3 Reasons to Use Video for Internal Communication

“3 Reasons to Use Video for Internal Communication” 1
for INTERNAL
3
COMMUNICATION
TO USE
REASONS
VIDEO

Lots of little kids dream of growing up and becoming
filmmakers. Like Steven Spielberg or George Lucas.
It’s fun (and sometimes profitable) to create videos and
entertain people with storytelling, and who doesn’t love
to kick back, relax, and enjoy a good movie?
But video is moving past the simple objectives of pure
fun and enjoyment.

An ever-increasing percentage of HR professionals and in-
ternal communication managers fully support strategies that
replace documents with videos for internal communication.

Companies that use video for their internal communica-
tion will stay ahead of the technological curve and keep
themselves relevant.
And this trend is likely to grow through 2014 and beyond.

Give me one good reason to try yet another method of getting my
staff to act on my messages, you might be thinking.
No problem. I can give you three reasons why you should use video
for internal communication right now:
Easy familiarity

1
2
3
Mobile flexibility
24/7 accessibility

Easy Familiarity
Most people are very familiar with the universal symbols for
operating electronic devices. Test your knowledge with these
three examples:
Did you guess Record, Play, and Stop? Good job. Because
these symbols are basically the same no matter what device
you’re using, video operation is second nature for just about
everyone.
1

Businesses can and should
tap into this easy familiarity
with video to improve inter-
nal communication at work.
What areas might video help improve, you ask? Everything.
From compliance training, to onboarding, to policy updates, videos have
the power to enhance knowledge and performance across the board.

Mobile Flexibility
11 internal communications trends you’d be crazy to ignore
reveals that over 70% of internal communications teams
plan to increase their use of video as a method of employee
communication.
“More and more companies are adopting a YouTube-like
approach to video,” the article says, “introducing libraries
that let employees search for videos, comment on them,
tag them, embed them, and upload their own as a means of
sharing information and knowledge.”
2

Case Study #1
The following is a real-life story
about the mobile benefits of video
from Russell Working’s article In-
ternal video: when and where em-
ployees want it:
“When the global company Praxair offered technical instruction in the
past, an expert would fly to scattered locations and teach his colleagues
face-to-face. Recently, however, an engineer at the company . . . demon-
strated how video has changed communications.”

“The engineer aimed a camera at a PowerPoint presen-
tation on his computer screen and recorded a training
session, using his pen as a pointer, says Praxair’s Ter-
ry Bourgeois. The engineer uploaded it internally and
emailed the URL to relevant employees.
Unpolished? Perhaps. But staffers got their training,
Praxair could track who watched the video worldwide,
and the engineer was spared weeks of standing in airport
security lines.”
Source: Internal video: when and where employees want it

Case Study #2
Here’s another real-life example
from Working’s article about us-
ing video for internal communi-
cation, this time from the online
selling giant eBay.
Working quotes eBay’s overseer of live webcasting, video produc-
tion services and global enterprise technology, who says that eBay
“uses video for major events such as all-hands meetings, which
staffers can watch live and or view later.”

The article goes on to say that “the company increasing-
ly produces shorter videos that are less taxing than an
hour-long meeting. Some of these allow staff to ‘get to
know another department within your organization and
what they do day-to-day.’”

Case Study #3
What if you’re a massive company with thou-
sands of employees spread out all over the
world? Everyone needs the same information and timely updates, right?
Let’s look at Raytheon’s story, also featured in Working’s article.
The defense and security giant, Raytheon Company, has 68,000 em-
ployees worldwide and uses video to communicate with them.
The article says that the company was using online video even before
the invention of YouTube but that it has seen a big change in the way
employees interact with video.

Once Raytheon tended to webcast more of
the town halls, but “employees weren’t re-
ally paying attention to the time-consuming
videos.”
Working reports that Raytheon now creates
a series of five shorter videos each quarter
and “promotes them through emails with
links to a micro-site and also on blogs where
people can discuss the content. Viewership
has increased over 400 percent.”

24/7 Accessibility
Ever had the experience of seeing your doctor and then
not remembering exactly what was said afterward about
your diagnosis or medication instructions?
Or how about employees in highly-regulated companies
that must attend regular meetings to get updated on new,
mandated rules they have to comply with?
It’s easy to forget important information, and even harder
for companies to make sure every employee is on the same
page. It sure would be helpful sometimes to be able to re-
play exactly what was said, wouldn’t it?
3

Well, now you can. For example,
Working reports that at Praxair vid-
eo is becoming on-demand, which
means that it is globally available.
“Employees can beef up their learn-
ing when they want it,” says Work-
ing, “and they can play and replay
a video. If they want credit for the
viewing, they have to take a test.”

Another benefit of this accessibility?
Less scheduling hassle.
“It’s fantastic in that you don’t have
to worry about the schedule so much
anymore,” says Burgeois, who runs
Praxair’s knowledge management
training program.

Working says that Praxair also uses video
to communicate critical messages from se-
nior management, such as CEO messages
about quarterly results, which lets staffers
at remote sites watch them.
“If there’s critical information that people
at multiple locations need to know, and it’s
important that that information is received
in the same way by everyone, they’re using
video to tape those messages,” Bourgeois
says (as quoted by Working).

So let’s review the reasons you should
be using video for internal communi-
cation right now. Video provides the
following three benefits:

And don’t forget these
bonus benefits of video!
• Improved knowledge and performance
• Increased employee engagement
• Better knowledge of coworkers
• Saved money and time
• Simplified scheduling
Easy familiarity
Mobile flexibility
24/7 accessibility

So what’s the
bottom line?
Once there were only one-dimensional printed documents to
communicate with staff. Now there is the dynamic “document”
of video for internal communication, a medium with the easy
familiarity, mobile flexibility, and 24/7 accessibility to reach any
and every audience.

You can stay ahead of the
technological curve with
our all-in-one video com-
munication tool.
Check out details on the
next page.

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About the Author & Designer
Rebecca Whittenberger is an eleven-year veteran of
working in non-profit organizations and academic institu-
tions. She served as curator of education and education
consultant for the Mahoning Valley Historical Society for
six years and is currently a communications specialist in
marketing and public relations at Ving.

3 Reasons to Use Video for Internal Communication

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3 Reasons to Use Video for Internal Communication