Microsoft Yammer Cheat Sheet - Simple tips to get you set up and started - Brighter Days

Microsoft Yammer Cheat Sheet
Simple tips to get you set up and started.

2.

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HELLO!
Yammer is an enterprise social networking
and collaboration tool that helps employees
to connect and engage across an organisation
- start conversations, share knowledge, and
build communities.

This Cheat sheet lays out a few simple steps
to help optimise your Yammer experience
- and to ncourage others within your
oganisation to get on board.

Let’s get started!

            LEE STEVENS
          Principal, Brighter Days
             Creators of Solar

3.

Tip #1: Distribution Lists
Replace your distribution list today.

In the true spirit of collaboration, why not retire some of your distribution lists and email
groups with immediate effect?

You can have a range of Yammer groups where users can ask questions on specific subjects.
You can also use #topics so you can then also subscribe to the sub-topics that interest you,
e.g. #Concrete #Yammer #SharePoint and so on.

This will be a slight behavioural shift but this is the right thing to do for the following reasons:

Q+As are searchable
You have a great talent base and pool of resources and are probably asking and answering
the same questions daily within your organisation via email.

Pick up the discussion any time
When email is the primary communication tool, you have to have been on the initial thread
or know someone who was who can forward the email. How good would it be for a new
employee to be able to tap into some of the previously asked questions?

Yammer Search
Yammer splits out the type of content available on the
network, as you type. You will see that when I type the
term ‘SharePoint’, it shows me Groups, Files, Topics
and web links. It will also highlight your search query
in the results.

4.

Tip #2: Send Fewer Emails
Before you send your next email - stop. There’s better way...

Look three months into the future and consider: is there even the slightest possibility that
other people further down the line would find this content useful, in any way?

The truth is that we all think our emails are more confidential than they actually are and
rather selfishly, we don’t think about the value of the information we are creating and how it
could be useful to others now, or in the future.

Some high profile companies have binned email altogether, so how would you cope without
your daily email fix?

For items that you absolutely must prove you have sent and/or are official records, carry on
using email.

5.

Tip #3: Mobile Set Up
You wouldn’t get email if you didn’t have an email client like Outlook. It helps to think of
Yammer in the same light. There are things you can do to get the most out of Yammer and
make it a viable alternative.

Chrome Extension

If you use the Chrome browser, you
can receive desktop notifications when
someone sends you a message. To do this,
add the Yammer Desktop Notifier from the
Chrome Store.

Mobile App

Download the respective Yammer mobile
app. Android and iOS versions exist n their
respective stores.. 

6.

Tip #4 Get Started
Post to a group.
Once you begin to use Yammer, you will realise
that you can choose how you share information. A
quick analysis of your sent items will, most likely,
tell you that 80% of your email traffic could have
been useful to a respective Yammer group.

Before you send that email, ask yourself “is there
a Yammer group that could benefit from this
information?” If there isn’t one, create one!

You can still notify individual people and add
attachments using Yammer (see screenshot).

Send private messages
Like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can send
direct messages in Yammer.

Notifications
You can adjust your settings to receive email
alerts when there is new activity in a Group. To
do this:

1/ Click on Settings (Gear icon) > Edit
Settings.

2/ Click on ‘Notifications’. Make sure the
group that you want to receive updates from
is ticked. Then simply select the notifications
setting that you prefer.

7.

Get Started continued...
Post to Yammer via email.
If you are finding it difficult to switch from
email, you don’t have to.

In the same vein as notifications, you can use
Yammer from the comfort of your email client.
Yammer has a feature that lets you post
directly to the conversation thread by clicking
‘reply’ to the email. This is particularly useful
if you’re on the road and need to fire off a
quick response or have a relatively unstable
internet connection.

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WHERE
TO NEXT?
As with any tool, there are pros and
cons to using Yammer. If you have
questions about how to get more from
your organisation’s use of Yammer,
please get in touch.

We’re always happy to talk.

Schedule an appointment:

diarise: calendly.com/leestevens

call: +64 3 669 0009

Visit our website: solarworkplace.co.nz

Facebook: /Workplace Productivity NZ

     Solar Workplace, a Birghter Days product, Level 1, 64 Gloucester Street, Christchurch 8013, NEW ZEALAND