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CHAPTER 6: Crafting Messages for Digital Channels
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter 6 focuses on the digital channels used for business communication: social networks,
content sharing sites, email, messaging, blogging and microblogging, and podcasting.
Communicating successfully with digital media requires a wide range of writing approaches and
nine compositional modes are outlined in the chapter. Social networks (such as Facebook), user-
generated content sites, and community Q&A sites are all useful for business communication,
provided that they are used with care and professionalism. Email can seem a bit “old school” in
comparison to social networks and other technologies, but it is still an important medium for
business communication.
An important guideline for effectively using email and other digital channels is to engage in the
three-step process of planning, writing, and completing, even if it means taking only a few
minutes to do so prior to sending (or posting) your message. Businesses and other organizations
continue to find new and innovative uses for instant messaging and text messaging, which for
many companies have become a preferable alternative to email. Like any electronic medium,
however, they present certain risks. Blogs (online journals) are much easier to update than
traditional websites, and this has led to their growing popularity as a medium for a wide range of
internal and external communication tasks from project management to viral marketing.
Similarly, podcasts have become a favorite replacement for existing audio and video messages,
such as one-way teleconferences in which a speaker provides information without expecting to
engage in conversation with the listeners.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Digital Channels for Business Communication
Media Choices for Brief Messages
Compositional Modes for Digital and Social Media
Creating Content for Social Media
Optimizing Content for Mobile Devices
Social Networks
Business Communication Uses of Social Networks
Strategies for Business Communication on Social Networks
Content Sharing Sites
User-Generated Content Sites
Content Curation Sites
Community Q&A Sites
Email
Planning Email Messages
Writing Email Messages
Completing Email Messages
Messaging
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Messaging
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Guidelines for Successful Messaging
Blogging and Microblogging
Understanding the Business Applications of Blogging
Adapting the Three-Step Process for Successful Blogging
Microblogging
Podcasting
The Future of Communication: Emoticons and Emojis
What’s Your Prediction?
Chapter Review and Activities
TEACHING NOTES
Digital Channels for Business Communication
Today’s business communicators have a broad range of media options for sending short
messages:
• Social networking
• Content-sharing sites
• Email
While most of your business communication is likely to be via digital means, don’t overlook
several situations when you should use a printed message over electronic alternatives:
• When you want to make a formal impression
You can succeed with written communication in virtually all electronic media by using one of
nine compositional modes:
• Conversations
• Comments and critiques
• Orientations
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No matter what media or compositional mode you are using for a particular message, writing for
social media requires a different approach than traditional media. Consider these tips for creating
successful content for social media:
• Support the ways your readers want to consume information.
• Provide information that your followers are likely to share.
• Remember that it’s a conversation, not a lecture or a sales pitch.
Mobile devices offer a range of ways to enhance the audience experience:
• Location-based services
• Augmented reality
Social Networks
Social networks are online services that help people and organizations form connections and
share information and they have become a major force in both internal and external business
communication in recent years. In addition to Facebook, a variety of public and private social
networks are used by businesses and professionals. These can be grouped into three categories:
Social networks are most beneficial when all participants give and receive information, advice,
support, and introductions—just as in offline social interaction.
Social networks are a great fit for many business communication needs. Here are some of the
key applications of social networks for internal and external business communication:
• Integrating company workforces
• Fostering collaboration
• Building communities
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• Crowdspeaking
Social networks offer considerable business communication potential. Consider these guidelines
to make the most of social networks for both personal branding and company communication:
• Choose the best compositional mode for each message, purpose, and network.
• Offer valuable content to members of your online communities.
• Join existing conversations.
Content-Sharing Sites
Social networks allow members to share information and media items as part of the networking
experience, but a variety of systems have been designed specifically for sharing content. The
possibilities can be divided into three types:
• User-generated content (UGC) sites
• Content curation sites
• Community Q&A sites
The social aspects of these sites—including the ability to vote for, comment on, and share
material—encourage enthusiasts to spread the word about the companies and products they
endorse.
Content curation is the process of collecting and presenting information on a particular topic in a
way that makes it convenient for target readers. At its simplest, content curation can involve
sharing links to useful articles or videos via blogs or social media accounts. Companies can also
set up dedicated websites that publish links to original content in a variety of topic categories.
