Internal communication is essential for the success of any business, organization or institution. It involves the exchange of information between individuals within a company to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals, thereby supporting engagement and corporate strategic objectives.
In today's world, advances in technology have made it easier than ever to communicate between different departments, even with employees located in different parts of the world. Real-time, authentic, useful content can instantly be delivered to blue- and white-collar audiences; but it's important to know our target audience, what to say and how to say it.
By content we mean any type of material used to communicate something, whether it is a written document, a presentation, an email, a video conference, a video message, etc. Good quality content can help teams to work in an organized and task-focused way, while also facilitating collaboration between work areas.
As Csaba Azurák, television journalist and communications expert, told Connect Magazine's podcast channel, in-house communications content is not so different from today's modern media content: first and foremost it has to be newsworthy.
"The most important thing is that it's about us and for us, so we should be involved in the message, which, let's face it, is quite easy to do in the case of a workplace community," said Csaba Azurák.
Improved organizational efficiency and friendlier employee relations are just two outcomes that can result from the company's adoption of high-quality content. A well-crafted presentation or document, for instance, allows for instant, mutual comprehension of all relevant details with minimal room for confusion or misunderstanding.
In addition, access to high quality, clear and concise resources enables different groups of employees to make decisions more quickly, leading to greater overall efficiency.
In the end, high-quality content can improve relationships within an organization, particularly between staff and management, by providing a common language for communication within the company.
The communication expert advised that "of course, in this area, it is now good to meet the expectations of 'infotainment,'" which means "to be a little lighter and clearer in the communication noise that employees are subjected to, since it is normal nowadays to prefer less difficult texts or video messages”.
Creating high-quality content that resonates with employees requires strategic planning in advance. First, it is recommended to define the internal target group, such as:
According to the target groups, it is necessary to identify typical or important information and content, such as:
Which format should we choose? Today there are more and more options and ideas available, such as:
Infographics are becoming increasingly common in today's media, and some are even animated, which can effectively supplement and make difficult information more accessible for workers.
Maintaining regularity in content delivery and scheduling is beneficial for establishing credibility; for example, if the executive video message is typically made available on Monday mornings, stick to that schedule.
And if nothing major has recently happened at the company, it is also worth communicating. As Tamás Barathi, CEO of Blue Colibri App, said in a podcast, "If everything is fine in the midst of the economic crisis, then we should say so, because we can give quick answers to questions that may arise from employees and thus prevent rumors that react to a state of uninformedness".
