In this world of digital communications, we believe that printed internal publications can play a huge role in engaging colleagues.
To compete with any other publications your readers may buy, your internal communications magazine needs to be just as informative and engaging.
Here are our top tips to keep in mind:
A big part of internal communications is delivering news from within the business – but news is only news if it’s relevant at the time of reading. A magazine, therefore, isn’t always the best channel to share timely information – something like Facebook’s colleague platform, Workplace, would be ideal for this.
There’s no reason you shouldn’t include a round-up of news highlighting happenings from across the business but try and focus more on timeless ‘evergreen’ content that will capture your readers’ attention whenever they pick up the magazine. Think interviews, innovations, alternative angles and future plans – strategic, business-focused content that can be told through the voice of your people.
If you want to get colleagues on board, you need to make sure the magazine isn’t just used as a channel for leadership announcements and strategic messages. Your internal communications mag should be by colleagues, for colleagues, and be a true representation of the people reading it.
Your internal publication can be a place to give your senior leadership team some much needed visibility. Use interviews and storytelling to personalise people who can sometimes be perceived as unapproachable.
Successful communications are underpinned by trust and collaboration.
In big or small businesses, there’ll be a range of different views, opinions, strengths, personalities and skills that you can embrace and harness throughout your stories.
Too much text can be overwhelming for a reader and make a page dense and uninviting. If reading seems a chore, chances are the reader will turn the page. Make sure your text is well formatted with plenty of entry points.
Use white space, big headlines, pull-quotes, infographics or full-bleed images in your articles, allowing the content to breathe and draw the reader in, engaging them with the story.
If you haven’t digitalised your magazine yet, what are you waiting for? Mobile devices have revolutionised the way we consume content, so by providing an online edition of your publication, you’re giving your readers the option of how to best engage with it.
Digital isn’t going to replace print any time soon, so take a multichannel approach when it comes to your internal communications.
