Among the hundreds of things internal communications and HR managers have to get done each day, producing content for the staff intranet can get pushed to the bottom of the pile.
Although the repercussions might not be immediate, neglecting your intranet turns a major weapon in your communications arsenal into a rusty spoon. Soon, no one will bother to visit and you will have lost a channel that reaches everyone, everywhere. And the usage stats will look bad in your next report.
Need some sneaky tricks to produce interesting intranet content without spending hours at the keyboard?
8 ideas to outsource intranet content
1. Polls
The humble poll can be an excellent source of interesting, current information. People love to give their opinion, especially if it’s quick and easy. Just ask questions then publish the answers – it doesn’t all have to be work related. “What are you doing while also in online meetings?” “What is the most overrated dessert?” “Should we introduce a 10 hour 4 day week?”.
2. Guest blogs
Identify and flatter overtly ambitious employees and ask that they draft a contribution on an area of expertise. You probably know at least one of these people, there are usually a few in every organisation. Try LinkedIn stalking suspects and seeing what they post (and if they can actually write).
3. Recommended reading
Useful content doesn’t always need to be written; the internet is full of it. Try curating five articles on an interesting subject with a summary of each plus a link. You will have to actually read each article to avoid potentially controversial statements or links. Stick to major titles. Make sure there is no paywall.
4. Tips and tricks
IT are constantly being asked how to do the same things and it’s probably very annoying. There might be someone in the Helpdesk team who would be willing to either write a tips & tricks piece or even record a “how to” screen capture if it will give them a rest from the “I saved over my changes, how do I go back to a previous version” questions.
5. Spotlight on…
This will depend on the cooperation of your leadership team, but if you can draft up a set of interesting questions, you could potentially ask a different senior leader to complete them each month. It’s possible they have been told they need to be more “transparent” and “approachable” and this might be an easy way for them to tick that box. If you can get one to do it and they are showered with public adoration, the others may follow.
6. Content-creating competitions
It is astonishing what people will do for a couple of movie tickets. If you have any budget, try offering a small prize for people to contribute their own fun intranet content. Tell us your top time saving tip/most embarrassing meeting moment/favourite holiday family tradition to win. Photos can be more visually exciting if they tie in nicely.
7. Highlight stuff already on the intranet
Yes, you know there’s a knowledge hub containing every project template / request form / brand logo / approved vendor list, but it’s possible other people don’t. Do you have a one-click to connect function from your People Search? Is there a Yammer community that needs a boost? Tell everyone!
8. Project launches
The successful launch of a new product, brand, event… even an automated process is a great excuse to hassle the project manager or sponsor for a news article. It makes them and their team look good, and is an invaluable way to update people on what’s happening – and potentially spark new ideas.
It takes a lot of work to feed the intranet content beast, but if you can outsource as much of it as possible while still maintaining quality, everyone will appreciate it.
If your intranet platform is making communications harder, talk to us. Injio offers automated content creation, news targeting, social responses and a rich multimedia experience that takes your content from good to gorgeous.Request a demo today!
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