A ready-made toolkit for launching Yammer

The challenge: show companies how and why they should be using Yammer

Microsoft has shifted its strategy from selling software in a box to offering subscriptions to its services through the cloud. One such service is Yammer, the social network for companies. Yammer is incorporated into Microsoft Office 365 – a suite of cloud applications popular among businesses. But not every company takes advantage of Yammer. So Microsoft’s challenge was this: how do we help businesses get started on Yammer? And how do we help existing users get more out of it so it becomes a natural part of their working day?

The solution: customisable comms that any business can use

Microsoft approached Water Cooler for help. Specifically, they asked us to think of – and create – assets they could give to any company that wants to launch and embed Yammer in their corporate culture.

The task was complicated by the diversity of Microsoft’s customer base – which straddles very young start-ups to large organisations with their own brand guidelines. Here’s how we helped:

Taking care of the comms

We created a series of emails and intranet articles that any organisation can use to launch Yammer. Each piece is targeted at a particular employee demographic (Yammer champions, executives, ordinary employees).

For maximum flexibility, we made all the content modular, so Microsoft’s customers can tailor them to their business. We also created a ready-designed email for those firms that don’t have existing branded templates.

Educating executives

Getting senior execs to lead by example is crucial to embedding Yammer – if a company’s leaders are on it, chances are everyone else will follow. So we created a Powerpoint presentation that Microsoft’s clients can use to educate execs on the benefits of using Yammer.

Again, all the content was modular, allowing each Microsoft customer to adapt it to the needs of their particular business.

Thinking creatively about employee engagement

We invented the Yammer Hack and the Yammer Fest – two ideas for getting employees to collaborate and communicate on Yammer. In a Yammer Hack, employees are invited to pitch in ideas for solving a business problem, while in a Yammer Fest, they’re encouraged to share smartphone videos about their daily work.
To make it easy for any internal comms team to run a Yammer Hack or a Yammer Fest, we also created how-to guides explaining the two concepts – and offering strategies for success. On top of that, we designed, posters, intranet banners and customisable jpegs to help them promote these Yammer Hacks and Yammer Fests.

Our services: could we help you get more out of Yammer?

Water Cooler’s combined expertise in both internal comms and Yammer’s capabilities makes us the perfect choice to help you launch and embed Yammer across your organisation. We can help with:

1. Launch strategy

From defining your audiences to managing stakeholders such as HR and IT, we’ll help you understand what you need to do to ensure your Yammer launch goes with a bang. Or perhaps you need to draft a Yammer usage policy? That’s exactly the sort of thing we can help with too.

 2. Comms strategy

Launching Yammer? Or breathing new life into your Yammer comms because take up and usage has dropped? Talk to Water Cooler about your strategy and tactics for igniting – or re-igniting – excitement about Yammer. We’ll help you figure out exactly what you need to say – and who to – to make Yammer an easy, natural and appealing way for employees to collaborate.

3. Creative campaigns

Need a campaign to promote Yammer? Whether you’re launching Yammer or breathing new life into your Yammer network, we can help you create gorgeous, attention-grabbing and memorable campaigns.

4. Mentoring and coaching

Yammer can bring huge benefits to your business, but it can take time and effort for Yammer to gain traction in your organisation. We can help you realise Yammer’s full potential by acting as community managers at an early stage of adoption – or training and coaching your own people to manage and champion your Yammer network.