10 Ideas for Internal Comms videos (part one)

Seeing as Paul and I just made idiots of ourselves in our “How to make good internal comms videos” video (I think Phil & Holly’s careers are safe for now), I wanted to follow up with some suggestions for the types of internal comms videos that might benefit your business.

We already know the benefits of video over the more “traditional” written comms:

• It’s more engaging. If done properly, video will excite and motivate far more than the written word can. It will also leave a longer lasting impression.

• It builds trust. Seeing the whites of our leaders’ eyes (quite literally, in the case of an in-person video) builds trust and faith across the audience. Messages are usually received as more authentic and sincere.

• It builds a sense of belonging and community. The more face-to-face contact (even over screen) people have, the more team bonding can grow and bed in.

• It’s easy to share. You probably already have the infrastructure and platforms to facilitate sharing short videos. And if you don’t, they’re readily and inexpensively available. Sharing your video content with an audience right around the world is just a mouse click away.

• It’s versatile. Use video to communicate anything from new initiatives, products or policies to teasing next year’s conference. In fact, it’s its versatility that inspired me to make this list.

And so, without further ado, here are the first five of ten suggestions for creating and sharing short internal comms videos.

1. Messages from leaders

This is perhaps the most obvious or commonplace reason to send out a short video. Leaders have been issuing letters or memos, and then emails or digital channel posts to keep their workers informed for as long as business has existed. Replace those printed words with a simple, snappy, and concise “talking head” video and you’ll get much more buy-in.

You can send out anything from performance updates to news and developments, to simple recognition and appreciation clips. They’ll all hit home, provided they’re short, purposeful, and interesting. They don’t need to be professionally filmed, but they do need to be clear, audible, understandable and relatable. Here’s our "top ten tips" blog and video!

2. Training videos

We all learn differently and have different learning styles and preferences, often broken down as visual, auditory, reading (& writing), and kinaesthetic. But the majority of us (estimated at about 65% of the population) are primarily visual learners. Therefore, a training video that presents information with visuals as well as audio instruction is a winner. Simple and clear on-screen charts, diagrams or infographics will really help your audience to soak up and retain what you’re explaining.

Moreso than a leader massage, a tight script is important here, as it’s vitally important to cover all the key points in the right order. Breaking down meatier topics into bite-sized chunks (as multiple shorter videos) is also recommended.

3. Explainer videos

Explainer videos for internal comms are a little different from those used in external comms. The latter tend to act as short online marketing tools, designed to explain your business’s products or services. Within internal comms, it’s just about, well, explaining something that needs explaining! It doesn’t really matter what that something is. A new policy? Structural changes? The history of your company? A project that’s completing that not all were involved with, but all should know about? A management theory that you want people to know more about? They’re all served best by a short explainer video.

This isn’t quite a training video, but it should use some of the same ingredients. It must be tightly scripted, and it should start with the reason for the video and the benefits of the subject. As with training videos, onscreen visuals can really help and are highly recommended.

4. Culture videos

Your company’s culture, vision, and values are worthless if they’re not widely known and properly understood. And I’ve written many times about how employee alignment with their employer’s culture and values has become increasingly important as Millennials and Gen Z take over the workforce. Culture videos are, therefore, becoming evermore popular. They’re a great way to show existing employees what the culture is all about, introduce new employees to the business, and show prospective employees what to expect and what is expected of them.

Culture videos are most effective when they use a wide range of employees from right across the organisation. You’ll want it to look professional, but, depending on the nature of your business, you might not want it to look too corporate. If appropriate, have some fun! (Maybe include an outtake or two?)

5. Testimonial videos

A great way to get employees to really understand the value of what they do is to share some customer stories or testimonials. A production environment can be hard, but a reminder of the difference your product makes to people is the perfect reminder of why we’re all working so hard. The same goes for many different service providers, even without a tangible product to show on screen.

Testimonial videos are most effective when they generate an emotional response. A customer’s heartfelt and sincere appreciation for a product or service, and the difference it makes to them, is hard to forget. For that reason, testimonial videos need to be authentic and feel natural. Scripts aren’t required, just a story or a genuine reaction. Errors and outtakes can add to that authenticity – your customer probably isn’t a professional presenter! (Just make sure you have their full permission for everything you plan to include in the final edit!)

In part two of this blog, we’ll look at another five reasons for creating and sharing short internal comms videos. In the meantime, if you think you could be making use of some of these types of videos (or you could be making them better!), why not get in touch for a chat? We’d love to hear from you.