We have an exciting product update to share this week … Videos can be embedded in Red e App messages. Your internal-only videos featuring corporate news, meetings, site tours and product demos can now be shared with non-desk and hourly employees.
For the last few years, video has been hailed as the future of content for marketers and communicators across the board. As the most popular video hosting service, YouTube boasts 1 billion unique visitors per month, with 100 hours of new video being uploaded to the online media behemoth every minute.
Consumers now spend more time looking at their phones than they do their televisions, so it comes as no surprise that data usage on mobile increased drastically in 2014 in correlation with increased video streaming. In 2013, YouTube reported that 40% of their traffic now comes from mobile.
With this drastic shift in consumer behavior, Red e App took notice. Our clients had begun to harness the power of video for internal communications through external video links in Red e App messages, but we recognized the need for a more controlled video experience.
Often, videos such as key internal communication announcements cannot be hosted on external sites — these videos are “family business” that must be kept inside of a private communication platform. Because Red e App already provides a secure, focused, private channel for communications, it was a natural fit for us to implement a feature for embedded video messages.
Red e App video messaging allows an administrator to upload a video for sending within the app. These videos are not hosted on any external sites, nor do they exist with public links. When an employee watches a video, the app does not launch into YouTube or another media player – the video can be watched directly within Red e App.
Many of our clients currently have their internally-focused video content hosted on their companies’ intranet sites — think SharePoint, Alfresco, or Google Drive. Unfortunately, these services all require a @company.com email address for access, leaving out the large percentage of their workforce that is not connected through email. Red e App enables you to share video content with your entire workforce — including your non-desk workers.
So, what are a few practical ways to harness the power of video for your internal communications? Here are my top three recommendations:
1. Use video to share face-to-face news, when face-to-face is impossible.
It may be 2015, but there is still some news that shouldn’t be delivered via text message or posted to a bulletin board. Unfortunately, there are circumstances that make face-to-face delivery of BIG news impossible. If you work at a large plant with 6,000+ workers and you need to announce that your company is being acquired, you would certainly want to call an “all hands” meeting to make such a significant announcement. But what about your employees who work on 2nd and 3rd shifts? What about your employees who are out on vacation or on disability? Those employees will still need clear, personal, timely communication, and video provides a great platform for this kind of announcement.
2. Use video to clearly explain the steps of a process.
While a list of steps can be helpful, video is a powerful visual tool in showing and explaining specific steps in a process. If you are audited by OSHA and need to implement a new procedure for chemical disposal, a quick video explaining and demonstrating the new process would be incredibly helpful. You can use video to educate your employees and encourage them to change their process more quickly than with other methods.
3. Use video to show new processes, facilities, and more!
Announcing company progress through text and images is great, but video can help take your communications to the next level. Instead of announcing your new store opening with a few lines of text, you can share a message that includes a video tour for maximum impact. When the new assembly line that has been in process for six months is complete, you can capture the new line in action with a quick video and show your employees the advantages of the improved technology.
