How Great Video Announcements Improve Employee Engagement

You don’t need me to tell you that running a business is no easy feat. You need to wear many hats and keep a close eye on everything from sales figures to running costs to… well, everything really. One major factor in the success of any organization is its workforce. Keeping them satisfied and engaged can ensure high levels of productivity and low levels of staff turnover. 

Good communication is something else that’s crucial, both externally and internally. However, when it comes to internal communications, you may encounter some problems. A staggering 60.8% of people ignore work emails. This means you need to think about other ways of communicating and engaging with your staff. One solution is video announcements. How can you use announcement videos to boost engagement?

Video announcements vs emails

Image sourced from Oberlo

With such high rates of emails being ignored, they may not be the most effective way of connecting with your employees. Yet, at the same time, you recognize that connecting with that workforce is essential to good business as your staff are the lifeblood of your organization. This is why so many companies have a robust HCM (human capital management) policy. 

So, you need to find an efficient alternative to emails. Face-to-face announcements would be ideal, but they aren’t a practical solution. Well, at least not in a ‘live’ scenario. But if you take that face-to-face idea and translate it to video footage, then you have a solution that works both for you and for your employees. 

The benefits of video announcements 

There can be many reasons why you want an efficient communication method with your staff. You may want to announce a new deal with customers that will boost your business figures. Or it may be as simple as you wanting to recognize specific employees for achievements or innovation. Videos can also be great as tutorials or training for new tech or processes. What benefits will using video announcements bring?

1. Personal touch 

2. Image sourced from postbeyond.com
4. Emails can be dreadfully impersonal. When communication is text-based, it can lack emotion, subtlety, or context. The email writer may have their own quirks or nuances when writing that don’t fully convey the message they want to convey. Can you imagine how cold and sterile an email announcing redundancies would come across? With a video announcement, you can include all the emotion and context needed. Not only that, but viewers can pick up on non-verbal cues as well. For example, if you released an eye-catching video message announcing that the company was switching to business VoIP, not only would viewers have that basic information, but they could see how enthusiastic you are about the change, too. Additionally, using stock video footage can help you create professional and engaging video content without the need for extensive production efforts.

5. 1. Informative 

   Let’s be honest; we’ve all been guilty of skimming emails and not taking in all the information contained in them. In fact, people tend to only retain 10% of the information contained in an email. That figure jumps to an amazing 95% when the information or message is imparted via video footage. 

   That dramatic difference in information retention would be a justification for changing your messaging strategy from email to video. While some of your messaging might appear trivial to some, the bulk of it may contain important messages—such as remote training—that you need your workforce to know. Video announcements give you the peace of mind of knowing people will retain what has been said.

   1. Time savings

   The thing to remember is that your messaging can cover many different areas and can thus take time to think about and compose. With video messaging, whether short-form video content or longer videos, there can be significant time saved in the longer term. The other thing to consider is the potential lifespan of the messages you create. 

   When you create a video announcement, you are, in effect, creating a resource that can be used again and again on demand. For example, you may create video messages that welcome new hires to the company and that are an integral part of the onboarding process. You are not only adding that essential personal touch to the process but saving time in having to compose a new welcome message over and over.

   1. Improves connections

   2. Image sourced from greatplacetowork.com
   3. Depending on your business model, your workforce could look very different from other organizations. You may have staff scattered over different locations, or you may even have a percentage of your staff working a remote or hybrid pattern. While remote work can offer many benefits, it can also cause a feeling of disconnection, with some 60% of remote workers feeling no connection to co-workers or management. Using video announcements can improve the feeling of connection. It’s that personal touch that makes the difference again. While you may not be actually physically present, a video is as close as you can come when your workers are located elsewhere. 

      1. Better productivity 

      Whether working onsite or working from home, employees are more productive when they’re happy with their roles and with their employer. Your HR department may be using technology such as an HRIS (Human Resources Information System) to streamline and improve their operations, but how are they communicating with staff? 

      From HR to management, there needs to be a real connection between departments and managers and the staff they employ. With real connections and better information retention, employees can feel more engaged with their employer and will subsequently put more effort into tasks, leading to better overall productivity rates. 

      1. Improves action 

      Let’s return to those figures on information retention. When only 10% of the information in an email is retained, then it is less likely that staff will take action based on the information you sent. Given the far higher retention rates for video announcements, you can be more confident that any needed actions will happen. 

      For example, you send an email to your marketing team with lots of information on the benefits of using a .ca domain and ask them to create content that promotes the domain. If the entire team only retains a fraction of the information you sent (or ignores it entirely), it might be a very poor campaign. But if you send that information and request by video, then you will likely see a more effective campaign and better results. 

      When to use video announcements

   4. Free-to-use image sourced from Pixabay
   5. In reality, you could theoretically use video announcements in any area of your business. However, some uses may be more effective than others. Depending on the size of your organization and how often you might use video announcements, it could be well worth you building your own video portal that can be used as a resource library as well as a hub. You can also consider a customizable video template for your most common videos. 
      • Recruitment. You can use video messages at various stages of the recruitment process. You could announce any vacancies to your workforce to see if they can refer anyone. With the growth of mobile recruiting, you could use video announcements to give candidates information about the role and the company.
      • Milestones. Once again, it’s all about the personal touch. Whether an anniversary for the business or achieving goals in a set period, videos can be a great way of making any important announcements to your staff. 
      • Events. Video announcements can be the ideal way to let people know about upcoming events. Events can range from team-building weekends to an annual staff party or picnic. You can consider combining the actual announcement by video with an RSVP process that utilizes emails. 
      • Awards. This is another area that can be wide-ranging. They could be internal awards—such as employee of the month—or external ones where the company is recognized for a particular product or service. Video announcements are the perfect way to give employees good news about any awards or recognition. If there is any sort of ceremony involved, you may also want to think about live-streaming it. 
      • Innovation. Technology is constantly developing and evolving. If your business decides to adopt new tech—or indeed new processes—then a video message is the best way to let staff know about any changes. They can also be used to inform people whether any training will be needed, who will be affected, and what timeframes are involved. This seamless transfer of different types of knowledge through video announcements ensures that your team stays well-informed and prepared for any upcoming changes.
      • Updates. Not only is your business generating an enormous amount of data, but you are also constantly analyzing that data so you can make informed decisions. Connecting with staff via video means you can give updates on where the business is in terms of targets and what may be needed in the coming weeks/months, or you can simply use it for any weekly announcements. 

      Effective video announcements can be a versatile tool for enhancing communication within your organization, keeping your team well-informed, and fostering engagement in various aspects of your business, including potential business transitions like mergers, or even if you want to sell your business now.

      Increase engagement with video announcements

   6. Free-to-use image sourced from Unsplash
   7. You may think that video announcements involve more effort than a ‘simple’ email. The reality is that you don’t need advanced video techniques and can create even a simple video with your mobile device, which can then be disseminated across the business. You may find that as the amount of creative videos you produce grows, a dedicated video portal or channel could be beneficial and that it can ensure you produce creative content with high video quality. Utilizing video creation as a method of communication and engagement brings a personal touch to everything you share. When you add in the impressive information retention rates, then you can see why it is far more efficient than emails. It’s not a tactic that will stretch your budget either and can be done cheaply, easily, and effectively.