This is a guest post from Marten Misch, editor at Pretzlaw Communications in Berlin. For years, the agency has been delivering exciting and useful content for big companies. As new partner of Staffbase, Pretzlaw Communications improves your intranet content, too.
The desire for social networking and opportunities for dialogue indicates: Employees are looking for emotional content in company apps. How to make your intranet indispensable through compelling content?
The authors of the NetFed study on intranet usage noticed that there is a lack of trained staff and both short- and long-term plans in intranet editing. This is particularly serious given the fact that relevant and well-edited content is not only intended for entertainment purposes, but also to help reach the core goals of the intranet: facilitate work, encourage the acquisition and exchange of knowledge and depict the identity of the company.
Informative and Entertaining
Databases, management of company cars and holidays or press releases should not be driven out of the intranet. But those, who want to be up to date, need to provide further relevant content for their employees. Primarily, this content should be both informative and entertaining and can be roughly divided into two categories: external news and exclusive content.
Long-term success story: In the customer and employee magazine of Berliner Sparkasse, Pretzlaw Communications have the task to emphasized the nearly 200-year association with the city and the highlight the outstanding financial expertise of Berliner Sparkasse. The mixing of topics from "Money & Finance" to "City & Culture" have proven a great success. This content was then naturally transferred into the mobile enabled online edition.
Evaluation of Specialist Services
Regardless of branch or region, there is hardly a lack of available information. In fact, it is more important to quickly disclose information to each single employee or department. Market data and industry sector reports keep your employees well informed. For this, the editors have to filter and manage reports.
Evaluating national and international specialist services as well as magazines requires a higher degree of engagement. By request, the entertaining short texts can be linked to their original source. The following graphic gives an overview of possible sources and contents for research purposes:
Exclusive Content
Speaking of added value: Answering the question of "why" is important for both the individual contribution and the employee app in general. Exclusive content might strengthen the bond between company and employee – as long as it is relevant and well done. How about accompanying employees in the field? Or conducting a video interview with the CEO? Offer possibilities for submitting questions your employees always wanted to ask their superiors. Involving employees in the process of content creation enhances the social climate in the company.
Priority: Employee Training
Employee development is another often neglected aspect in companies. While working with our larger customers (5,000 + employees), Pretzlaw Communications found that there is an increasing need for employee development, including communication. Where would contents for education and further education be better placed than in the intranet or the employee app, be it video tutorials or best practices from professionals giving new impetus to job starters?
What are the questions that employees ask themselves? What are reasons for persistent confusion in one area? Those, who continuously read internal forums will find useful tips for topics that are important for the staff.
Do good things and talk about it! To advertise the program of personnel development, we paste on walls and print on posters for our customers. Every channel counts - you can even spell it out in big, bold letters "PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT" — use your employee app, too.
Telling Stories
In order for the employee app to become more than a calendar and mishmash of obligatory news, you will have to repeatedly add new stories. Only with that it is possible to share values and establish an emotional bond with the employees. As we all know, images and videos offer fantastic potential in doing so. Nonetheless, the old rule, which has already been badly broken for the internet, remains: Quality takes priority over quantity.
Wasted Potential
You already have an in-house publication, but do not utilize the costly produced content for communicating quickly and directly to your employees? We have compiled 6 reasons for an online version of your in-house publication.