Encouraging a healthy and happy work culture is something every business should prioritize. This is especially true now that more companies have gone remote and need ways to keep workers engaged and aligned.
But what methods can you use to do this effectively? Some companies choose to implement a company email newsletter, and others have gatherings on Hangouts and Slack. For a time, this worked okay, but lately, we’re all feeling the Zoom and email fatigue. So if you’re seeing email-open rates decline and disengaged co-workers on video calls, you know why.
The good news is there’s another option...audio. An internal podcast is an excellent channel to implement for several reasons:
● It holds attention better (and longer)
● It enables you to explore topics deeper
● There’s no screen (which means no eye fatigue and listeners can consume it while on walk, working, or doing nothing)
If you’re not already considering using an internal podcast for your company, then these use cases may change your mind. Here’s a look at how you can use podcasting for your employees.
Worried about employee retention? Then you’ll find that continuously training them is an ideal way to keep them aboard. Not only does this show them you care about their career advancement, but it also gives your company the skills needed to grow. You can use your internal podcast to offer industry insights and train and certify workers.
Since the start of the pandemic, 42% of companies stepped up their upskilling/reskilling efforts. And another 68% are investing in upskilling/reskilling training to manage organizational changes, and 65% are training workers on new technologies.
This all sounds great, but employees are tired of looking at screens all day. Yet, many companies that are upskilling and reskilling are using visual modules to educate teams. This makes the experience less desirable.
“My colleague, Tony Froster, who runs our culture practice, pointed out a really interesting thing to me, that there’s so much upskilling going on in companies and we’re forced to spend so much time in front of our screen. So every time a company wants to come up with another learning module, it’s another screen-based thing. And when you look at this, he said, ‘Do I really need to be in front of my screen another hour of the day, or could I learn this while I’m walking around and doing something else in my life?’
“So he pointed out that a lot of companies are actually putting a burden on their employees, using a lot of the existing channels. It’s kind of cruel. So what if you still did the education, but you liberated them. Because podcasting is one of those channels that I can do something else while I’m still listening and learning from you,” said Mat Zucker, Marketing Practice Lead at Prophet.
Siloed departments can be treacherous, leading to all sorts of issues with company growth and expansion. It’s nearly impossible to succeed today when your marketing, sales, and customer service teams are misaligned. If your goal is to increase revenue, then empowering your sales team and boosting customer satisfaction should be top priorities.
This is where sales enablement comes into play. You can use your internal podcast to educate your salespeople about new products, new marketing messaging, and tips from customer service to help close more deals.
The goal is to take the intel from other departments, so your salespeople are equipped with the knowledge to nurture and convert leads.
Company newsletters and Slack channels are two ways to keep your employees informed. But with more workers shying away from these channels, there’s little point in holding on to them any longer. With an internal podcast, you can give workers the freedom to catch up on company news, quick updates, and other critical information.
Here at Casted, we also use an internal podcast, called BodCast, to help keep our Board of Directors informed. That way, they don’t have to read another stack of documents, they can take in the information through audio and absorb the information that way.
Creating a great company culture is no longer an option for companies. Employees are now selecting employers based on their culture. And it’s also what’s either keeping them (or causing them to quit). One way you can implement a positive environment in your organization is to focus on community building.
“The real power is the ability to build a community, the ability to have a conversation and the ability to get feedback on your products and services, and to make people feel like they’re part of something. Because ultimately, that’s what we all want. We want to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves and like our voice is heard.
“I think podcasting is probably the most intimate medium that there is. Why? Because you’re going directly into someone’s ears, whether they are on a treadmill, out for a walk, working in the garden, commuting, it’s you to them. It isn’t on a screen; it’s not on a billboard. It’s not a video that you’re watching. It’s actually communicating directly into someone’s brain.
“There’s abilities now to specifically make a private podcast for your employees that still work on public apps. So the opportunities are more than ever, and it’s a way to engage your employees in a different way. And again, very personal. Their eyes aren’t glazing over as they’re scrolling things. And if you’re doing an internal podcast, well, it doesn’t seem like a corporate mouthpiece. It should seem like a series of stories. It should be something that’s interesting and enticing. And if they’re already loyal to the brand, if you’ve got them as an employee, you would hope that they’re just as excited about the kind of content that you’re creating,” said Scott Monty, CEO and Principal of Scott Monty Strategies.
When your company culture is intact and resonates with workers, you can create teams of brand ambassadors. These loyal workers become advocates and representations of your company, which can help further your branding initiatives (without being promotional).
“I think at the end of the day, it comes back to taste and awareness, and the way you get those things, especially when you’re talking about brand-driven values or brand-driven show internally or externally, again, same deal, this is about participation, not promotion.
“If the internal corporate communications team doesn’t feel like they’re part of the community internally, if they’re lobbying out the show from on high, from mothership corporate, and they’re not actually part of the ground floor, they’re not actually part of the team that, ‘Who are these people? I don’t know. They’re in that office somewhere,’ if this is from some brand internally like an internal agency with a name on it, it’s not going to work.
“It’s the same deal externally too. Marketing is about participation, not promotion because, otherwise, if you’re not participating in that community, how do you expect to serve them? I keep saying community, but I want people listening if they’re thinking about their own company to use the same ideals of community development. It’s just your employees or your teammates instead of prospects and customers,” said Jay Acunzo, author, podcast host, speaker, and founder of Marketing Showrunners.
Is it worth developing an internal podcast? Yup, sure is. It allows you to empower departments to come together and create something for the whole organization. Plus, you can disseminate normally dry information in a fun and personable way, through storytelling. And when your employees resonate with these stories and this content, you get brand ambassadors whose effect will be huge.
There are many ways you can use podcasting to help grow your business with the help of employees. It’s up to you to test out different methods and topics to see what works.
If you need help building and tracking your internal podcast, then check out Casted today!