Impactful internal comms needs to walk the line between being informative and useful and being overwhelming. Constant bombardment of push communications, emails, newsletters, meetings, and intranet posts can have a detrimental effect on employee engagement levels, and ultimately affect how informed your employees really are (paradoxical, we know!). This is where content prioritization comes in. Think of it as a plan of attack, a game plan that tells you when to send out your internal comms quarterback and where the wide receiver should be (not to take the football metaphors too far).
Content prioritization is the key to creating empowering and engaging internal communications, and that can aid in building a more connected and productive workplace. And with IC at your side, ensuring the right content is prioritized is as easy as following 4 easy steps! Let’s run through them:
Tip 1: Build a plan that uses a variety of channels
If you are only relying on email or your intranet to provide important communications to your workforce, you are already failing. When building out your content calendar, it’s important to use a variety of channels in order to keep your employees engaged and avoid “messaging fatigue”. Prioritize your most important comms to go on your most engaging channels (this will be different for each organization and even each employee, from the intranet to email to Teams). To find out the best channels in your organization, use our channel audit tool.
There’s also the importance of balancing push and pull communications in order to keep employees engaged across all channels, and creating messaging that pulls readers into your intranet. When content prioritization is coupled with a good channel strategy, you are sure to see a boost in engagement.
Tip 2: Use a content calendar for content prioritization
Marketers and communicators know; the key to having a robust content rollout is having a robust content calendar. IC’s team of experts have created the ultimate internal comms content calendar that will help you prioritize and plan out your communications in an easy and streamlined way.
Not only does a content calendar enable you to plan your comms in advance and prioritize important internal messaging—it is also a handy tool to show your leadership team exactly what’s coming up in your organization’s internal comms, and shows that you’re always on the ball.
Tip 3: Use analytics and measurement to gauge best performing channels
Measuring and tracking open rates, click rates, and conversion rates of your internal communications provide you with invaluable insight into what channels perform best, what messaging resonates most, and what mediums are engaging employees.
And not all feedback has to be passive data tracking—incorporating surveys, polls, and questionnaires into your internal comms can not only help you gauge your messaging’s resonance, but it can also be a great way to boost engagement (after all, who doesn’t want to share their opinion?)
Tip 4: Be active in your communications to help content prioritization
Being active in your communications is essential for content prioritization, as you need to prioritize crucial company news so that your workforce hears it from you instead of from an external source, gossip, or rumor.
When you take an active approach to your comms, you are nurturing an organization that prioritizes employee health and wellbeing above all else—that can lead to greater work satisfaction, lower turnover, and a more productive workforce.
Use IC’s resources and software to build a content prioritization plan
Intranet Connections was a pioneer in the intranet space, and over our 20+ year history, we have provided 1,600 customers with state-of-the-art software and access to our best practice resources. Our team has put together many tools to empower internal communicators, including the content calendar, internal comms plan, and the channel audit tool mentioned in this blog. Download them all for free and book a no-obligations demo to take your internal comms to the next level.
