it is like to be a Deere intern. I could have also interacted with my followers a little more too to promote the twitter page. I may reevaluate the Twitter page if I were to do the account again.

Finally, the most successful social media platform was GroupMe, which allowed for a massive texting conversation amongst the intern group. Members can also “like” another intern’s post on the site. We have people planning events, getting advice from others or telling about funny things that happened throughout the day. I believe this was by far the most inclusive and effective social media site, with Facebook and the calendar invites/events coming in a close second. We had ALL the interns participate in the GroupMe, which was phenomenal and a major reason how I know that the GroupMe was a success. Businesses should implement a GroupMe feature or even a Microsoft Lync or Skype program to encourage fast and easy communication among employees, as this greatly increased communication and inclusion within the group.

                                                             

 

As far as advice I would give to the next class about the social media promotion project is:

·         It is difficult to gain followers. Be creative and know how to entice people to follow your social media account.

·         Social media accounts take a lot of time to be successful and effective if they are used for a business. Make sure you can allocate the necessary time that is required for each unique social media account.

·         Have fun with it. People usually enjoyed when I acted human more on the various sites than just reminding them of events, what the John Deere Company is currently doing, and more.

Overall, a very successful project and EXTREMELY insightful as far as how to increase communication among a group of young professionals.