Intranet Communications Plan – Using Intranet As A Communication Tool

A strong organization that makes unified efforts towards a common business goal can only be achieved with a powerful internal communication plan. Regardless of the size of the company, an efficient internal communication plan benefits the employees and the organization as a whole.

The intranet is one of the most powerful for internal communication. Modern intranets can be a digital hub for any business with the ability to integrate several communication tools. In this post, we discuss how you can use the intranet as a communication tool and implement an intranet communications plan.

Intranet Communications Plan – UPDATED 2020

A well-designed intranet can prove to be an effective tool to facilitate communication within the organization and help increase employee engagement. To get the most out of your intranet, you should try to understand how it can improve internal communication. Today's intranets offer a host of possibilities for organizations and are not just limited to sharing messages. A carefully designed intranet communications plan is vital to achieving organizational goals like employee satisfaction and retention.

Let us try to understand what a successful intranet communications plan looks like, how it helps your organization and what strategies are involved in executing the plan effectively. 

Intranet As A Communication Tool – What You Should Know?

Companies looking to improve internal communication should consider the intranet as one of the best available tools. Here are some ways companies can use this communication tool to its optimum potential.

Offer a Social Experience

Several companies have started leveraging the strength of social media to create an engaging environment on the intranet. Some organizations even rely on a social intranet for communication rather than email.

Use Wiki

​ Wiki is a powerful way to share information across the organization as it ensures anybody can update it any time and everybody has the latest information accessible all the time.

Facilitate Multi-Directional Communication ​

A superior quality intranet gives employees a chance to engage with people in any level of the hierarchy by commenting on their posts. This is an amazing way to boost internal communication.

Share Live Stats and Metrics ​

​ Modern intranet gives organizations the opportunity to share business statistics like customer feedback and sales metrics with their people. Such stats can be made a part of the dashboard so employees can see how the company or department is doing.

Go Mobile ​

These days, not all of the employees work from their office computers. It is desirable that they are able to access the intranet from a remote location and probably from smartphone devices.

Communication Statistics In The Workplace ​

​Studies have shown that employees who feel engaged and connected within their workplace contribute more to the business goals and retain longer. However, it all comes down to communication. Effective communication helps increase their engagement and benefit the organization in return. Here are some of the most important workplace and employee communication statistics that prove the significance of engagement.

Up to 74% of employees feel that they miss out on their company's latest news. Employees get confused when information is not available freely. Nobody would like that they are not informed about company achievements and changes. Employees now want to receive instant, personalized information. This is why businesses should rework their internal communication strategies.

Employee productivity increases by 20-25 percent where employees are connected. If people struggle to find the information they are looking for, their productivity is likely to drop. This means you should ensure your internal communication plan gets the information flowing between departments and teams. Effective internal communication makes sure employees can coordinate their efforts.

Organizations with effective communication plans are 3.5 times more capable of beating their competitors. This is because your business gets directly affected by the way you engage with your people. The Silo Effect is one of the biggest challenges organizations face today. When teams and departments don't communicate enough, they can't coordinate their work, waste time and miss deadlines. With a great communication strategy in place, organizations can stay ahead of the competition. 

Intranet Communications Strategy – Getting Started

While an intranet communication plan is essential for creating a unified workforce that helps achieve business goals, your intranet branding should align with the brand itself. It is important to launch it well to tell about the features and benefits of the plan to the company. Here are some tips on creating a successful intranet communications plan for higher adoption and engagement rate.

Define Objectives

​ Your intranet communication plan generally seeks to boost awareness, change behaviors, understand needs or drive actions. Think about your intranet objectives and identify what actions, attitudes and information can help you accomplish them. Consider what can prevent you from achieving the objectives and how communication can help you.

Identify the Audiences ​

To be able to define your audience for a message, create a list of different groups that get involved in the intranet. Different people need different information depending on their roles in the organization.

Create the Right Message

​While messages can be different based on the target audience, any message you communicate should be engaging, clear, informative and motivating. Keep the tone professional yet social. You can easily streamline your communication on the platform with targeting features. This will make sure the employees receive the most relevant information.

Provide Engaging Communication

To create something engaging, make sure it is direct, transparent and conveyed in the right tone. There should be no lengthy sentences or unappealing language, whatever form you use for communication. Messages should be enjoyable and motivating. Intranet can help you maintain consistency as it stores different kinds of documents and templates.

Schedule Communications

Even when you are delivering internal communication, timing is really critical. If you are sending the right message at the right time, it is likely to have a deeper impact. Look at the type of message and decide the perfect time for sending it. Use tools to analyze what times people interact the most. Fine-tune your communication to suit the engagement attitude of your employees.

Internal communication is the foundation of an engaged, productive and successful workplace. A clear, well-designed intranet communication plan can maximize the effects of communication by uniting the staff, improving productivity and giving back returns to the business. Once you have a basic intranet communication plan in place, it is important that you review and update it on a regular basis to make sure it stays effective.