Intranet content is a vital tool for internal communication, but it can also be a source of frustration and confusion if it is not well-designed, relevant, and engaging. How can you create better intranet content that informs, connects, and inspires your employees? Here are some tips to help you improve your intranet content strategy and quality.
Before you write any intranet content, you need to understand who you are writing for and what they need. Conduct a survey, interview, or focus group to gather feedback from your employees about their intranet usage, preferences, and pain points. Use this data to create user personas, segments, and scenarios that will guide your content creation and delivery. Tailor your content to the different needs, interests, and goals of your audience.
Clear and Concise Messaging: One thing I've found helpful is to prioritize clarity and conciseness in intranet content. Employees often have limited time, so getting to the point quickly helps them understand the message without confusion. Avoid jargon and complex language that might alienate some staff members.
The added value of using personas in internal communication within an organization is akin to having a finely tuned compass that guides your messaging and engagement strategies. Knowing your audience through personas will enable you to create impactful content. In this endeavor, your aim extends beyond mere information; it's about stirring emotions. You're not just a writer but a storyteller, crafting experiences rather than delivering content. A well-crafted piece should resonate deeply, much like a timeless painting or a powerful emotional impact.
Every piece of intranet content should have a clear purpose and a measurable outcome. Define your goals for each content type, such as news, announcements, policies, procedures, FAQs, blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. What do you want your employees to learn, do, or feel after reading or watching your content? How will you track and evaluate the impact of your content on your internal communication objectives, such as engagement, alignment, collaboration, or productivity?
1. News and Announcements: Goal: Keep employees informed about company updates, events, and news. Measurement: Track the number of views, comments, and shares. Assess the speed and accuracy of information dissemination during critical events. 2. Policies and Procedures: Goal: Ensure employees understand and adhere to organizational policies and processes. Measurement: Monitor the completion of mandatory policy reading, quiz scores, and user feedback. Measure adherence to policies over time.
Creating intranet content that is easy to read, understand, and act on requires following some best practices. Use short sentences and paragraphs, active voice, and simple words to ensure clarity. Utilize headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images to break up the text and emphasize the main points. Additionally, use a consistent tone, style, and format across your intranet content. Employ keywords and tags to optimize your content for search and navigation. Furthermore, include links and cross-references to connect your content to other relevant resources and pages.
1. Clarity and Simplicity: Using short sentences and paragraphs, along with simple language, helps ensure that your content is easy to read and understand. Active voice can make the content more direct and engaging. 2. Formatting for Readability: Utilizing headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images helps break up large blocks of text, making the content visually appealing and allowing readers to quickly scan and grasp the main points. 3. Consistency: Maintaining a consistent tone, style, and format across your intranet content contributes to a cohesive and professional user experience
Intranet content should not be a one-way communication from the top down, but rather a collaborative and interactive platform that encourages employees to contribute, comment, and share their ideas. To do this, you can ask them to submit stories, photos, videos, or podcasts that showcase their work. Additionally, create a content calendar and invite them to suggest topics or events they want to see covered on the intranet. Establish a content governance team and assign roles and responsibilities to different employees or departments for creating, reviewing, approving, and updating intranet content. Furthermore, encourage them to rate, like, share, or comment on the intranet content that they find useful, interesting, or inspiring.
1. Employee Contributions: Encourage employees to share their stories, experiences, and insights. Their firsthand accounts can add authenticity and relatability to the content. This also helps build a sense of community and connection among colleagues. 2. Visual Content Sharing: Inviting employees to submit photos, videos, or podcasts that showcase their work or highlight team achievements can bring a dynamic and personal touch to the intranet. 3. Content Calendar Collaboration
In order to ensure that intranet content is relevant, timely, and up-to-date, it should be regularly updated and any outdated, inaccurate, or redundant information should be removed. Additionally, new content that reflects the latest news, trends, or developments in your organization or industry should be added. Content from external sources that provide valuable insights, tips, or best practices for your employees should also be curated. Furthermore, milestones, achievements, or successes should be celebrated with stories, videos, or infographics that showcase your impact and value. Finally, seasonal, thematic, or campaign-based content should be created to engage your employees and support your internal communication goals.
1. Regular Updates: Consistently review and update content to ensure accuracy and relevancy. Remove outdated or obsolete information that no longer serves a purpose. 2. Timely Additions: Add new content that aligns with current events, developments, and trends within your organization or industry. This keeps employees informed about the latest news and updates. 3. External Insights: Curate content from reputable external sources that offer valuable insights, industry trends, or best practices. This enriches the intranet and provides employees with a broader perspective.
Make it fun. Of course intranet content needs to communicate important policies, changes, and information. But it should also engage and entertain, a fine balance of gravity and levity. Leverage current themes/memes, establish an intranet personality, feature human interest stories, and invite interaction. Instead of creating a step-by-step guide to communicate a new policy/system, create a game or contest that communicates the same content, but in a more engaging manner. Use pictures instead of words. Multimedia. Keep content current, brief, and fun. Complement it with easy-to-find, more in-depth backup as needed. And always ask employees to rate/comment on/suggest content and change accordingly.