Earlier this year we wrote a blog on collaboration tools and ' maintaining momentum'. We highlighted senior stakeholder involvement, quality training, clear system ownership, channel exclusivity and giving people a reason to come back as five of the drivers key to maintain this momentum. Six months on we are slightly older and wiser(ish) and in the spirit of perpetual learning, we are back – and with a few extra thoughts on how you can keep engagement up. In short: be inclusive, be entertaining, don't be too formal.

Be inclusive

Social networks can often become cliquey or a discussion ground for a small number of particularly social staff. While having this hyper-engagement is good for some (indeed many firms strive for these 'superfans' both internally and externally), new joiners and less frequent commentators can feel left out. While for some, no carrot to get involved will ever be big enough, a warm welcome and engagement in conversation can be a great help to others. Most of us don't want to feel excluded (or that the boss is watching every move we make), so having this extra engagement for new or more distant colleagues can be a great help to generating valuable content.

Keep it entertaining

We've all see some groups and forums online that, for want of a better word, are quite boring – but, it doesn't need to be this way! As infographics have shown, beautiful presentation can transform how engaging and entertaining content is. At a recent presentation, a representative from a major UK newspaper was discussing its digital strategy, and how it managed to get the greatest social engagement through the use of videos with not a piece of actual newspaper in sight. In terms that will resonate with the management consultancy world - not everything need be in PowerPoint and let's not even discuss using Word!

It doesn't always have to be formal!

Forums and groups that do best are the ones that are often a little irreverent or informal, as contributors want to get involved and conversation easily flows. Conversely those that are formal (read dry) can quickly become stale. When first getting going with a collaboration tool, why not try selecting a less formal route first? It can be a great way to get off the ground, people can self-start, see that it's not just another scary corporate tool, build confidence and engagement – all forming the foundations for users to feel confident in collaborating in the next wave around work matters.

One of the greatest challenges and opportunities with social is the 'doublethink' way in which it is continually evolving and is both formal and informal. Whilst our last blog highlighted some of the more traditional or formal methods, a key take-away should be that these approaches are not mutually exclusive. Each driver represents a lever, what's the balance you need to strike to maintain momentum? 

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