Angela Ivey, Director, Corporate Communications at Insperity.
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As businesses continue to operate at lightning speed to maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, it is important that all areas of the business are aligned and moving in the same direction. Often, it’s the internal communications team that serves as the glue that holds everything together.
Accurate, consistent internal communications and messaging that align with corporate goals and provide value have arguably never been more critical for employee engagement. While the methods for internal communications have changed dramatically with the continuous advancement of technology, the audiences themselves are of even greater significance.
With numerous generations in the workplace with varying communication styles, a job seeker’s market and unprecedented external influences, it is paramount for internal communicators to thoroughly know their audiences in order to effectively engage today’s workforce. Below are four tips for optimizing internal communications.
Define And Segment Key Audiences
Businesses have become more complex with multiple levels of management, wider demographics, various functional groups and targeted initiatives, which means a one-size-fits-all communications plan is often not effective. Communicators should define key audiences to target, which they can subdivide to help optimize efforts.
For example, core groups can include board members, management teams, midlevel managers, individual business units and all employees. Communicators can further segment these groups based on demographics and psychographics to help determine what may be of interest to them and what their preferred communication styles are to achieve desired outcomes.
Conduct A Communications Audit
An internal communications audit is designed to measure how effectively the company communicates and engages with employees. An audit should identify the channels that exist to communicate to various audiences, key messages the team is delivering, channel owners and messages, as well as how the messages are performing.
Engagement metrics that include the number of visits, open and read rates, number of click-throughs, clicks on embedded links and likes, comments and shares can provide valuable feedback to pinpoint issues and plan for future communications. For example, if there are sections in a digital newsletter that are rarely accessed or shared, this could be an indication that the content isn’t appealing or perhaps the newsletter is too long in length.
Execute A Communications Survey
A communications survey of all employees can provide valuable insight into overall communication preferences: channels, content topics and frequency. Drilling down to specific groups, management levels and demographics provides a granular level of information that enables more tailored messaging and delivery channels for improved communications.
For example, a company intranet can provide a wealth of information to employees, but there may be sections of content that are less relevant as well as other sections that the communications team could expand on or add based on employee preferences. When teams spend valuable time and effort on communication tools and resources, it is important to confirm successes, identify areas of weakness and pursue opportunities to increase employee engagement.
Partner With Key Stakeholders
Internal communicators should identify key stakeholders from various groups across the organization to help inform communication objectives. Conducting quarterly focus groups or interviews with stakeholders will help determine the following for each target audience segment: objectives and key messaging, communication challenges and performance of previous communications.
For example, the stakeholder for a sales organization should be able to recommend the most effective channels for reaching their busy sales teams, content they need to improve their performance, resources available to help them succeed and information regarding sales campaigns, contests and so on. With this insight, internal communicators can develop content that makes a difference for the sales team and best supports their efforts. By working together with stakeholders, communicators can help ensure that a robust internal communications program is operating at peak levels to continue to inform and engage employees.
When communicators take steps to optimize internal communications by understanding their audiences and the channels available to reach them, along with providing content the audiences need and want, it can lead to a more knowledgeable and engaged workforce.
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