Happy New Year! As the festive period seems like a distant memory it’s time for a fresh start to your internal communications and to think about the year ahead. Hybrid working is here to stay and with external issues like the cost of living crisis and soaring energy prices, internal communicators have a crucial role in communicating with, and supporting their employees through this difficult time and beyond. What trends will shape internal communication strategies in 2023? How will technology increasingly help businesses to achieve their internal comms goals and provide value? Here’s my predictions for the year ahead which will hopefully inform your strategy for 2023.
1. Omnichannel delivery
The modern workplace offers a wide variety of tools and channels. But employees can sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer amount. Some may be unsuitable for your audiences which means they may miss out on important company news.
This is where omnichannel communication comes in. It should be part of your strategy for 2023 if it isn’t already. Embracing this will enable you to focus on the message rather than your channel strategy. Reaching every employee, every time, it will offer a streamlined comms experience. It also uses algorithms that will determine the most appropriate way to reach your people wherever they are. Offering employees communication via their preferred channels is becoming more common and will drive engagement.
2. Personalisation
It’s no secret that a huge issue in the industry is noisy communications, especially in remote-first organisations. But how do we cut through the noise and make sure people are acting on the information they’re receiving? Sending the same comms in a send all approach just won’t cut it anymore. How employees access information and how they want to receive the information needs to be taken into account.
NatWest were able to give everyone a personalised news feed using Oak’s curated content system that shows content in an order prioritised for the individual.
Alan Harris, Director of Internal Communications at NatWest said: “Oak has also given our colleagues more control. They can now personalise their news experience, adapt based on their interactions, follow topics of interest and opt out of communications that are less relevant - this is adding real value.”
Personalisation will be a key part of internal comms strategies going forwards and will be key to increasing engagement levels.
3. Data based campaigns
We surveyed over 200 internal communications for our upcoming State of IC report which revealed that 37% believe their top blocker is lack of awareness about the value of internal comms at an executive level. In order to get buy-in from senior stakeholders you need to have the confidence to influence others. You need to demonstrate your expertise and build trust as a strategic advisor. If you have the stats to back it up this will go a long way in proving the value to your senior stakeholders.
You can measure the success of campaigns with Oak’s in-depth analytics that also provide insights on how audiences are reached and will collectively measure the success and reach of campaigns, so that a meaningful story can be crafted from the results and feedback. Machine Learning can also assist with campaign delivery and will predetermine the likely effectiveness of each campaign.
Oak’s campaigns functionality will allow you to group content together, schedule content for staggered delivery and it also uses smart delivery for an omnichannel approach.
4. Mobile first
This might seem like an obvious one, some organisations have been slow to make the transition. Here at Oak Engage, mobile first internal comms have been proving more and more popular. Especially with businesses who need to engage their frontline or deskless workers such as Aldi and Five Guys.
A study by Meta found that 74% of deskless workers believe there are barriers to communication at work. The same study reported that 34% of deskless employees don’t feel empowered to share ideas.
In order for your workers to feel empowered and motivated you need to communicate with them effectively. This can be through regular 1:1 and team meetings, ideas boards or as mentioned, mobile friendly comms.
5. Intelligent comms
I think intranets should be working a whole lot harder for internal communicators. Another trend that I think will shape the internal comms industry throughout 2023 and beyond is that of intelligent comms and the use of AI. Internal Communicators need their content to be purposeful and impactful. If they take advantage of technologies that can provide feedback using AI so that they can revise their content so that it resonates with each and every audience, they will have the upper hand.
Want to hear more about what 2023 will hold for the internal comms industry? We’ll be releasing our State of IC Report for 2023 very shortly, so keep your eyes peeled. Here’s to a great year.
Thanks,
Will