Community Q&A sites allow visitors to answer questions posted by other visitors. Community
Q&A sites include dedicated customer support communities such as those hosted on Get
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Email
Email has been a primary medium for many companies for several decades. However, newer
tools such as instant messaging, blogs, microblogs, social networks, and shared workspaces are
taking over specific tasks for which they are better suited.
The indiscriminate use of email has lowered its appeal in the eyes of many professionals. Some
professionals get inundated with hundreds of email messages a day. Email also suffers from an
enormous problem with spam (unsolicited bulk email) and security risks such as computer
However, email still has compelling advantages that will keep it in steady use in many
companies. Email is:
• Universal—everyone has it
• The best medium for many private, short- to medium-length messages
Make sure every email you send is has a useful, business-related purpose. Follow company
policies regarding restrictions, such as those on sending personal messages, confidential
information, or material that might be considered objectionable.
The expectations of writing quality for business email are higher than for personal email, and the
consequences of bad writing or poor judgment can be more serious. Email and other digital
documents have the same legal weight as printed ones, and are used as evidence in lawsuits and
criminal investigations.
Subject lines are actually one of the most important parts of email messages:
Since many email programs display the first few words or lines of incoming messages, even
before the recipient opens them, you can “tweetify” the opening lines of your email messages to
make them stand out.
Take a few moments to revise and proofread your message before you send it.
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Take advantage of your email system’s ability to include an email signature that is placed at the
end of your message.
Messaging
Messaging is best thought of as a digital alternative to live voice conversation. A variety of
digital messaging solutions are now available, from text messaging on mobile devices to private
group messaging systems.
Messaging offers key benefits over email:
Potential drawbacks of messaging:
• Users of all systems are at the mercy of other users’ typing speed and accuracy.
• Messaging systems vary widely in their levels of security and privacy, and public systems
Although instant messages are often conceived, written, and sent within a matter of seconds, the
principles of the three-step process still apply, particularly when communicating with customers
and other important audiences:
• Planning instant messages: Except for simple exchanges, take a moment to plan IM
“conversations” in much the same way as you would plan an important oral conversation.
Regardless of the system you’re using, you can make messaging more efficient and effective by
following these tips:
• Be courteous and don’t waste time on chatter; ask if the recipient has time to chat.
• Make yourself unavailable when you need to focus on other work.
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• Don’t use messaging for impromptu meetings unless you can verify that every0one
concerned is available.
• Don’t use messaging for lengthy, complex messages.
Blogging and Microblogging
Blogs are online journals that are much easier to personalize and update than a conventional
website. Blogs combine the global reach and reference value of a conventional website with the
conversational exchanges of IM or email.
Good business blogs pay close attention to several important elements:
• Communicating with personal style and an authentic voice
Businesses are now using blogs to accomplish the following:
• Anchoring the social media presence: a central hub that the company or individual owns
and controls make an ideal social media hub.
• Project management and team communication: keeping project teams up to date.
• Internal news and employee engagement: informing employees about general business
matters.
• Customer support: answering questions and offering tips and advice.
• Public relations and media relations: sharing company news with the general public and
journalists.
The planning step is particularly important when launching a blog:
• Pay attention to your audience, your purpose, and your scope.
• Carefully consider the information you are including. (Others could link to it months or
years from now.)
• Evaluate the content and readability of your message—write in a comfortable, but not
careless, style.
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• Successful blog content also needs to be interesting, valuable to readers, and as brief as
possible.
Completing messages for blogs is quite easy:
A microblog is a variation on blogging in which messages are sharply restricted to specific
character counts.
Microblog entries often involve short summaries or teasers that provide links to more
information.
Like regular blogging, microblogging is a popular medium for business communication. It is
useful for the following:
• Providing company updates
• Offering coupons and notice of sales
• Presenting tips on product usage
• Sharing relevant and interesting information from experts
When you’re microblogging for business communication, make sure messages are part of your
overall communication strategy.
Podcasting
Podcasting can be thought of as the audio equivalent of blogging.
