Tips for Your Newsletter
The internal company newsletter was introduced to Europe in 1920 by the Bell company to provide information to their employees. Since then, it has changed considerably. Companies now use newsletters to create connections with employees, help them feel like they belong and break through the silos mentality. This can be a very good thing, giving value to work done internally. However, some companies still issue newsletters that are not as employee-focused as they should be. Here are a few technical and practical tips to get the most out of your internal newsletters:
- Make it digital.
- Make it multi-device.
- Don’t just inform, inspire and enrich!
- Make interaction a priority.
- Make it collaborative.
- Reward success.
- Encourage sharing.
- Track the success of your editorial strategy.
- Make sure your newsletter is distributed.
- Highlight your employee benefits.
- Talk about the future.
Employees are changing the way they do things, and current trends are pushing companies to digitise their newsletters. You should take this into account! With a digital newsletter, you can save money over time: no printing, delivery or distribution costs. You can also send it out much more quickly. You can, of course, keep the paper version for your employees that prefer to read the news that way. You would just print fewer of them, which is much better for the environment.
As we said above, your employees have different habits based on their preferences. Some like to read on a tablet, others on their mobile phone. Always think of how your employees do things to get the best results! So, make sure that your internal publications can be read on all devices. This will increase the number of people who read your newsletter.
Our content enrichment options do just that. Liven up your internal newsletter with engaging animations; insert videos for high-impact storytelling. Your employees already have work to do and reading your newsletter should not be a chore. Be creative, inspiring, and enrich your content appropriately to surprise and motivate your employees.
Forget static documents, encourage reader participation so that they remember the information you want to highlight. We always learn better by doing. So, make your internal newsletter dynamic with CTAs and Go to page buttons. Always try to link these actions to your brand storytelling, if possible. If you are an eyeglasses brand, for example, and you want your employees to better understand a specific vision problem, use the zoom function: “If you need to zoom in on this text, you might need progressive lenses. The same applies to our customers.”
Allow your employees to share their ideas and comment on the newsletter so that you can improve your editorial policy. Bayer, for example, created a program where they asked nearly 200 employees how information could be communicated internally. Why bring in an outside party to create internal content? If your employees create the content, you increase the chances of your newsletter being read and shared and you reinforce their sense of belonging.
We all want to know how our actions impact the company, which makes complete sense. Working in a company means investing in its success. Understanding why our work is useful is essential for professional development. So, talk about your employees’ success. Mention facts, key figures, accounts won if you’re an agency, the number of products sold if you’re an advertiser, etc. Put this information in context by giving value to your employees. After all, without them, none of this would be possible. Interviews work particularly well for presenting employees and enriching your internal newsletters.
Some of your employees will want to share this information with their external network. When you conduct a video interview with an employee, for example, they are likely to be proud of the interview and want to show it to their friends. So, include social media sharing buttons in your newsletter.
Which article was the most successful? Which theme gets shared the most on social media? You need to ask yourself the right questions in order to refine your communication strategy, always keeping your readers in mind. You can use many KPIs that will tell you what works and what doesn’t. These KPIs will help you improve your newsletter’s editorial strategy.
Your employees can’t be up to date on everything. It’s easy to miss an email on a busy day. You could plan two waves of distribution for your newsletter, for example. Put it on your intranet and your company’s social media, if you have it. Distribution is not to be taken lightly if you want your newsletter to have the desired success.
Are you an attentive company? Do you offer a variety of training programs and benefits? Show your employees! According to a study by Cass Business School, 64% of employers do not tell their employees enough about their benefits. You don’t need to create an entire document; a small insert will suffice.
Look to the future and share your company plans with your employees. We all like to know what’s happening in advance. This could be a new advertisement, product or service. Also talk about your vision, your goals, and let your employees give their opinions.
If you want to digitise your internal newsletter and apply these tips now,
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