Video is an important channel to not just inspire and engage your workforce but to build your brand from within. Research studies highlight an increase in demand for video as a medium – the need for visual communication is growing and more and more communicators are seeing value in video to communicate messages. The popularity of YouTube is also proof that video is a great way to share information, learn and build internal brand ambassadors. Assuming you already have a repository of content available within your organization, how can you go about launching your internal video channel and building your internal brand?
Build a business case: Identify the objectives of getting your video content centrally – – providing easy access to company messages, investing in learning and development of employees or allowing collaboration and co-creation with employees can be among the reasons for launching your channel. If you need a video player include it in your budget. My sense is that most organizations will have video players built into their systems.
Integrate video into communication media mix: Most organizations default to e-mail and the intranet for internal communications. By including video in the mix you will add an extra dimension to your impact and value as a team. Promote the use of video in your communication.
Brand the channel: You can probably crowdsource the name from among your employees. Branding the channel helps for recall. Choose a name that is simple, direct, is aligned with your business need. Define a process for leveraging content for this channel – how they can create content with their own mobile and video devices. You can take the best of your content externally using owned media like your website and social media channels.
Make employees central to your channel: Tap your internal talent to co-create content. I have often been amazed by the talent employees have and the passion with which they can co-create content for you. Identify how employees can use the channel – either as contributors and participants. Ideas to make the channel attractive and participative include creating a theme based series on current topics, leadership connections, engagement with new recruits to your organization. Recognize and make employees who champion your video channel heroes of your brand.
Consider copyright and other information: Articulate how employees can ensure their content is copyright free, outline guidelines for using employee sourced videos and prepare videography guidelines, if you don’t have one already. This will ensure consistency and protect your brand from infringement and legal hassles.
Measure the impact: Show leaders and internal teams how video can make a difference to the overall reach of your communication. Invest in a tracking tool which highlights which videos get the maximum views and conversations. Use insights from those conversations to feed more videos that drive conversations on subjects that matter – be it community, employee programs, business updates among others. Report the impact of these videos with your stakeholders.
Seats filling up. Book your seat now for the Internal Communications 401 Workshop – Brand Building, Inside Out on October 11, 2014 at Bangalore. The workshop covers Internal Branding, Brand Ambassadorship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Culture Building
Look up details from the Internal Communications 301,  Internal Communications 201, Internal Communications 101 conducted in 2013, 2012 and 2011 respectively.
