Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses must shift the way they operate—often adjusting day-by-day. With social distancing and working from home as necessary precautions, this new norm significantly decreases face time with company leadership.
Because of these uncertain times, what is certain is that we want to hear from our bosses. Now, more than ever, leadership needs to communicate with staff. Below are some fundamental communication tactics to help companies remain steadfast.
Video
Video communication is an ever-growing popular medium for sharing your message. Video grabs the viewers’ attention. Market research suggests a viewer retains 95% of the information as compared to 10% when reading text. Moreover, video messaging is much more engaging and is a simpler method when conveying a complicated subject. Use this tool as a chance to connect with your employees on a deeper and more genuine level and offer encouragement as the company adjusts to the “new normal.”
Email is a tried and true communication method for quickly spreading the word to a large audience at once. Because your desired tone may not be interpreted over text, use this tool when relaying facts or outlining new work guidelines, protocols and best practices. The average employee gets bogged down with numerous emails per day, so keep the subject line catchy and to the point.
Slack
While our team is working remotely, we’ve been communicating through Slack, an internal communication tool aimed at “giving projects a dedicated channel, while replacing endless email chains.” Not only is Slack a great tool for connecting with account teams on certain projects; it’s a great way to simply connect with one another. Our most recent and relatable addition to ECPR’s Slack channels: Quarantine Life.
Social media
Make a point to engage with one another. If your company’s social media channels are geared toward communicating internally, it’s a great idea to repurpose and sprinkle video (in 30-second chunks), email or share e-newsletter content throughout social channels. And, it’s a chance to have a little fun in these trying times.
E-Newsletter
Typically, distributing a quarterly e-newsletter hits the mark. But now—as protocols are changing by the minute—it’s a good idea to distribute more frequently. Determine a distribution schedule that works best for your internal communication strategy and aim to deliver brief messages that are visually appealing. For higher engagement, place video content in the center of the e-newsletter.
Laura Bowman is an account supervisor at ECPR.
