Move over, platform shoes — internal communications are making a comeback.
And unlike slap bracelets (which frankly died in their prime), internal comms are getting more and more popular.
Are you finally ready to jump on the trend? The good news is, it won’t take long. With a few simple tweaks (and a step-by-step process), you can supercharge your strategy and kick your team’s engagement into overdrive.
Starting with our helpful checklist.
Okay, but why internal communications?
Good question! We’ve also covered it before.
But if you’re looking for the TL;DR, here’s the crash-course overview:
- Internal comms are any kind of message designed to engage employees rather than customers. Any marketing message directed inside your business is an internal communication (yup, even the weather).
- Good internal comms help employees get engaged. Great internal comms help teams be more productive. Don’t just take our word for it, though: research shows it can double business performance compared with your competitors.
- Internal comms are easy with digital signage. Add the right tools and platforms to your stack, and you can set up internal marketing strategies that genuinely move the needle.
Now with the basics out of the way, let’s get into our step-by-step checklist.
The ultimate internal communications checklist
If you already have a digital signage program, you can get started with internal communications right away.
Don’t yet have a program in place? No worries.
Hop to the bottom of this guide and set up with Fugo for free.
Otherwise, let’s get started.
1. Build a content calendar for digital signage
You should think of internal communications as a marketing program for your employees. Just like an external marketing campaign, it requires planning and preparation.
Planning is even more important for digital signage. The easiest way to streamline ongoing content is by creating and scheduling topics at scale.
First, pull up a doc and brainstorm a bunch of topic ideas. Then, create messages under each topic so you can plan content at least a month in advance.
So what ‘buckets’ do you put on your content calendar?
The world’s biggest companies usually include:
- Regulations and compliance
- Career development
- New technology
- External news
- Sustainability
- Customer experiences
- Health and safety
- Wellbeing
- Ways of working
- Rewards and benefits
- Business performance
- Employee recognition
- DE&I
- Change activity
- Values, behaviors, culture
- Strategy, vision, purpose
Try making one post to fit each one of these buckets.
Congratulations — you’ve just made enough content for half the month!
2. Be strategic about signage
When you think of digital signage, what locations come to mind? Your lobby and break room are probably top of mind.
The thing is, most of your employees aren’t sitting in the lobby/break room all day. They’re working in their offices, sitting in a conference room, or in the case of deskless employees, working out on the floor.
While building your signage program, think about strategic locations like:
- Touchscreen kiosks
- On the walls of your common areas
- Inside huddle and meeting rooms
- Near elevators
- Outdoor gathering spaces
- Warehouse floors
- Production floors
3. Think about company TV channels
For the unfamiliar, company TV channels are cloud-based digital signage employees can access from anywhere in the world. All they have to do is follow the URL — they can get up-to-speed with noticeboards, reminders, social content, and more.
As you set up your company TV channel, don’t forget to consider:
- Channels locked behind authorization (for TV dashboards)
- Embeddable links in employee channels
- Browser-based TV channels
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: company TV channels will give you a great ambient, non-intrusive platform for your internal comms.
But no need to take our word on it, though. We let our customers do the talking:
“Fugo is really simple to use and set up, especially compared to a lot of the other digital signage options out there. We use it daily in the office and we love sharing our dashboards with the team and making custom slides with all the different app plugins. If you're a small or large business that is looking to put some content on your screens or an office looking to share information and dashboards, I would highly recommend it!” — Alexis B.
4. Run some friendly competitions
You know what people love more than anything?
A good ol’ fashioned competition.
Because even if people say they’re ‘not competitive,’ the vast majority of them (80%) are. If you incentivize their competitive spirit with a bit of friendly banter, you’ll skyrocket your productivity while boosting camaraderie.
Add friendly competitions to your internal comms strategy by:
- Encourage team-based competition (like sales vs marketing)
- Creating fun traditions around holidays or seasonal bursts
- Chatting with your audience about what they want (more on this later)
5. Sprinkle in some interactivity
Remember how we said to think about internal comms as marketing? If you’re not adding a ‘CTA’ to some of your slides, you’re possibly missing out on some extra engagement.
Ask your employees to engage with internal comms by:
- Embedding QR codes so employees can take immediate action
- Working on digital signage content as a team (more on this later)
- Adding CTAs to your slides (such as ‘tag us with #xyz’ or ‘cast a vote for a winner’)
- Making your content touchable, so employees can navigate themselves to relevant information
Remember: there’s a big difference between watching something and engaging with something, especially when it comes to digital signage. Dynamic content is king in this industry, and will be for years to come.
6. Ask for honest feedback
What you think employees want and what they actually want are probably two different things. Even if you mean well with your digital signage, your team may be craving a flavor that’s not currently on the menu (if you catch our drift).
That’s why feedback is so important to a healthy internal comms strategy. And with the right approach, it isn’t hard to get.
You can start by:
- Working on the content calendar together with your team
- Creating an open-door policy so people can email you directly
- Issuing quarterly questionnaires via email (or Google Forms)
The latter can help you reduce content ideation pressures and take extra tasks off your plate.
BONUS: Connect with integrations
Digital signage is great by itself, but adding third-party integrations can kick your strategy up a notch.
Ever wanted a free pass to your Power BI dashboard? What about adding custom apps and widgets to your company TV screens?
All of this is possible with the right third-party integrations (and a signage provider that makes them accessible, of course).
Want in?
We wrote a guide to digital signage integrations to help you put your best foot forward.
Putting theory into practice
Internal comms are here to stay. The best part is? You can get started today.
All you need is a TV screen to join thousands of customers building a communication strategy with Fugo:
We can help you:
- Easily scale screens as your business grows
- Set up live streams from anywhere, from anywhere
- Build workflows and use integrations to give content a boost
- Create company TV channels for remote, hybrid, and deskless workers
- Turn boring break room screens into opportunities for brand ambassadorship
- Customize workplace screens with TV dashboards and dynamic, engaging content
Are you an existing Fugo customer? Get started with one of our digital signage templates.
Not yet part of the Fugo Family? Just sign up for a 14-day free trial and take us on a spin.
