7 Video Ideas to Transform Your Internal Communication Strategy

Since 2005, the number of people who work from home has increased by 140%. In recent years, there has been an even steeper rise in remote work practices, especially amongst tech and digital companies. In fact, Upwork projects that by 2028, 73% of all teams will have remote workers.

Due to the events of Covid-19 and beyond, remote work has become the new norm for countless enterprises, including many of those outside the tech space. For companies and employees who are adjusting to work-from-home policies for the first time, managing internal communications strategy has been especially challenging.

Some of the main comms challenges that companies have been facing are:

• Internal information overload, which lowers employee engagement and increases turnover
• Key messages from higher-ups that do not resonate with employees
• Lack of consistent messaging within employee communications

Many of these problems are caused by a lack of time and resources to prepare effective solutions. Assuming a traditional communications plan will work in all scenarios isn’t a safe bet, while implementing an intranet can be costly and time-consuming.

The good news?

There is an accessible and cost-effective strategy that works for companies of all sizes and industries: creating video content for internal corporate communications.

In fact, video content is a highly effective communication tool for employees and their employers, and the proof is in the numbers. Employees are likely to retain 95% of a message when they watch a video and 59% of executives would rather watch video than read text.

What’s more, amongst internal communicators, 93% believe that video is an important tool.

Although video is considered a powerful tool for professional storytelling and branding–there's no doubt that online video for internal communication will become an essential strategy for most companies as they move forward in an ever-evolving digital workplace.

Why you should use video in your internal communications strategy

Here are 5 compelling reasons your company should use video for internal corporate communication:

1. Engage more than other forms of communication

An important aspect to building strong employee communication is keeping it a two-way conversation. It’s more engaging to have a dialogue and for employees to feel heard, rather than presenting a monologue every time there’s an announcement. For this reason, corporate videos are a great way to promote this discussion and conversation within the company.

Curious about how to make internal communication videos that truly grab attention? Discover the power of PlayPlay's platform, the innovative video maker for your professional needs. Effortlessly create captivating internal communication videos that resonate with your audience!

2. Add a human touch and build connections

Branded internal newsletters and presentations are classic content for internal corporate communications and internal marketing. However these text-focused visual formats are not as powerful as rich video content that features human speakers and subjects.

People like to see representation in messaging, and for remote work teams which are spread across the country or even the world, seeing fellow colleagues on-screen fosters stronger connections and relationships.

3. More cost-effective than ever before

High quality video creation may seem like a luxury for small to medium companies and marketing departments on a tight budget. Thankfully, expensive video production companies are no longer the only way, thanks to affordable and easy-to-use video maker tools like PlayPlay. It’s easier than ever to create your own video content in-house, while cutting down on staff training costs.

4. Appeal to different learning styles

Corporate video production is a flexible way to convey diverse messages, both simple and complex, to all employees. Everyone learns and communicates in different ways and you can produce video content that is targeted to specific audiences. Whether it’s the messaging, visuals, music, or theme–video formats are highly customizable. Read our article on the best internal communication trends to boost your employee's engagement.

5. Save time by eliminating unnecessary in-person meetings

Imagine these two scenarios: sharing an internal company announcement video at the click of a button, versus trying to find a date and time to set up a company-wide meeting that works for everyone.

In most cases, the latter scenario would take up an inordinate amount of time from not only just internal communicators, but also managers and employees, especially in remote teams where employees have to reschedule their sleep times because of meetings. Producing a video to communicate the same information increases efficiency and saves valuable company time and funds.

By now you’re probably convinced about the importance of using video for internal communications. However, the challenge now for most companies is to come up with a number of solid internal communication video ideas that are easy to create. Here are a few of the ‘go-tos’ from our clients.

7 video ideas for your internal communications

This series of video ideas are sure to kickstart your corporate communication strategies:

1. Company Culture

Videos that showcase company culture are a creative and authentic way to amplify your employees’ voices and empower them to feel ownership within the company. In fact, they can cover broader themes like your brand’s overall messaging, or they can focus on specific elements like inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

It’s common to highlight these individual or collective strengths in external video marketing for recruitment and brand building. Don’t forget that it’s equally important to communicate these topics internally to represent and motivate your workforce. Tip: Add music to your company culture video to enhance the energy and impact of your messaging.

2. Announcement

In this example, a video announcement reminds employees to use their vacation days before they expire. This format is highly effective for conveying clear information to a large workforce. Video announcements are attention-grabbing and allow companies to communicate all the essential info they need in one visually engaging format. We recommend using images and video clips to make the information a little more memorable.

Music and text overlay also help make the content and messaging of these videos more dynamic and easier to recall, especially when so many employees commonly experience information overload nowadays.

3. Interview

In corporate interview videos, it’s important to remember that the placement of your subject is just as important as the message.

When filming interview footage with a live speaker, you can use multiple cameras to add dynamic energy to the shots. Depending on your filming style, you can then decide how to best position your subjects within frame.

4. Event Promo

Videos are a great way to improve your promotion for an upcoming event. These videos should always answer the 5 W’s: who, what, when, where, and why the event is taking place. Unlike with static images or posters, you can use transitions and animations in the video to introduce featured speakers, the event schedule, and highlight any exclusive content from the event.

Don’t forget to include a strong CTA to encourage viewers to act immediately after watching, whether that’s RSVPing or booking tickets! These tips also work well for promoting webinars and online conferences when it comes to events.

5. Onboarding

Onboarding videos are a fun and engaging way to welcome new hires to the company and guide them into their training. Rather than a standard email with schedule, a video introduction to the company and onboarding activities is exciting and uplifting.

Depending on your brand culture, you can add music or personalized intros to your videos as well to give your new hires a more unique experience. Adding CTAs to encourage new employees to reach out with questions also increases employee trust and strengthens internal communications from the start.

6. Tutorial

Whether it’s for internal or external audiences, tutorials are one of the most useful and valuable forms of content that companies produce. They save time and money by providing straight-forward and targeted lessons, on anything from executing specific actions to understanding a broader platform.

Tutorials empower employees to learn on their own, while driving staff training costs down and simultaneously increasing the speed at which company employees can learn new skills and softwares.

7. Project Recap

Sometimes it can be challenging for employees and managers to understand the work that their other colleagues do within the same company. Some are not even aware of what measurable impact they have and what results their work produces–which can be common at larger enterprises.

Project recap videos effectively educate companies internally and externally on what key results they’ve produced and how this affects stakeholders. It increases company transparency and provides employees with an opportunity to recognize and celebrate each other’s work.

In addition, project recap videos can boost innovation across the board and help realign brand goals by sharing company successes internally.

Over to you

Now that you’re armed with these foolproof internal comms video ideas, there’s no time like the present to start transforming your strategy with video. Check out the recording of PlayPlay's recent webinar (co-hosted with Zoom!) on this subject for even more inspiration.

Want to get started? Try a video maker tool like PlayPlay free for 7 days, or book a demo with a specialist today to learn more about all the different video possibilities for you.