Polycom has whole-heartedly jumped into the social media pool.  They incorporate Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs and LinkedIn into their communications strategy and have several accounts for each channel.  The company prominently displays this information on their website via a dedicated “Connect with Polycom using Social Media” in the newsroom section.

A review of how Polycom uses each channel revealed consistent messaging and current and up-to date information.  Some of the senior management team also regularly tweet and are active bloggers providing additional commentary on an industry-related topic or company specific news. With it increasingly difficult to attract and retain investors in this economy, this sends a very clear message in terms of their transparency and their personal interest in listening to their stakeholders.

The fact that the senior management is seemingly committed to the company’s social media strategy and that the company in general was doing such a great job over several social channels, I thought I’d contact them to see how they became to use the social networks they are; which department(s) is responsible for the strategy and who ultimately is in charge of the content.

After doing a scan of all of their social media accounts, I reached out to Caroline Japic (@CarolineJapic), Vice President, Corporate Communications and Customer Marketing as she was listed as the contact on Facebook.  As it turns out, the Corporate Communications team was instrumental in implementing Polycom’s social media strategy.  Here’s what we talked about:

1.    How long has Polycom been using social media? And what tool did you begin using first and why? Polycom employees began blogging several years ago, but we launched the official Polycom Social Media Program in January 2009. We created Twitter, LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Fan pages, and a YouTube Channel at that time. Yammer was already being used inside the company.

2.    Who was responsible for implementing social media? The Corporate Communications team defined and implemented the program, but we recruited the entire employee base (nearly 3000 strong) to participate in the program.

3.    How did the Corporate Communications team get buy-in? The Corporate Communications team researched social media options and brought the recommendations to our Chief Marketing Officer Heidi Melin. Heidi was our executive champion, helping to gain support and buy in from the Executive team.

4.    Any resistance from legal counsel? Not at all—Polycom legal is very progressive. We worked with our legal team to revise our “Blogging Policy” to become a “Social Media Policy”. Once we agreed on guidelines they were in full support of the Social Media program.

5.    Are there any channels that are strictly dedicated to investor relations? Not yet. We use our main “All About Polycom” Twitter account the most at this point, but are expanding our IR activities using other social media channels for our next earnings call in October. We do host archived video streams from our quarterly earnings calls on Polycom.com/investors.

6.    If no, what would be the determining factor(s) to do so? While we considered a direct channel for IR, we found that those interested in IR are also interested in the other events happening at Polycom such as new product launches and customer win announcements. So, we made the decision to use our existing channels to communicate the IR message.

7.    Is there any interaction on any of the social networks with retail or institutional shareholders? If so, do you have a procedure in place to defer to the IR dept? If we receive any IR requests, they go directly to our CFO Mike Kourey who manages the IR program.

8.    Some of the senior management team has Twitter accounts and actively blog.  How did this come to be?
As part of the initial plan, we had a training session with the Executive Staff and helped them set up their Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Other execs, such as our Co-Founder Jeff Rodman, have been active bloggers for years and were early adopters of social media. We encouraged participation by all Polycom employees and continue to do so in quarterly all-company meetings, using employee contests, and through ongoing training.

9.    The content seems synergized amongst all of the channels, is this driven by one person who informs the others of the information they should share on the channel?
The Corporate Communications team shares our main channels so that the burden doesn’t fall on only one person. We discuss social media efforts during our regular meetings and encourage team members to post relevant content on their respective channels.

10.    Do you monitor your social media efforts? Yes, we use Radian 6 to monitor and measure our efforts. We have daily reports that are routed to the appropriate departments for action where needed.

11.    Is it important to measure the success of your social media efforts?  If so, how is success measured? Absolutely.  At Polycom, we measure all of our Corporate Communications programs. For our social media efforts, we measure trends, mentions, share of voice, tone of voice, activity spikes, and we watch our conversation cloud very carefully. Success is measured by analyzing a combination of all of these factors.

12.    Do you have a social media policy? Yes, we do. It covers all employees and their social media efforts.

13.    Anything notable you’d like to share i.e. increased website traffic or other less tangible things such as better consumer relations etc., you have seen from using social networks? We compare the social media results with the results from our Customer Experience program to identify trends. We’ve also improved our customer service efforts–anyone who has a challenge with a Polycom product and Tweets about it will be contacted by our customer service team.

14.    Now that you have been using social media for two years, have you changed your strategy for its use? We haven’t changed our strategy, but we’ve evolved it. A good example is that we are adding more IR activities, but not changing our overall strategy.

15.    Any advice for other public companies of the value of using social media? Don’t be surprised if there are many nay-sayers when you start the program. However, progressive companies need to stay abreast of how their various audiences (media, customers, partners, etc.)  are receiving information, and social media is an important information source for many. Social media creates a unique opportunity for conversation, and that conversation is happening with or without you. As the traditional role of the media continues shifts to social media, those who are listening and participating in the conversation via social media will be the ones who win.

Related posts:

1. WEBINAR – Tips, Wins and Pitfalls of Using Twitter for Investor Relations
2. Webinar Replay – The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations
3. Webinar Replay and Transcript: Tips, Wins and Pitfalls of Using Twitter for Investor Relations
4. Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for Investor Relations – Summer 2010
5. Social Media Readiness Checklist for Investor Relations

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