Long gone are the days when you needed to be Steven Spielberg to create a film. Nowadays, anyone with a video camera, computer, or smartphone can easily make a video in seconds and then instantly publish their video online for the entire world to see.
Aspiring filmmakers, singers, and actors are not the only people who have recognized the power of video for self-promotion and public entertainment; an ever-increasing percentage of HR professionals and internal communication managers are fully supporting strategies that implement video for internal communication.
At one time just a stationary hobby, people now watch videos anytime, anywhere with the convenience of their mobile devices. Once just an occasional entertainment tool, video has been transformed into a vital business strategy.
To stay ahead of the technological curve and keep themselves relevant, companies are rapidly implementing video into their internal communication methods. And this trend is likely to grow in 2014.
Give me one good reason to try yet another method of getting my staff to read and understand my messages, you might be thinking. No problem. I’ll give you three.
Videos’ easy familiarity, mobile flexibility, and 24/7 accessibility are three major reasons why if you’re not using video for internal communication in your business right now, you are falling behind.
If you’ve ever used a tape recorder, VCR, CD/DVD player, or video camera, then you are very familiar with the universal symbols for operating these devices, such as the following:
Because the visual video symbols are the same no matter what device you’re using, video operation is second nature for basically everyone.
Combine this operational familiarity with the YouTube revolution (which started in 2005 and made it possible for everyone to upload, share, and view videos on a video-sharing website) and you have the perfect recipe for a world-wide, video-sharing frenzy.
Businesses can and should tap into this easy familiarity with video to improve internal communication at work. What areas might video help improve, you ask? Everything. From compliance training, to onboarding, to policy updates —videos have the power to enhance knowledge and performance across the board.
In 11 internal communications trends you’d be crazy to ignore, Shel Holtz points out that over 70% of internal communications teams plan to increase their use of video as a method of employee communication. “That dovetails nicely with the mobile trend,” says Holtz, “as YouTube recently revealed that mobile devices account for 40 percent of the videos consumed on its site.”
“More and more companies are adopting a YouTube-like approach to video,” Holtz goes on to say, “introducing libraries that let employees search for videos, comment on them, tag them, embed them, and upload their own as a means of sharing information and knowledge.”
Check out the following real-life story of the mobile benefits of video from Russell Working’s article Internal video: when and where employees want it:
“When the global company Praxair offered technical instruction in the past, an expert would fly to scattered locations and teach his colleagues face-to-face.
Recently, however, an engineer at the company―which separates air into nitrogen, oxygen, and argon for commercial use―demonstrated how video has changed communications.
He aimed a camera at a PowerPoint presentation on his computer screen and recorded a training session, using his pen as a pointer, says Praxair’s Terry Bourgeois. The engineer uploaded it internally and emailed the URL to relevant employees.
Unpolished? Perhaps. But staffers got their training, Praxair could track who watched the video worldwide, and the engineer was spared weeks of standing in airport security lines.”
Here’s another real-life example from Working's article of using video for internal communication from the online selling giant eBay.
According to Working, who quotes eBay’s overseer of live webcasting, video production services and global enterprise technology, eBay “uses video for major events such as all-hands meetings, which staffers can watch live and or view later.”
This same overseer goes on to say that “the company increasingly produces shorter videos that are less taxing than an hour-long meeting. Some of these allow staff to ‘get to know another department within your organization and what they do day-to-day.’”
Working emphasizes that like many other companies, eBay has an eye on the increasing mobile push, which results in its user-generated video and strategy to increase the global availability of mobile video.
What if you’re a massive company with thousands of employees spread out all over the world? Everyone needs the same information and timely updates.
In his article, Working also discusses the real-life story of the defense and security giant, Raytheon Company, which has 68,000 employees worldwide and uses video to communicate with them.
“The company began using online video even before the 2005 launch of YouTube,” says Working, “but it has seen a big change in the way employees consume video, says Mark Tarleton, manager of webcast operations. Once Raytheon tended to webcast more of the town halls, but YouTube changed people’s viewing habits. Employees weren’t really paying attention to the time-consuming videos.”
Working reports that Raytheon now creates a series of five shorter videos each quarter and “promotes them through emails with links to a micro-site and also on blogs where people can discuss the content. Viewership has increased over 400 percent.”
We’ve all had the experience of being in a doctor’s office or an important meeting and not remembering exactly what was said afterward. How long did the doctor tell me to take this prescription before I’ll see results? When exactly did the HR manager say our insurance benefits would be changing?
It sure would be nice to be able to replay what was said, wouldn’t it?
Well, now you can. For example, Working reports that at Praxair video is becoming on-demand, which means that it is globally available. “Employees can beef up their learning when they want it,” says Working, “and they can play and replay a video. If they want credit for the viewing, they have to take a test.”
Another benefit of this accessibility? Less scheduling hassle. “It’s fantastic in that you don’t have to worry about the schedule so much anymore,” says Burgeois, who runs Praxair’s knowledge management training program.
Working says that Praxair also uses video for critical messages from senior management, such as CEO messages about quarterly results, which lets staffers at remote sites watch them.
“If there’s critical information that people at multiple locations need to know, and it’s important that that information is received in the same way by everyone, they’re using video to tape those messages,” Bourgeois says (as quoted by Working).
It’s important to note (as Working reports) that video is not the single perfect “cure all” for internal communication. Companies should not embrace video to the complete exclusion of other internal communication methods. Video is simply another communication tool, albeit a very important one, in the company arsenal of communication strategies.
The more familiar the methods are (such as video) that are used to communicate important messages, the greater the insurance that those messages will be heard and understood and, ultimately, reach their target audience.
Where once there were only printed documents to communicate with staff, now there is the “document” of video for internal communication, a medium with the easy familiarity, mobile flexibility, and 24/7 accessibility to reach any and every audience.
