A strong communications strategy guarantees higher adoption and engagement from day one. We share some preparation tips & best practice ideas in the article below.
In this article:
Communication with Blink
A strong communication strategy guarantees higher adoption and engagement from day one.
❓ What is Blink?
Blink is your new all-in-one employee app for your organization. It will give you a smarter way to communicate, unlock your true potential, and empower you to succeed.
👁️🗨️ Why Blink?
Blink brings different types of communication together in one user=friendly app that is accessible from anywhere
💹 What are the Project Objectives?
Start by setting the goals. Share what you want to achieve together! You can empower and protect your entire workforce by providing them with a safe and secure platform that contains all the information and tools they need to be successful!
What is your success criteria?
This can be completely different depending on you and your organization. We've provided a few examples below of how other customers have chosen to measure their communication success with Blink but feel free to set your own criteria that is customized to address your needs.
A clear use case is communicated across the organization
Number of activated accounts, active users, Feed posts shared, and the total number of direct/group messages sent.
Decrease the number of emails by using the Feed and Chat functions for all internal communication - give clear guidance on what information should be shared via Email vs. Blink
Managers require their teams to join Blink and are communicating with their employees daily.
Leaders are regularly and visibly engaged from day one.
Establish new habits and encourage everyone to start their day by checking Blink, e.g. Don't forget to Blink!
Communication Structure
Your employees must understand how the communication will be structured in Blink and where they can access necessary information.
📰 Feed | 💬 Chats | ☎️ Directory | 📑 Hub |
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How will Blink help you?
Tell your employees how Blink is going to improve their day-to-day experience! It's important that your workforce understands why Blink is important for them to help get them engaged and excited about it.
🌩️ What pain points will Blink resolve for your workforce?
Blink allows everyone's voice to be heard by making each individual an internal communicator - driving conversation and collaboration company-wide.
Use the Feed to share best practice ideas, reward and recognize employees, and develop a community.
Drive employee engagement by reaching colleagues on the devices they have with them every day.
Integrate Blink with other employee tools to increase engagement in and uptake of valuable company systems - connect every person and every system in one place.
Reduce the number of internal emails by using the Chat function to communicate with your colleagues
Blink gives you the ability to share content with your Team and stay connected wherever they may be.
Protect your colleague's personal data, privacy, and work-life balances - GDPR and HIPPA compliant platform.
Communicating User Etiquette
📖 User Etiquette Guide
Mandatory Read upon invite (accessible here.)
Displayed in communal spaces
Placed in vehicles
Sent via emails, posted in Feed of existing knowledge-sharing software
📲 Social Media Policy
90 second video or post from key figure outlining the whys, whats, and what nows of Blink (Exec Sponsorship).
Feel free to check out our example for some inspiration
🎖️ Champions Practicing Company Values
Example content in Feed to mirror Blink expectations
Get more information about Blink Champions from the Blink Champions Handbook and The role of a Blink Champion.
🏷️ Blink's Self-Governing Features
All users can report
Admins can restrict user Feed permissions
Designated "Culture Moderator" alias in Blink to share responsibility
Best Practice Ideas
What does your launch day look like? How can we create some buzz and excitement before, during, and after the launch?
🤖 Pre-Launch
A multi-touch approach helps build excitement, momentum, and FOMO - the more comms, the better!
Get ready for launch day by gathering materials, such as merchandise, handbooks, and launch posters.
Email sequences
Involve Managers, Team Leaders, and Blink Champions to help build excitement before launch day - spread the word and share the benefits of Blink to colleagues!
Identify your Blink Champions and/or Content Moderators early so they can help make Blink the one-stop-shop for everything your employees need on a daily basis.
Newsletter/email update ahead of launch day, attach our User Handbook and desktop app training video, and/or a welcome video
🚀 Launch Day
Kick-off launch day with a short welcome video shared on the Feed from their champion welcoming Teams as they onboard.
Create a Top Uses Cases for Blink guide and share it with your team on the Feed and/or Mandatory Read.
Competitions/raffles with prizes for people that have signed up by launch day - make it a celebration!
Capture the moment and share fun images, links, and information on the Feed that your colleagues can engage with.
Share a list of your Blink Champions in the Hub, so your employees know who to contact if they need some help.
Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect on day one. Be authentic and remember to have fun with it!
🛰️ Post-Launch
Keep up the momentum with your organization and plan your posts ahead of time!
Create a post-launch communications plan (check out the example below)
Weekly/bi-weekly "lunch & learn" sessions hosted by Blink Champions for employees who would like Blink training.
Share weekly "Did You Know" posts on the Feed on a specific day - consistency is key!
Recognize employees, teams, or departments by doing weekly shoutouts on the Feed.
Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and company achievements/events.
Set up group chats for teams and departments to start replacing your existing internal communications.
Organize regular contests and competitions: for example, host a remote "Bake Off Competition" and ask all the participants to share their images on the Feed.
Post-Launch Communication Plan
As always, keep in mind that the plan provided below is just an example: it's important that you create a plan that works best for your organization's needs. As a result, this may not be strictly Monthly/Weekly/Daily but it is a good rule of thumb in terms of frequency. Top-down comms should be less regular than frontline up.
📆 When | 📚 What | 🗣️ Who | ❓ Why |
Monthly | Company-wide Feed post to the entire organization | National Team | Focus on a specific business area and update your workforce on company news, business strategy, benefit providers, successes, etc. |
Weekly | Feed post from Manager to Team | Team Manager/Leader | Share team specific announcements, recognize effort, acknowledge issues/frustrations, encourage sense of community. |
Daily | 1-2-1 and group messages | All employees | Create 1-2-1 and group chats with your colleagues - share links to relevant resources, locations, files, images, videos, and much more. Business as usual notices, updates, and social sharing. |
Ad-hoc | Feed post | Team member to Team | Ask a question, share a poll, recognize team efforts in front of peers and celebrate individual and team successes |
Ad-hoc | Hub content | Users with a level of Admin access | Maintain Hub content and structure regularly so employees have access to all the relevant shortcuts, documents, files, and systems they regularly need - remember to notify them about any new Hub content on the Feed too! |
Seven Deadly Sins of Internal Communication
🔁 Writing for the "approver," not the reader
Communicators get so beaten down and abused by the approval process, they start creating copy that they know will make it through the process rather than writing copy that someone might actually read
📹 Falling victim to the "Gone with the Wind Syndrome"
Although videos are important for internal comms, no one is going to watch a 9-minute video. Videos need to be 90 seconds at most. A trick that can help is to use a stopwatch to time them and keep the funny, authentic bits of communications.
✨ Being fooled by the "Commnication Illusion"
Distribution is not the same as communication. Don't assume your message was received because you sent that email or video
📖 Writing a "War and Peace" communication plan
Work with leadership to figure out two or three important business initiatives you should focus on. Then create a dashboard to measure your progress
📉 Measuring the wrong stuff
There needs to be a balance between metrics and behavior change. Open rates are irrelevant if there's no follow up.
🔍 Giving managers too much "support" in communications
Managers want to know three basic things: What communication do they need to know and is it for "their eyes only"; What communication do they need to act on; What information do they need to share with their employees? If you can deliver important news to managers in a concise format, they will love you for it!
📚 Focusing on "The Four Deadly Ps"
Programs, Policies, products, and procedures. The only P you should think about is People. The more we focus on people, the more readable our stories will be.
Share with your team!
Need a resource to review this with your team? We've got you covered! Simply click on the button below to access a downloadable PowerPoint reviewing the key points of this article: