How can you master digital internal communication?

1 Know your audience

The first step to master digital internal communication is to understand your audience. Who are your employees, what are their needs, preferences, and expectations? How do they consume and interact with digital content? What are their pain points, challenges, and feedback? You can use surveys, interviews, analytics, or other methods to gather insights and segment your audience into different groups based on their roles, locations, interests, or behaviors. This will help you tailor your messages, channels, and formats to suit your audience and increase their engagement and satisfaction.

2 Define your goals and metrics

The next step is to define your goals and metrics. What are you trying to achieve with your digital internal communication and how will you measure your success and impact? You should align your goals with your organizational vision, mission, and values, and make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), and identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track and evaluate your progress and outcomes. Use metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, feedback scores, or employee net promoter score (eNPS) to measure your digital internal communication effectiveness.

3 Choose the right tools and channels

Next, consider which tools and channels will work best, whether that's email, intranet, social media, video, newsletters, or mobile apps—or combination of these. Remember, not all of these will be suitable for every purpose, audience, or message. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each tool and channel, and match them with your goals, metrics, and audience segments. You should also aim for a balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication, and between formal and informal communication. Always ensure that your tools and channels are user-friendly, accessible, secure, and integrated.

4 Create engaging and relevant content

The fourth step is to create engaging and relevant content. It should be clear, concise, and consistent, and reflect your organizational tone and voice. It should also be informative, useful, and meaningful for your audience, and address their needs and interests. Use techniques such as storytelling, visuals, humor to capture their attention and convey your message. Use a combination of text, images, audio, video, or interactive elements, and avoid jargon, acronyms, or technical terms that might confuse or alienate your audience.

6 Evaluate and improve

Finally, you should monitor and analyze your digital internal communication performance and impact regularly, using your metrics and KPIs. Collect and review feedback from your audience, using surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other methods. You should use the data and feedback to identify what works well and what needs improvement in your digital internal communication. Test and experiment with new tools, channels, content, or strategies, and measure their results. Communicate your findings and actions to your audience, and show them how you value their input and involvement.