Internal content writing – five tips for better employee engagement

by Anna Fozzard

image overlay

As remote working looks set to stay part of how we work in the future, internal content writing will only become more crucial in keeping colleagues informed, engaged, and motivated. After all:

Culture eats strategy for breakfast – Peter Drucker

But how to do you elevate your communications to go beyond the standard global monthly newsletter? Here are our five tips for levelling up your internal content:

Make it accessible for all

The average literacy age in the UK is nine. So, if you are a large company, employing a diverse talent pool, you need to make sure that you use clear and easily understood language. Work in a smaller, more niche environment? Your team will still benefit from simple sentences and plain language. After all, the most successful communications get their message across quickly and clearly. Accessibility also applies to any creative you produce. Resources like this contrast checker will ensure that your design doesn’t make it hard for some of your employees to read.

Tell your employee stories

As we’ve written about before, telling a great story is an important tool in effective marketing. And producing great internal content is no different. As so many of us have moved to remote working, keeping a sense of connection between your colleagues is vitally important and sharing stories is a powerful way to do this. The stories you highlight could be related to work – where someone has gone above and beyond. Or, they could be from outside office hours, like charity work, for example. If your company has several departments and divisions, producing a ‘day in the life’ piece for different teams is an excellent way for others in the business to understand what that area does – and how it contributes to the rest of the company.

Create ambassadors

If you’re a larger business – chances are you may already have an intranet where news and stories are published. Digital hubs are a great way to distribute information but – what about those who don’t read it or don’t work in front of a computer? Creating team or department ambassadors who help to share news will allow you to reach all members of staff. They can provide a weekly or monthly round-up of the latest news, and relay any feedback to the senior team. It’s best to appoint ambassadors from all levels of your company – so it’s not always ‘top-down’ communications from managers.

Consistent content

People like consistency. It helps to steady us, which, particularly during difficult times, is crucial. So, if you want to create regular communications (whether a webinar, newsletter, email or even podcast) – make sure you commit to a day and time to publish, and stick to it.

Don’t forget your tone of voice

You may have spent a lot of time working on your tone of voice (if you haven’t managed to nail it yet, we can help). You might have guidelines to follow; you may even have a brand team that all external communications need to go through before publication. But if your internal communications don’t echo the tone of voice as well, your brand won’t feel genuine or authentic. Internal content is the perfect place to reinforce your tone of voice. If you’re a playful company, add some fun to your copy. If your style is more direct, remove the waffle from your comms. Call your colleagues ‘partners’? Then make sure that’s consistent throughout every email, Slack message, news story and team meeting.

Levelling up your internal content writing

Creating content for an internal audience shouldn’t be a tick box exercise or an afterthought for the marketing department. Done well, internal content writing can melt the barriers between different departments by creating a cohesive and collaborative space for colleagues. We have decades of experience producing internal communications that reach employees and resonate with them. Why not ask us to help you create a better internal comms strategy now?

Sign up to hear from us