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Scoop.it!
Your one stop shop for everything you need to know about effective internal communications for your 2020 communications plan and strategy.
Read the full article to discover content on more than 20 IC topics as well as a link to download the free 45 page pdf guide. 
sflocalmoving's comment,
April 28, 2022 5:37 AM
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Scoop.it!
"Internal branding is about connecting employees with your external brand; showing them what that brand means to them and ensuring they understand and really live the company mission.
Internal branding is a corporate philosophy that focuses on bringing the company’s core culture, identity and premise to its employees as well as its consumers, and usually looks to make workers at all levels “ambassadors” or true representatives of the company and its values.”
Read the full article to find out more about these 5 ways to go about creating and embedding an internal brand that will transform workers into true brand ambassadors who contribute to the success of your business:
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"Employees are disengaged at work, and organizations have been exploring how social and digital technologies can address this problem. But Altimeter found that only 46% of organizations believe they take a strategic approach to employee engagement, while only 43% believe they have an organizational culture of trust and empowerment. Our research found that leading organizations with strong digital employee engagement take a page out of marketing’s deep expertise around digital customer engagement and apply it inside the organization by injecting marketing expertise, practices, and technologies into its practices. The end result: These organizations drive business impact and cultural change through their employees." Read the full article to download the report “Strengthening Employee Relationships in the Digital Era: How Digital Employee Engagement AdvocacyTransform Organizations” from Altimeter and find out more about:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Really interesting stats and ways to improve internal communications in this 25 page report. My favourite section is the three types of digital employee engagement initiatives (shown in the image above). You can also see the report highlights in this SlideShare.
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"Would you like your employees to be brand ambassadors on social media? Do your employees feel confident sharing on social media about your company? In this article you will discover how Adobe is empowering their 11,000 employees worldwide to be social media brand ambassadors. As a result, they are building customer goodwill and influencing sales." Read the full article to find out more about these four tips:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
The Edelman Trust Barometer report shows that while trust in CEOs has been declining, trust in company employees has grown. Make it simple for them to participate and share. This is a great opportunity to build and promote your internal community. Look for materials they are sharing that would be of benefit or interest internally, and highlight them on internal networks.
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"Often we'll go out from comms2point0 and we'll train people. Often we talk about Morgan Bowers who is brilliant at using social media to communicate about what she does. She's a countryside ranger and she does the job superbly. With social media dedicated frontline people can brilliantly provide a human face to champion the work an organisation is doing. Morgan Bowers, Walsall Council’s senior countryside ranger, is a pioneer of this approach and has worked to innovate around how people outside the comms team in the public sector can do to really connect with people. Seeing what she does blows away any institutional objections that comms people may have to opening up the gate to allow people outside comms to use social media. She connects using Twitter, Facebook, Scribd and a range of platforms not because they are there but because they serve a useful purpose." Read the full article to find out more about how Morgan uses the following platforms and the results she gets:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
What great examples! The idea can also be used for internal audiences only (different platforms, but the concept is the same). Internal comms can help create a team of front line social media ambassadors by identifying people who are interested, provide training and guidelines, give them the freedom and support to create their own online identities, meet with or provide feedback on a regular basis, and help promote internally.
Scoop.it!
"As the social media landscape continues to evolve, brands are refining their approach to social media and looking for new ways to take their strategy to the next level. However, in their search for the next big thing, there’s one important tactic companies tend to overlook—empowering employees to serve as brand ambassadors. When provided with proper training and the right tools, employees can add value to a company’s social media program by driving engagement online, amplifying branded content and building valuable relationships with referral sources, potential partners and prospects." Read the full article to find out more about these best practices for providing social media training to employees:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
These best practices work for for your intranet as well. Give them the tools, education, information, and freedom, and they'll become your most engaged ambassadors.
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"Alarmed by employee ignorance of your brand? Follow the lead of McDonald's, from its revamping of the employee portal to its use of gaming. And, yes, there is milk in that milkshake. There are 34,000 McDonald's restaurants in more than 100 countries, and the company has to communicate with all its staffers in a decentralized company. Employees are magnets for those with questions about the organization, and it was essential that staffers be able to answer the questions." Read the full article to find out more about these ideas to help educate your employees and make them your ambassadors:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
No one wants to feel stupid when a customer asks a question that they can't answer. And it's more probable that someone will ask the employee in front of them a question rather than having to go somewhere else to find the answer. So why not extend your reach and build trust and create an ambassador of your employees by educating them.
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"If you had a choice between a row of people in "business dress" shaking hands/holding seedlings, or real employees pictured doing their actual jobs, what would you find more interesting and relevant? So I was delighted to stumble upon a campaign that is currently underway by Sainsbury’s, featuring real employees, doing real jobs and sharing internal stories externally. They are currently running a campaign called Little Stories, Big Difference, which features colleagues starring in the communication around how the little things they do as a company have a positive impact on the environment, communities, products they sell and how they work with suppliers.
Read the full article to find out more about and see a selection of Little Stories.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
The videos are 30 seconds or less. And once you see one, you can't help but want to watch another. What a great way to get employees engaged. And by being showcased, you've made the staff in the videos (and their co-workers), ambassadors for your company. I can't imagine these folks not sharing or talking about these cute videos and how it's them or someone they work with starring in it. And ain't no one going to be dissing their peeps! The concept could easily be picked up and used solely as an internal program. You don't even necessarily need a professional crew to do this. Give them some guidelines and see if staff may be interested in writing and recording their own 30 second segments.
Scoop.it!
One in five employees regularly defend their employers from criticism, both online and off, and act as powerful advocates for their companies, a new study has found. Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity in Employee Activism, undertaken by public relations firm Weber Shandwick, identifies ‘employee activism’ as a rising and positive social movement. The study recommends engaging with these workers, who it labels as ‘employee activists’, as a priority for businesses. The survey of 2,300 employees worldwide and found that half have posted messages, pictures or videos on social media about their employer, while four in ten had shared praise or positive comments online about them. The rise of the employee activist is a phenomenon which employers need to recognize and learn how to leverage, the study recommends. Access the report to find out more and discover how to implement these four strategies for activating employees:
For more related information or to take the employee rising quiz, read Weber and Shandwick's article Employee Activism: The Next Frontier of Employee Engagement.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
The Internet and social media are game-changers for employee communications, giving employees an amplified voice. The opportunity for organisations is to harness the exuberance of those employees who see it as their responsibility to be reputation advocates. The report includes best practices from companies with a strong group of employee activists. Engaging and encouraging employees requires the support of leadership and internal communications.
Janet Matthews's curator insight,
April 7, 2014 2:37 PM
Employee activisim on social media can be a game changer for driving culture internally and promoting your organization externally to potential employees.
Scoop.it!
"If you want your employees to be company or brand ambassadors, you must give them plenty of content to work with… and permission to use it. There’s a growing body of research evidence indicating that employees – not executives nor designated “official” spokesmen nor celebrity endorsers – make the most credible and influential advocates for any organization." Read the full article to find out more about the best operating model to set-up employee's for success by providing them with these things:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
This article is a great follow-up to the previously scooped article about UPS employees using social media to back-up their employer. The internal communications function plays an important role in developing and maintaining this effective strategy.
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"Organizations today spend a lot of time talking about and telling stories to their customers to help them make a purchase a decision. But, what about telling stories to our employees? How many organizations out there actually take the time to help employees understand what their organization stands for, how it was created, why it was created, and how it got to where it is today?"
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
This should be in every internal communicators toolkit. It is one of the fastest ways to help new employees get up to speed and become emotionally invested in the organization. Employees are your number one ambassadors. If they love your story, they'll share it with others. For free. New employee's at Disney take the Traditions course on their first day. They hear the stories of the heritage and culture and are helped to "recognize and appreciate the connections you have to the Disney story, the daily impact you can have on the quality of the Disney Show, and the role you can play in our Company's growth and success." Many employee's share their stories about the new employee orientation and how they walk away feeling even more connected to all things Disney. Not one of them complains about the history lessons (hidden under the guise of story).
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s curator insight,
December 5, 2013 12:41 AM
This is one of the fastest ways to help new employees get up to speed and become emotionally invested in the organization. Employees are your number one ambassadors. If they love your story, they'll share it with others. For free. New employee's at Disney take the Traditions course on their first day. They hear the stories of the heritage and culture and are helped to "recognize and appreciate the connections you have to the Disney story, the daily impact you can have on the quality of the Disney Show, and the role you can play in our Company's growth and success." Many employee's share their stories about the new employee orientation and how they walk away feeling even more connected to all things Disney. Notice not one of them complains about the history lessons (hidden under the guise of story). |
Scoop.it!
"Building a community, consistently posting and monitoring social media, can feel overwhelming. But with the help of a loyal following and fans, user-generated content (UGC) can take away from the day-to-day content struggle.
UGC is a powerful form of marketing for any brand. It allows you to strengthen your relationships with followers and customers and broaden your online presence. UGC is content created by individuals outside of the business. It’s authentic and created by people who love your brand."
Read the full article to learn how six brands dominate UGC on Instagram and why these are their best practices:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Regardless of where your community hangs out, or if it's an internal or external audience, the lessons and best practices described by these brands can be applied. Look for your ambassadors, invite them in, and see your engagement rise. It's a combination of pride in ownership and being recognized.
Scoop.it!
"Champions are true advocates and pro-users of the initiative they’re championing. They are members of your workforce who will spread the message throughout your employee base on your behalf. It goes without saying that utilising Champions works because it increases the coverage of your communications. But it’s so much more than that. Champions provide a human aspect; a trusting approach to communications because your employees are getting the message from their peers. I know I would be more interested in something my co-worker Alex told me about when we were grabbing a coffee, than a flyer in my inbox." Read the full article to find out more about these best practices creating and continually engaging champions:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Tapping into ambassadors or champions is a great way to increase the reach and retention of your communications. Work with them to identify the communications and tools that will help them spread the word.
Scoop.it!
"The irony is that at many companies, external and internal communications operate in independent silos. So that more often than not employees learn about new campaigns at the same time they are released to the rest of the world, if not later, without any additional context. This means that when they go home and interact with family, friends and their wider networks, employees aren’t armed with any of the messages the company wants consumers to know -- a huge missed opportunity. They can organically spread the word about a new product or service with the power of ownership and pride. An employee authentically excited about a company’s mission can in some cases be a more effective spokesperson than a media-trained executive or celebrity in igniting consumer action." Read the full article to find out more about these three ways to engage employees and inspire them to become ambassadors for your company:
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From
holtz
"At a company where I once worked, the president rebuked my plan for communicating an organizational change designed to ensure everybody knew about it. “If I want to make sure everyone knows something,” he said, “I know exactly which five secretaries to tell.” He was succumbing to the idea that admins are inherently gossips, an offensive perspective, and in fact his failure to adopt a strategy for communicating led to a widespread lack of awareness about the change. But he was actually on to something. The idea of the right five people has a lot of merit." Read the full article to find out more about the reach and value of internal influencers and including them in your internal communications planning.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Internal influencers, or employee ambassadors, are those people in the organization that are often under-utilized or unrecognized. Finding them may not always be easy, but if you have a good relationship with managers/supervisors in the organization, they can help with the identification process. The article refers to the Edelman Trust Barometer, which routinely shows people are twice as likely to trust someone like themselves than someone in charge. That is is not really surprising as those stats are consistent with what is being found on social media. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for leadership to be the ones who communicate the message out. The trick is knowing when to use your resources to their best ability.
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"We’ve all heard the rallying cry: “We need to get our employees on social media.” I think there are a number of creative ways companies could rally the troops when it comes to social. We just don’t hear about it that often. And, they’re generally not that helpful because they’re not specific enough." Read the full article to find out more about these creative and specific ideas for companies to consider:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
These ideas would work well as activities to promote on the intranet as well.
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"Many large corporations find themselves in a difficult bind. They are fully aware that their customers want them to be more socially responsible. At the same time, there is persistent distrust of marketers who share the story of their good work. The onus then falls on the brand to authentically invest in social impact work that reflects its core values and tell those stories honestly. A great example of this balance is the work of Target." Read the full article to view Target's It Comes From the Heart video and find out more about these three things that Target does well when it comes to telling the story of their employee contributions:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Consumers trust employees more than the faceless corporation. This article demonstrates a way to engage employees in something that everybody - employees, company, community - benefits from. Employees see that you're listening to what your community needs and become more invested in you and the outcome when you provide them the chance to take part and be showcased. The community benefits from the outcome and become more connected to your employees and your company.
Scoop.it!
"In the work place, communication is not just a two way street, it’s a web. There’s management, employees, consumers, industry networks – and each channel needs to be addressed efficiently.
Read the full article to find out more about these 5 tips to help improve communication with your employees:
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"The tactics discussed at Business Development Institute’s Internal Communications and Collaboration Leadership Forum closely mirrored the new school PR and marketing tactics that organizations are employing to drive action from their consumers. After all, employees are simultaneously consuming the information they produce and should therefore believe in the same brand promises they make to the public." Read the full article to find out how the following tactics illustrate how you can improve your employee experience using similar tactics used to engage external audiences:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
With the proliferation of social media channels, employees have become 24/7 brand ambassadors for their companies and the lines between internal and external communications are continuously blurring. Therefore, employers have as much of a responsibility to engage and inspire their internal staff as they do with external audiences.
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"Imagine this: Your business has grown exponentially for several years, even as competitors have had to lay off staff. And then, one morning, you lose your largest client, wiping out almost one-third of your annual revenue before breakfast. Our Toronto business faced this reality and, one year later, we know that how you manage employee communication through a company crisis is critical to business recovery." Read the full article to find out more about the three strategies that this company used to manage their company crisis:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
These are good steps to consider for regular communications, not just crisis communications.
Scoop.it!
From
holtz
"There’s a bright spot in UPS’s recent delivery nightmare: its own employees using social media.
But customers and media weren’t the only ones expressing themselves in these conversations, particularly on the UPS Facebook page. The company’s social media team was engaged, thought not terribly effectively. Yet front-line employees—empowered by a clearly communicated social media policy inspired in part by IMB’s—took to Facebook to defend their employer." Read the full article to find out more about how effective these employee's posts were.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Provide the guidelines and then get out of the way. Trust your employee's to be the best ambassador you've got. In this case the employee's brought the human side of the story forward. While it's easy to slam the faceless organization, it's hard to be mean to Larry & Samantha who are real people like you, with families, working hard and doing the best they can.
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Wow! This is an amazing resource. It provides a great summary on so many topics, examples, tips and tools, and links to supporting material and people. Not only is this valuable for ICers, but if you have trouble explaining what you can do for an organization, I would recommend sharing this guide with your decision makers.