As you start out the year, your internal communications strategic planning should revolve around tactics that will help meet your specific communication goals. The demand for increased engagement, collaboration and feedback require internal communicators to utilize tactics that will make an impact. The 5 tactics below allow you to work smarter. It’s all about smart messaging, well designed content, research and being able to share your content easily with employees.
1. Content Marketing
Communicating like a marketer is a common theme we see for internal communications because marketers know how to get their audience’s attention. Content marketing is a very successful tactic marketers use because it earns trust, grows audiences, boosts web traffic, generates demand and is cost effective.
Internal content marketing is a form of communication focused on creating, publishing and distributing content for employees. It’s all about creating content that is relevant to your employees. Internal content marketing helps organizations attract talent, retain talent, inform employees, encourage participation in programs and provide an overall better benefits experience.
Want to learn more about internal content marketing? Click here to view my article dedicated to the subject.
2. Surveys
Surveys are a great way to get a pulse on what your employees are thinking and feeling about your organization, the benefits you offer and their overall experience. Surveys are one of the best ways to measure employee engagement. They also give employees an avenue to offer feedback. It gives them a way to share notes and offer advice based on what they are experiencing everyday within your company.
Creating a survey is relatively simple and there are many online platforms, like SurveyMonkey, that can help you send a survey out if you don’t already have one. Post open enrollment surveys are always great because you can ask employees what they think about their benefits and what content worked and didn’t work during OE. It’s a great way to refocus and tweak what you’ll do to create a better OE experience for employees in the following year. Or better yet, tweak it for new hires to improve the experience right away.
3. Social Media
Utilizing social media can help your employees feel more connected to your organization and with each other. Social media platforms allow employees the opportunity to engage with each other by posting information or images, asking questions, and commenting. Organizations can equally engage with employees via social media platforms by posting general information, creating polls and quizzes, answering employee questions and more.
APCO shared this research about internal social media (ISM): “Our research indicates that ISM has the potential to ease collaboration, make employees feel closer to their employers, aid in employee recruitment and retention and engage employees who can become brand ambassadors. We see positive correlation between effective use of ISM and employee confidence, employee connection to their employer and a feeling that their employer cares about them.”
You can easily start engaging with employees on social media by setting up a private Facebook group, LinkedIn group or creating a Twitter feed for employees. Just remember to add quality content (see the first tactic about content marketing) and engage with employees. You have to make sure to answer employee questions and engage when needed on the platforms you use. It’s how employees will know you are paying attention, caring about their needs and keeping the channel active as a viable communication channel.
4. Video
Video can bring undeniable value to your organization. Employees are viewing well-produced videos in their personal lives and expect it at work too. Video works extremely well for internal communications because we digest visual information at a much faster rate than we can with written text. So with video you can get your point across in less time. Which is great because employees have a very short attention span.
There are all sorts of different kinds of video you can create. Video can be used to recruit, train, motivate and inspire employees. Start with employee pain points – what do employees need most from the company? If employees need more information about their benefits you might consider creating a series of animated educational videos that break down the benefits and how to use them. Perhaps employees need to know more about the company roadmap so the CEO could do a series of fireside chats to discuss the future of the company – this would bring a lot of authenticity and transparency to your communications.
5. Influencer Testimonials
Influencers and testimonials go hand-in-hand. An influencer is a person within your organization who is influential with their coworkers and is willing to publicly support your brand, culture, benefits and other programs. Testimonials on the other hand promote your internal programs by having employees showcase their positive experiences and success utilizing their benefits. So when an influencer shares a testimonial other employees will take notice and take action.
Start by asking for volunteers among your employees who you know have a positive influence on their peers. Then get ready for a lot of great content. Because you’re going to get it! Once you get employees talking about their experiences you’ll be surprised at the responses you get – all of which you can share within your company – and even share externally to help with recruiting and other initiatives.