We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again - internal communications is fundamental to building and maintaining a strong organisation. It is especially critical for larger companies to ensure core messages and business goals are received by a vast number of employees. Smaller and medium-sized businesses also require sufficient internal communications to keep staff informed of daily operations and build team morale.
Traditionally, internal communications was executed via team meetings, sharing internal documents, and face-to-face directives. Today, we are lucky to have a vast array of new communications tools like social media platforms to share organisational messages.
Using social media is a great way to boost your internal communications, and with little cost. Private social platforms like Slack, Google Pages and HipChat provide an additional avenue for you to instantly publish important internal information, as well as allow for a unique two-way dialogue between executives and workers. Slack and HipChat both allow your business to create different groups that relate to different areas of your business such as having a group chat for that new big project you landed or having a group just for your Public Relations team.
Be warned - when using social media for your internal communications, expect employee feedback. Many organisations shy away from this, however you can use this feedback to your advantage. Show your employees that management is listening to them by making certain organisational changes based on their suggestions. There will of course be ‘negotiables’ and ‘non-negotiables’ when it comes to actioning staff feedback, however, if you are not prepared to make some concessions based on this, do not use social platforms to communicate internally. A deaf ‘social ear’ can deeply hurt internal culture and disengage your employees completely.
That aside, having information available electronically and allowing for feedback is a positive internal communications tactic that all companies can harness. Social media ‘group’ and ‘chatting’ features give employees the opportunity to easily share information and insights across all areas of the business, with a click of a finger.
Where to start? Encourage your employees to join your internal social media platforms and begin to engage with them regularly. Remember - an engaged workforce is a happy workforce, and a happy workforce is a productive workforce.
Want to learn more about using social media to boost your internal communications? Contact our friendly PRMR Inc. team.
For more on how Public Relations can help drive business success click the link below to download our eBook.
