A look into Yleisradio's social media communication habits and culture Tuija Aalto, Head of Social Media, Media Strategy, Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE Organizational Communication in the Digital Age University of Helsinki, November 2018 Social media communication habits Share own and colleagues’ work: * Share observations from events * Share and comment industry news * Engage with audiences, stakeholders, * Answer questions * Ask for input to projects * Be human, have a life.

1. Passionate professionals give the
organisation their faces and voices
A look into Yleisradio's social media communication habits and culture
Tuija Aalto, Head of Social Media, Media Strategy, Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE
Organizational Communication in the Digital Age University of Helsinki, November 2018
1

2. Mission
Yle strengthens Finnish society by providing everyone
with information, education, insights and experiences.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

3. Vision and values
Yle is the most important media for the Finnish people,
and a bold innovator.
Yle’s core values are reliability, independence and
showing respect for everyone.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

4. People behind the content & services
Yle offers
• broadcast channels TV,
radio
• online services: web-tv,
news, online journalism
• content on third party
platforms (video via YT,
FB, IG; podcasts via
Spotify & Apple).
Yle people are
• visible person brands
• teams creating the
content
• creating concepts and
• building the services.

5. Yle’s cost structure 2017: 364,5 Million
euros spent on content and services

6. Yle’s content & services: news, current
affairs, culture, entertainment, drama etc.

7. Viki ja Köpi, Jenspa

8. Tiina Merikanto, Matti Rönkä

9. Community managers
engage with audiences
Sari Veikkolainen,
Maria Ainamo, Sanna
Jussila

10. Yle Social media network supporting
brands as well as individuals

11. Yle Social Media audiences
Yle has an audience of 1,1M
actively engaged with Yle’s
brands’ FB, IG and Twitter
channels any given day.
Not included in that figure
• activity with Yle’s YouTube
channels
• the personal social media
profiles of individuals

12. Just some of Yle people creating the
communicative culture
Kari Haakana
Eija Moisala
Cilla Lönnqvist Mika Rahkonen Kirsi Matson-Mäkelä
Jaakko Lempinen Jarno KoponenAntti Hirvonen

13. Just some of Yle people creating the
communicative culture
Kaj Färm
Nora Kajantie
Anne Achte Kirsi Brück Hanne Kautto
Riikka Räisänen Johanna Törn-MangsKalle Pirhonen

14. Social media communication habits
• Share own and colleagues’ work
• Share observations from events
• Share and comment industry news
• Engage with audiences, stakeholders,
• Answer questions
• Ask for input to projects
• Be human, have a life.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

15. Yle Social media guidelines 2009 -
First social media strategy 2009 called for
• Yle’s personnel being present
• content being shareable on social media.
The most recent iteration of social media staff guidelines
is from 2015 and it’s all about maintaining trust.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

16. Yle Social media guidelines 2015
Yle employees in social media 1/3
1. Think how your actions on social media affect your
credibility as a Yle employee. You cannot decide
whether others see you as a Yle employee or a private
person.

17. Yle Social media guidelines 2015
Yle employees in social media 2/3
2. Consider how you express your opinions. Do they
question your credibility or that of Yle in the eyes of
others.

18. Yle Social media guidelines 2015
Yle employees in social media 3/3
3. Value your colleagues in all contexts. Your colleagues
and your employer expect you to be loyal, also on social
media. Internal matters must be kept inside the
company. This is also common practice in other
companies.

19. Challenges
Individual’s point of view
• The workload and stress being in the public eye “24/7”
• The emotional toll of being targeted by activist groups
because of employer haters.
Company point of view
• Making the ROI of P2P communication visible
• Supporting individuals facing difficult situations.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

20. Fighting trolls
- case Aro
Yle supports its journalists in
fight against trolls.
In a recent case, the court ruled
that disseminating negative
information about Aro
contributed to the trolling.

21. Enabling communicative habits
• The ethos of openness
• Professional social media presence for everyone
• The shareables (experiences, materials, methods etc.)
• The means of sharing (web, blogs, video etc.)
• Space to meet: Events
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

22. Company communicative infrastructure
Highly networked
• Purpose-oriented teams (News Lab, Yle Lab, Yle Beta, Lean Yle, Social
media network etc.)
• Executives’ communicative practises
• Communications team

23. Owned media: web, video & events
Using Yle.fi and Yle Areena to explain how the public
service is being developed

24. Yle News aims to increase journalists
engaging in discussion on yle.fi
Yle journalists interact with the
audiences on news articles

25. News Lab
newslab.yle.fi
The news development
team of Yle is
researching how our
users consume different
forms of media and
what kind of needs and
fears they have.

26. News Lab
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

27. Yle Beta
Yle Beta is an
incubator for future
media experiences.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

28. Yle Beta events: Yle Beta Challenge,
Yle Beta Days

29. Yle Lab
Yle Lab is a
customer centric
concept
development hub.

30. LIFT - an Yle Lab event

31. Lean Culture in Business and Creative Work
Yle Lean Culture Toolkit tiny.cc/yle-toolkit

32. Communications practises
Internal & external
communications
department lead Jere
Nurminen.
Stakeholders.
Strategic and
Operational.
Tool: reputation cards
Operational:
spokesperson assigned case by case.

33. Communications practises
Each division has
communications partner -
dedicated to the division’s
internal and external
communications needs.
Communications team
members alternate in
“Reactive” and “Developing”
shifts, allowing some busier
and some more reflective
workdays.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

34. Yle dude
Sami Koivisto is the
go-to-person when
someone wants Yle’s
journalistic decisions
explained.
• Public speaking
• Blogging
• Social presence
• 1-to-1

35. The Executives
The Management Group is responsible for operative management
Merja Ylä-Anttila
Janne Yli-Äyhö
Ismo Silvo Jouko Jokinen Marit af Björkesten
Ville Vilén Gunilla OhlsMaisa Hyrkkänen

36. Yleisradio's social media communication
habits and culture is about
• learning together and sharing the experiences
• being accountable
• being approachable
• giving the Finnish public best value for their tax money
• benefiting the entire media sector in Finland.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

37. Yle’s Value to Finns survey: Openness
Question: is Yle's activity open
enough?
79% of Finns think Yle is at least
somewhat open
16% say Yle isn’t that open or not at
all open.
Four percent don’t know.
Ylen arvo suomalaisille. Telephone survey by Taloustutkimus 11.-30.10.2018, 1001 respondents aged 15-79

38. Yle’s Value to Finns survey: Trust
Question: What level of
trust do you feel
towards Yle?
69% of Finns trust Yle at
least quite a lot
8% trust only a little or
not at all.
22% are in between
trust and distrust.
Ylen arvo suomalaisille. Telephone survey by Taloustutkimus 11.-30.10.2018, 1001 respondents aged 15-79

39. Positive outcomes
• Stronger relationship with audiences - trust
• Uplifted company spirit internally and externally
• Stronger employer brand
• Better product
• Increased trust by stakeholders: authentic, truthful
picture of company intentions in the eyes of key
stakeholders leads to support and legitimacy of
mission and funding.
Tuija Aalto 2018 @Tuija

40. Thank You! Questions?
@Tuija