Share the Knowledge – Document Your Processes

All companies and organizations have processes that allow them to perform smoothly no matter what department.  Much of these processes are in someone’s head.  It is critical that these processes get documented.  You never know when an employee that knows the process will get sick or quit the company or organization.  And when these individuals go on vacation, it is better to have a document to train the backup person with then just a verbal training.  A well documented process will save the company/organization time and money.  I just documented for a client how social media updates in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin Groups are done so others in the organization can do these updates.

Therefore I suggest the following:

1. Create a template for what a documented process will look like and what a process document will include.
2. Create a spreadsheet list of the suggested processes to be documented along with the primary person to write the process and the secondary person that will a review the documented process.    Prioritize the processes to know which ones to document  first.
3. Communicate to the staff (including those not involved in the documentation process) that processes are being documented and welcome their involvement and suggestions.
4. Assign the processes to individuals and document one process a month.  After a few months the company or organization will have a process manual.  When companies or organizations are audited, one of the requirements is to have well documented processes.
5. Store the documented processes in a shared directory so everyone can access it if necessary.
6. When new employees are hired, show them where the processes are documented so that they can review the ones that apply to them.
7. Review these processes once a year and update them with any new changes to the process.  I suggest that you do this review in December when business is slow so that the processes are updated by the start of the new year.

While documenting processes, questions and issues about processes will occur.  For example, why do we make so many copies of invoices.  Can’t we only make one copy and do an electronic version.    Make sure that your company/organization is protected by having important processes documented in all departments.  Make it part of the company/organization culture to document processes and have everyone’s involvement in documenting the processes.

Start Your Product/Service Launch with a Key Messaging Document

When a product or service is launched by your organization you need to have consistent messaging.  This is accomplished by having a Key Messaging Document or KMD.  The KMD is done by the marketing product manager or individual that understands the purpose of the product.  Sometimes if there is disagreement on messaging or messaging wording then having a meeting to discuss is helpful.  Once you have a KMD completed and approved, the press release can be written as well as the FAQ and presentation for sales training.  The KMD should be no more than a page and a half but preferably one page.

The KMD should contain the following information:

• Official product name as well as the internal product name if there is one
• Marketing champion(s) which is the person or persons responsible for the KMD
• Mention what is being announced
• Dates including announce date and release date if different from announce date
• Approvers of KMD which should be the boss of the marketing champion and others from different areas of the company so that the messaging is agreed to by a variety of people
• Proposed news release title which should be descriptive and catchy
• Key messages to convey
• Compelling value to clients such as faster, cheaper, greener, easier, etc.
  
• Competitive positioning
• Target audience of messaging such as partner sales reps, industry analysts, press and end users
• Supporting external quotations such as a from a client or partner
• Related event(s) and their date(s) such as a trade show that the announcement will be made.

Try to get the KMD completed at least a month before the product or service launch so that other documents such as news release and launch FAQ can be completed. Having a clear concisely worded KMD will make the launch more effective.  This document will be used often during the launch including in the FAQ, presentation and news release.  A KMD will also assist everyone being on the same page. 

Create a Social Media Update Checklist So Others Can Be Involved

Social media activities for a business or nonprofits must be consistent and include a variety of information.  This information comes from a variety of sources.  Set a goal of how many updates you want to have in a given week or month.  Also determine what is the best time of day to do updates.  Remember if you are updating for people on the East Coast of the US or those overseas to view then you should adjust your times to fit them.  Decide on what social media tools you will be using such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and WordPress.  Create a document with the process on how updates occurs with each of these tools so that someone other than the main person can make these updates.

Remember that information for updates can come from many sources including:

• Marketing created items such as new releases, trade shows, webinars, case studies, product releases and white papers
• Posts on an organization’s blog
• Videos from an organization’s YouTube channel
• Emails from employees about clients, industry experts and partners such as employee awards won, partner achievements, client achievements, relevant articles related to a specific industry or community service
• Information from Google Alerts, newsletters, Facebook posts, Linkedin discussions, Twitter searches, other Twitterers or Email blasts

For each social media tool used, write down the steps to do the updates including website to log in into such as http://www.hootsuite.com for Twitter and the log in information.  Document the steps to do the updates.  If it is a Facebook Fan Page, mention how to get to the page and what kind of updates go on the Fan Page.  If it is a Linkedin group for the organization mention who the managers of the group are.  If it is YouTube, mention how videos are uploaded to the channel.

Mention how information that is received is reviewed for possible use as updates.  I suggest that information from employees come via emails.  And that once a week, (I recommend it be on a Friday) that the designated social media coordinator reviews all possible update candidates and plans out the next week’s updates.  Of course, there will be items that occur that need to be updated immediately but many updates can be scheduled in advanced.  Also some updates can be repeated a few times.  During this review the social media coordinator can determine what information will be used as updates, determine when updates should occur and for Twitter, schedule them for posting for the next week.  Some items will need more information from the sender or researched further.  Some items will need to be discussed with the social media’s manager on update appropriateness, wording and timing.

The main point it to make sure that all of this information is not in one person’s head.  People do leave the organization, people do get sick and people do go on vacation.  Having an update checklist will help ensure that your social media updates are consistent.