10 Reasons Why You Should Use Video for Internal Communications

Karina Kasparova
Updated:
May 16, 2023

There's no shortage of internal communication tools. Yet most options are not as effective as you need them to be.

Do you struggle to get your message across? Are you tired of important info being buried in a continuous flow of emails? Or your traditional print communications ending up in the trash?

How would you like to handle your internal communications in a way that prevents information overload and helps overcome time, distance, and language barriers or fragmentation across departments?

We know that the more employees you have, the harder it is to ensure effective communication. So, we're here to suggest a better way.

Internal communications videos let you easily manage and streamline all the internal chatter in a compelling and engaging format. 

TL;DR 🥱

In today's blog post, we'll show you 10 positive outcomes from creating video content to aid your internal communications.

1. Consistent & timely communication

When conversations happen across various devices, applications, and services you can't integrate, fragmentation becomes a big problem.

People waste hours trying to find out the best way to do things, a re-inventing process already defined, or learning a workaround to something already solved. 

Improve your internal communication, and your organizational productivity could grow by 25%. How? By providing a centralized platform with internal videos — a resource, your employees know of and can access whenever they need.

💡A video can work for anything from sharing your knowledge about the economic outlook to a sustainability program. The more you think about it, the more ideas you'll get.

2. Prevent information overload (and decreased engagement)

Less administrative tasks = more productivity. 

Video can help cut through those day-to-day admin tasks and the sheer noise of emails, messages, and notifications. They streamline how knowledge is shared and improve employee engagement through personalization and consolidation.

Did you know? 🤔

According to Asana's Anatomy of Work research, the average knowledge worker devotes 60% of their time to work about work — activities such as communicating about tasks, hunting down documents, and managing shifting priorities. As a result, just 27% of the time is dedicated to the skilled craft employees have been trained and hired to do.

💡Compliance issues, management announcements, and regular executive or video marketing messages work well. Have something big to say? Do it in a video, and the message will stick.

Here's an example of a management announcement video created in Synthesia STUDIO.

Company Offsite Announcement

3. Use personalization for a more effective internal communication strategy

The bystander effect in social psychology says the presence of others discourages individuals from intervening in emergencies. Not because they're worried about consequences… It's because they expect someone else will do it.

Something similar happens with your internal communications. Most employees will ignore messages that aren't explicitly oriented at them, thinking others will take action.

But exclusive one-on-one communication isn't feasible. Rather aim to orchestrate mass communication that feels individualized. How? Custom videos that'll make your employees feel personally responsible and more likely to do what you ask. 

Tip 💡

Make your video content tailored to a narrow group of employees or even one person, and you'll get a higher engagement. Custom video content is highly effective with orientation training or departmental update videos. 

💡For individual employees, try incorporating their names or roles into the video content. For departments, share specific information & introduce custom KPIs matched with custom incentives. Or, in an onboarding video, welcome a new employee by name. Moreover, create videos in different languages for remote international teams.

4. Overcome language barriers

The more languages your employees speak, the more likely misunderstandings, errors, and unwanted cultural insensitivities will occur.

Sometimes, communication barriers impact workspace safety and cause work injuries. Other times, non-native executives can't articulate strategies verbally.

💡Do better by optimizing your internal communications strategy, including videos with subtitles, translations, or other visual and audio cues. Use videos for conveying complex information too. They improve the effectiveness of global communication and employee engagement.

Tip 💡

Whenever you produce videos, think of what visual/audio elements you can use to make them more accessible. You could translate video FAQs into different languages for remote teams. Or plan DEI videos to promote a more inclusive & collaborative work environment.

5. Boost employee satisfaction with feedback

Your employees are hungry for feedback. 4 out of 10 workers actively disengage due to insufficient feedback. 

But how do you provide timely, concise, sensitive feedback? With video communications that you share across different timezones and locations. These are excellent for simultaneous teaching and testing. 

💡Quizzes, surveys, polls, and branching scenarios are effective feedback mechanisms. Add a few gamification elements too, and you'll verify your employees and give them feedback in such a fun way.

Further reading 📚

Interactive videos combine training with ongoing, rapid evaluation. This guide is your handbook for adding interactivity to video production, whether making live demonstrations, AI, or animated videos. Use it as inspiration for making your interactive videos.

6. Increase compliance, security & confidentiality

Data breaches can be a nightmare, especially for companies with many remote employees.

With well-trained and secure data, you protect your reputation and prevent financial losses. So, how about you start focusing on video to communicate information safely? 

Did you know? 🤔

According to IBM, in 2022, the data breach cost for a company with 20% remote workers averaged $3.99 million. The exact cost for a company with 81% remote employees averaged $5.1 million.

💡Your video communication can be password-protected and encrypted, whether live streams, meetings & events recordings, or administrative messages on company plans and strategies. Leverage video to train employees on data security protocols and best practices, reducing the risk of accidental data breaches by human error.

Check out this engaging example video from a data protection and privacy course:

Data protection and privacy training - Lesson 1

7. Efficient & effective employee communications

"Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing," said famous management consultant Peter Drucker. 

With videos, you can convey complex information easily. But most importantly, you make it accessible to employees from international teams in different time zones. Such asynchronous videos are gold.

💡Add troubleshooting videos, explainer videos, or even whiteboard animation videos and company update videos to your arsenal of effective communication. Employees can efficiently access them anytime, anywhere, from mobile devices, home offices, or even during commutes.

8. Provide crystal clear transparency

Transparent communication connects employees to your company's mission and goals. When your teams can access whatever information they need, they're more likely to make informed decisions. 

So, you want to make information easily accessible. And you should instruct your managers to use videos to deliver conversational messages. This will build trust and establish an open communication culture within the organization.

💡Transparent communication may come from sharing video updates, announcements, and reports. These will help your employees better understand the company's goals and strategies while cutting down on unnecessary meetings. Alternatively, use video to share feedback and insights from various stakeholders. This will provide a more holistic view of the company's performance and priorities.

Here's a great example of a transparent company update video

Company Update
Tip 💡

You can create videos for internal communications using software like Synthesia. Synthesia is an AI video maker that has 125+ AI avatars you can use to make professional training videos that empower employees.

9. Create training opportunities for business success

The more employees you have, the more custom training opportunities you must provide. Rely on videos to build interactive e-learning modules, facilitating a more immersive and self-paced learning experience. 

💡Think about videos as an excellent tool to upgrade your average employee and :

✔️ Deliver training content in different languages for employees across the globe. 

✔️ Think up realistic scenarios that allow your new employees to practice real-world situations, improving knowledge retention and skill acquisition.

✔️ Track and analyze the progress of the whole team, providing your managers with insights into which topics need further training and which employees require additional support. 

✔️Improve employee retention by providing chances to upskill.

10. Communicate your company brand culture

The more dispersed your teams are, the harder it is to convey your company culture and values.

💡Communicate your company mission and creative vision, values, branding, and company culture videos for your internal corporate communication. Then, create training on communicating with external stakeholders consistently and on-brand. Here's an example of one such video that you can duplicate as a template. 

💡You can also create employee testimonial videos. You'll get to explain your company branding and culture in your periodic updates and during the recruitment and onboarding of new hires.

How to create internal communications videos

By now, you must already feel excited about creating your videos for internal communications.

But if you lack production experience, we expect it will feel daunting when you plan your first internal communications video. 

Thankfully, AI video-maker tools like Synthesia will help you to save time and quickly create any video, whether it's a brief video for internal comms or an explainer of corporate software for external audiences.

Click below to read the guide on how to make your own video content — no equipment required!

Frequently Asked Questions