While not as easy as blogging, podcasting is a fairly simple process for any business with basic
computer systems.
The three-step writing process works well for podcasting:
• Focus on the planning step of the writing process: analyze the situation, gather the
information, and organize your material.
• Be sure to include previews, transitions, and reviews.
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The process for recording and distributing podcasts can vary depending on such factors as the
production quality you need to achieve and whether you plan to record in a studio setting or on
the go.
The Future of Communication: Emoticons and Emoji
To fine-tune the tone of their written messages, many people resort to emoticons or emojis. As
useful as these visual gadgets can be, however, they do present two problems for business
communicators. First, even though an increasing number of professionals seem to be using them,
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OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES STUDENTS OFTEN FACE
Some students have work experience or life skills that help them understand when to use memos
and when to use letters; however, others do not. To help those students tempted to use a memo
format for everything, provide numerous illustrations of instances when memos are and are not
appropriate. When conducting writing activities in class, make sure that everyone is using the
proper form for the situation assigned.
Students often don’t take the time to correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation in email
messages. In addition, many other business email issues will be new to them. They may not
know how to set up electronic signature files to be attached to outgoing messages. Plus, they may
not be familiar with providing personalization through salutations and closing lines. Stress issues
such as keeping paragraphs short, limiting email to one topic and one screen, and organizing the
message pyramid style—with the main idea followed by details in descending order. Also
discuss key courtesy issues, such as using appropriate language, not including jokes, not flaming,
not including very long attachments, and so forth.
Many students will not know about the cc or bcc fields in an email template. Be sure to explain
when each is used. Students often think that they should put their own name in the cc field
because they will be keeping an electronic copy.
Not all homes have Internet access; therefore, some students may not be experienced in sending
attachments with email messages. Discuss this skill if necessary.
Students may have learned different formats for business letters in other classes or even in
elementary or secondary school. You may hear comments such as, “You mean that what I
learned in the fifth grade isn’t right?” or “I’ve been doing letters like this ever since high school.”
Be sure to discuss all the parts of correctly formatted business letters. One way to emphasize the
importance of using a proper format is to compare the format of a letter to the appearance of a
speaker on stage. You will need to emphasize and review format several times.
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When composing short messages such as memos and letters, some students will tend to use too
many short sentences or too many long, complex ones. Other students will tend to write a
business letter by putting the entire message into one long paragraph. Writing and critiquing
practice documents in class will allow you to identify some of these weaknesses and give extra
attention to those students who need it.
Emphasize how to introduce a list in business messages. Some students will simply create the
numbered or bulleted list without including the additional explanation needed for reader
understanding.
SUGGESTED CLASSROOM EXERCISES
1. Selecting the Best Medium. Present a list of business communication situations, such as
notifying colleagues of a committee meeting, sending your supervisor a progress report,
2. Analyzing Email Messages. Have students send an email message to a classmate. The email
could discuss an upcoming writing project, a recent sporting event, a business topic of
current interest to students, or a topic that students suggest. Instruct students to bring to class
printed copies of the messages they compose and send. Have students exchange email
printouts and then guide a discussion in which students critique the emails:
• Is the subject line informative?
• Is the message easy to follow?
• Is the message personalized with salutation, complimentary closing, and signature
line?
• Has the message been proofread accurately?
• Is the writing concise?
• Is the content limited in scope?
• Are the sentences short?
• Is the overall message length reasonable?
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
6-8. Answers to starred discussion items not provided.
6-10. Answers will vary. Some students might say that switching to Twitter is more practical for
users who access the site on a mobile device. Others might think that switching to Twitter
6-11. Student responses will vary, but it is important to help them recognize that microblogging
6-12. Answers to starred discussion items not provided.
PRACTICE YOUR SKILLS
Exercises for Perfecting Your Writing
6-13. The cruise line must address two audiences: the disgruntled passenger, and the other
readers of the newspaper who may be potential cruise customers. A secondary audience
6-14. Students might revise the blog posting in the following manner:
It appears that we aren’t going to meet the June 1 commitment to ship 100 operating
tablets to Southeast Surgical Supply since we have been unable to obtain enough high-
6-15. For customers seeking technical support for digital music players, a webpage might work