Why internal internal video content is important.
Often, in small businesses and organisations, the distance between management and staff is relatively short. Nearly every day, you’ll find the owner on the floor, passionately working alongside staff to deliver a great customer experience.
Take an independent restaurant as an example. Here, the chef is the owner and will interact with kitchen staff and front of house daily. Everyone will know the owner and the vision for the future.
However, as such a restaurant celebrates success, they could expand and build a business empire. Starting with second venue nearby, they might develop dozens of locations in other counties and regions. Suddenly, they require an HR, Marketing, and financial department. By now, this restaurant chain could employ hundreds or even thousands in wide range of roles.
At this point, it is impossible for the chef/owner to have that daily interaction with every member of staff. The chef/owner has carefully built a brand and has designed a wonderful customer experience. How will this Chef communicate with all staff in way that inspires them to continue to deliver a customer experience in line with the vision of the brand that the Chef has built? The answer to this question is based in a solid internal communications with a video content strategy.
But why use video when you can just send your staff an email? Glad you asked! Video as a medium allows for rich content. It allows for an approach that hits multiple senses and learning strategies. In short, video has real power to drive change. Through video, your can visualise your vision of the future and use it as a rallying cry to inspire.
From Recruitment to retention
Before we dive into the basics of a “video-first” internal communication strategy, it is important to explore on of the main reasons why it matters so much. As a previous article describes, there is a relationship between recruitment and retention of staff. And with any business or organisation, it is not only vital to recruit new talent. It is imperative that they believe in your brand in such a way that they want to stay. Especially when there is a potential similar role out there from one of your competitors with a higher salary! This is where an internal video content strategy comes into play.
Here at Film Division, we strongly believe that shared believe in the purpose of a business or organisation not only benefits retention but also inspires the delivery of a great customer experience.
Five ways to use internal video content
Now everyone understands the role of internal video content in a communication strategy, let’s look at five different ways you can improve your messaging.
- Induction videos
- Live Broadcasts
- E-Learning
- Scheduled updates
- Social Media Videos
Induction Videos
Do you want to ensure that every new employee understands the mission, vision and purpose of your organisation? If so, a standardised induction video helps you establish common ground amongst all staff. A well produced induction or onboarding video acts as a rallying cry for your staff to gather under the same banner. Do you put people, planet and prosperity over profit? If so then emphasise it in a video! Do you have examples of how your organisation has truly made a difference? Show it! Is safety paramount? Visualise it in a visual first impression.
Scheduled Updates
Many of our clients with a large workforce have discovered how valuable video updates can be. Regular video updates are a cornerstone of any internal video comms strategy. These bi-monthly or quarterly updates work brilliantly to continuously align everyone within an organisation. Use them to celebrate successes, show how your business truly impacts the community or, present plans for the future and inspire new ideas from the team. Ideally, you’d mix the messaging in these updates. Perhaps a few minutes from the Managing Director who explains the financial position. This might be followed by a testimonial from a satisfied client or customer. You could end the update with a lessons learnt segment from one of your successful project teams.
Live Broadcasts
Evolve your scheduled updates by making them live events. Within any internal video content strategy, we recommend to make at least one or two of them a live event. The scheduled updates as described in the previous point are a one-way street of communication. From an audience perspective, there is only content consumption and no interaction. The beauty of hosting live events is that you can change this monologue into a dialogue with a Q&A session. This way, you’re working towards a community where all staff passionately shares ideas, best practises and lessons’ learnt.
E-Learning
As any market grows and evolves, organisations and business have to grow and evolve with it. Giving your staff the opportunity to grow and develop themselves is essential to stay relevant in a competitive environment. A professional E-Learning platform should be a cornerstone of your internal video content strategy. These videos are valuable resources to not only keep your staff up to date with recent developments, it helps them to deliver a better service every day. Furthermore, standardised E-Learning modules will ensure that every new team team member can get up to speed faster.
Social Media Videos
Our final tip to improve your internal video content strategy is to explore how you can use it externally. Perhaps not all if your content is meant to be shared with the world wide web, but some bits and bobs might! Be creative and find ways to re-purpose your content for a different audience. You could export some still images or edit a 15 second Instagram story. Just because the original intention was internal, doesn’t mean that the outside world isn’t interested.
Authenticity is key in internal video content
The power of storytelling is endless. Used properly, stories can develop lasting relationships with your staff built on trust and shared values. Harness them. Embrace them. But whatever you to, stay authentic. Don’t fall for a quick fix and avoid bullshit.
Here at Film Division, we know how to harness the power of film. Through a considerate, empathy driven, design process, we’ll develop the right internal video content for your brand.