Intranet Management Lights, Camera, Action: 11 ways video can bring your intranet to life We’ve compiled 11 ideas that you can use to enhance your intranet communications with this vibrant and powerful tool. 5 minute read You might also like… Whitepaper Intranet use cases Whitepaper 10 Award Winning Intranets Video is a powerful and versatile tool for sharing information with employees. It can deliver just about any type of internal message, while connecting with employees on a personal level. Using today’s technology, you can easily incorporate video on your company intranet, making information accessible from any device or location. Below we’ve compiled 11 ideas that you can use to enhance your intranet communications with this vibrant and powerful tool. Use video to connect employees with the CEO and leadership team Video has the ability to humanize important leadership messages or company updates. Keep it simple—interviews with a basic script can effectively capture important points. You can also create a CEO video blog series on your intranet which encourages open communication and builds transparency. In this video, Biz Pod’s CEO paints a clear picture of what they want to accomplish during an upcoming executive meeting. Energize company announcements and updates Videos are a powerful way to turn company announcements and updates into interesting stories. As with idea #1, involve your CEO and leadership team to relay these messages. Or, gather other subject matter experts to deliver their perspective. This encourages interaction, reduces confusion, and provides a support system for employees. Pair these videos with a short intranet news story to reduce written content since employees are more likely to pay attention if they see a video included. Welcome new employees in a meaningful way Try welcoming new employees with a video for a more engaging approach to orientation. Weave in the company’s mission and strategy to build a community of employees with shared goals, and highlight important tools like your company intranet as a go-to resource. Make your orientation video available on your intranet and share it with HR to help streamline their new-hire process. Launch your new intranet with flair When ThoughtFarmer customer Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline asked us for ideas on how to best promote their new intranet, we provided them with a list of different intranet launch ideas to try. While there were many activities to choose from, one in particular got their attention: a launch video. “We wanted the announcement to be fun and exciting, and felt video would allow us to use our imagination. Also, our company has several locations, and sending out a video was an easy solution for us to ensure all employees could enjoy,” said Tyler McClure, Communications Specialist at Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline. Southern Star’s intranet launch video highlights all their previous intranet’s shortcomings in a humorous way. This served as a good teaser for all the new and engaging features they are about to enjoy with their new intranet. The true star of the video, however, is the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Jimmy Staton. Provide intranet tips and tricks with practical “how-to” videos Consider following up your intranet software launch with a series of videos that educate employees on how to use new features. Create short videos that they can follow along with—anything from populating employee profiles and uploading files, to posting comments and status updates. Fulfill your training needs with videos hosted on your intranet Share video recordings of live training sessions with employees spread across multiple office locations. Videos streamline training efforts by making learning available on demand from your intranet, cutting down on travel and venue expenses. Try creating videos on topics such as health and safety, HR policies, privacy and confidentiality, and enterprise systems. Electrify your company’s mission and vision to build your culture Make your organization’s vision and strategic goals more memorable and personable with video. Interview the leadership team, or employees who can act as ambassadors to help inspire their colleagues and build a culture of shared values. Liven up employee news by putting faces to names Videos energize intranet news stories by adding visual interest. According to Ragan, content with visuals receives 94 per cent more views than plain text. You could omit the writing completely and create a video newsletter to share company updates, much like the City of San Rafael. Every month the City sends out a short video newsletter to keep employees informed about City Council actions. These short newsletters act as an engaging way to distribute company information and help put faces to names. Here is an example: Celebrate successes & boost morale with video Videos can highlight company achievements, celebrate successes, and recognize noteworthy employee contributions on your intranet. Video contests can help boost morale and encourage teamwork by involving employees in business decisions, such as naming your new intranet. Videos can also recognize colleagues, or express a company’s core values. Bring meetings and events to life Unite employees working in multiple locations by live streaming meetings and making video recordings available on your intranet. This makes the content easily accessible for those who missed the meeting or want to refer to it at their convenience. Videos can also help you share memories from company events. Encourage employees to participate by capturing these relationship building moments which reinforce that your organization values play, not just work. Read more about weaving videos into your communications approach in our article, Give video a starring role in your internal communications strategy.