Video is a fantastic medium for communication because it’s so engaging. You may think it it is worth the effort for marketing, but what about communicating internally to your employees?

Of course, there are some common obstacles to using video, which can make people hesitant to take the plunge for internal communication purposes.

In this post, we outline five different challenges companies often face, and share possible solutions. With these tips, you’ll be able to leverage video internally sooner rather than later, or improve your existing efforts.

Why You Need Internal Video

Your employees are your company’s most valuable asset. Therefore, it is vital that you are able to clearly and concisely communicate goals, developments, and overall vision.

If employees are not well-trained, engaged, or involved, it becomes very difficult to further the goals of your company or organization. Video can help with that because it enables internal communications much more efficiently than traditional methods.

For example, asynchronous communication has risen in popularity and necessity thanks to an increasingly flexible workplace and the growth of remote teams. The tone of a message can be lost when delivered in written form. However, video communications enables the messenger to more easily provide context and urgency when relaying information to their team members.

There are plenty of other great reasons to incorporate video into your internal communications strategy. For instance, done right, it can eliminate the need for in-person meetings and training. This not only saves valuable time, but also maintains an important consistency, particularly when it comes to training.

Videos can be saved in a centralized resource center, making them readily accessible. In comparison, emails or chat messages are often deleted or lost more easily. You can even use analytics to analyze the engagement level of individual employees, helping you determine whether your videos are effective.

Challenge One: People will not watch the videos, or only watch part of them.

By introducing video, you are likely breaking old habits for your employees, and introducing them to new ones, but persist. Here, consistency is absolutely key.

You might find your viewer engagement is lower than you’d like. Viewers might be losing interest at specific points in the video. Understanding viewer behavior allows you to identify trends where the viewership drops off, and revisit the content to make improvements.

One of the simplest ways to encourage people on your team to watch your videos is to set their expectations. Deliver your videos on a regular schedule with a recognizable format. For new team members, normalize the use of video by introducing it early on.

Challenge Two: We don’t know what to include in our internal videos.

Plan and prepare, far in advance!

Content to consider includes any calendar or company events, milestones, training and education, or positive updates and “thank you’s” to your team members. In fact, we have a whole host of ideas on our blog. Here’s a couple to get you started: eight ideas for using internal video to engage your community and fifteen tips for internal corporate video.

We really encourage setting up an editorial calendar for your internal videos. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet with dates, titles, a brief description of each topic, and what you will need to pull it off.

Logistically, an editorial calendar pays dividends. It will really help give your team the necessary time to plan a variety of content, and prepare for each video shoot. This is especially crucial if your videos require booking staff or talent and a location.

It will also give you a central document to go back to where you can review your content. Further, it will make coordination much easier with other internal communication efforts. Taken all together, you’ll be able to see whether you’re succeeding in creating a cohesive internal communications strategy.

Challenge Three: People don’t follow the instructions/next steps shared in the video.

SproutVideo has great marketing features that drive viewers in the direction you need and ensure they’re following through on what you’re asking of them. Typically for public videos, these features can do double-duty for internal video.

Our post-play call-to-action feature allows you to guide your viewers to action after your video has finished. With the ability to include links, images, forms, or any HTML you’d like, we encourage you to test out different ideas to determine which works best for your team.

Perhaps a less overt (but potentially very effective) way to encourage your internal viewers to follow instructions and next steps is to assign email and password combinations to individuals for video access. On the SproutVideo platform, login protection enables you to track viewer interactions with your videos at a very granular level.

Importantly, these insights allow you to follow up with anyone who isn’t keeping up on required viewing or taking specific actions.

Challenge Four: Our video talent needs help.

Practice is key. After some general training, just keep practicing! Help your talent work on:

  • Distracting gestures: teach your talent to develop a self awareness around how they fidget or gesture when they speak and get others to watch, too. Constructive criticism only!
  • Enthusiasm: some can appear to lack enthusiasm, but are simply facing nerves. Nerves often cause people to freeze, leading to stiff facial expressions and a flat tone of voice. Help your talent to learn how to match the subject matter.
  • Lack of focus: having a storyboard and script will ensure your video stays on message and your talent knows exactly what to do. We also have some great information on how to do this — How to make better business video with storyboarding
  • Verbal static: many of us suffer from this. We often use ‘fillers’ to buy ourselves time to think about what we want to say. Avoid this by practicing the script and sticking to it otherwise these fillers can become a distraction to the message.

Get started as a talent coach with these resources: how to feel like a natural on camera, and facing your fears about being on camera.

Challenge Five: We have confidential information to share with our team members

Information security is of the utmost importance to companies. The exposure of sensitive and valuable data can cost companies big money, a lot of time, and even their reputation.

Because video is a newer form of internal communications, security has to be top of mind. Providing robust video privacy features has always been a priority for the SproutVideo team.

In addition to multiple setting options – including private, password, and login protected access – we also allow you to restrict video access to connections coming from a specific ip address, network, or block of ip addresses. Anyone attempting to share your videos with outsiders will immediately hit a wall if you utilize this feature. Signed embed codes and allowed domains, both of which prevent your video embed codes from being shared, are also powerful tools.

Beyond video security, our video analytics provide an added layer of assurance to company leaders by giving you the ability to audit who is watching your videos in detail. We recommend reading the five best practices for corporate video if video security is a big concern.

Final Thoughts

Video presents fantastic opportunities to improve internal communications. From connection and engagement, efficiency and productivity, to the ability to track engagement and identify gaps in communication.

You can overcome the challenges of internal video with a bit of creativity, consistency, and the right video host. If you have questions about using internal video, we’re listening!