We mostly think of video as a way of communicating with customers, but it is a valuable tool when communicating with employees, as well. This is especially true now more than ever as companies are not just expanding to new cities and new countries, they are also becoming more dispersed, with more people working remotely.

Because of this, traditional internal communications strategies are less relevant and employers are turning to video to keep their internal communications strong throughout the entire enterprise.  

Communications firm Ragan, along with Ignite Technologies, found in their study of video usage in companies from a few years ago that 71% of businesses are using video to some extent to communicate with their employees. Nearly all of the respondents to their survey (90%) said video was either “important” or “somewhat important” for internal communications and that same amount said they expect video to play a role in a company’s internal communications strategy.

Video is not just seen as something that is a nice add-on to internal communications, it is now seen as an integral part of a business’ strategy for communicating with its employees and other internal stakeholders.

And this isn’t just true for current employees, it’s true of potential employees, as well. As the hunt for top talent continues to get more and more competitive, using video for recruiting purposes can put a company above all others in the eyes of recruits, especially for younger recruits who have grown up with online video as a part of their daily lives.

These newer generations of employees would likely balk at the prospect of reading reams of text about corporate policies and practices, but put that into video format and they’ll be happy to learn about them.

Use of Mobile Friendly Videos & Analytics

To better communicate with employees — especially younger ones — companies need to make their videos mobile-friendly. Younger employees are more likely to watch them on their phones, meaning they should be optimized for mobile viewing.

And, as companies continue to outsource to freelancers in other countries, videos should either be subtitled or dubbed into the language of the audience it is meant for. Of course, this means also using the visuals to convey as much of the message as possible so reliance on the audio is less important.

One of the key advantages to using video for internal communications is the analytics that come with videos. You may be able to tell if an employee opened an email, but there is no way to actually tell whether they’ve read it or not.

Video analytics can tell HR departments if a video has been completely viewed and quick quizzes at the end can tell if the viewer has picked up the information conveyed in the video.

Employee Training Videos

While you can’t rely on a video alone to train new employees, they are certainly a valuable tool to use in the training process. You can use them to teach the basic concepts of your business in a compelling way. Elements of the company like its structure and processes and procedures can all be conveyed via short, explanatory videos.

When done right, videos can be used to train dozens, hundreds or thousands of employees on everything from your preferred way of handling customer service to important safety rules and regulations you are required to follow.

Used in conjunction with one-on-one training, you’ll find that employees pick up concepts much quicker and easier when presented in video format. Kuehne + Nagal use animated video to train their employees on how they want their customer service to be done.

Service & Product Explainer Videos

Businesses are introducing or updating products and services all the time, which means they need to make employees aware of these new and updated items, even before they start promoting them to the public. Videos are a fantastic way to explain any new products or services to both new and existing employees.

Brand Cohesion

It’s important for a brand, regardless of the industry, to be consistent across all social media, all locations, all phone interactions and in all other aspects. To ensure this kind of brand cohesion, companies can use video to convey their brand image, company values and business vision to employees, both as a way to introduce new employees to the brand and as refreshers for existing employees.

Videos can reach across organizations like no other medium to instil a company’s core values in employees. Large organizations like franchises, that need to reach a huge audience and get them all on the same page regarding the brand can use videos to do this.

A good example of this is Grub Burger Bar. The company wanted to create brand cohesiveness across all its locations and used a whiteboard video to explain the brand’s core messages for new recruits.

Online videos in particular are helpful for getting a message out to a vast group of individuals that all need to be on the same page. Company newsletters, seminars and even webinars are being replaced by video as a means to express a unified message to an internal audience.  Click here to use our price estimation calculator to see approximately how much it would cost to make a video to help your business with its internal communications. (You don’t even need to talk to anyone!)