Discussions are increasingly being replaced by WhatsApp and Messenger. Instead of a phone call, there’s a voice message. Instead of a company newsletter, news is delivered through an intranet solution. And instead of the personal meeting rather a “Google Hang-out”. Communication among each other has changed enormously in the course of digitalization. However, mechanization not only influences our private everyday life, but also and above all corporate communications.
Whether internal or external, digitalization poses new challenges for corporate communication, but also offers more and more opportunities to communicate more effectively and in real time with the respective target groups.
We present some changes that you should always integrate into your communication strategy in order to remain on the road to success.
Change in external corporate communications
Everything’s gonna be social.
Social media is becoming more and more important in corporate communications. It’s about more than just uploading and “likening” pictures. A community is built up, fans of the brand who can make a decisive contribution to the brand image and awareness through “shares” and positive “Word of Mouth”. In addition, social media channels today serve as an important customer service platform where you can quickly respond to all your needs. Customer-oriented communication is crucial for successful communication within a company.
Storytelling
Nowadays we have little faith in classical advertising. It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to convince consumers of the benefits of products and to retain them for the long term. At this point it is especially important to ensure a positive customer experience. If you want to communicate effectively today, you should implement the magic of storytelling in your corporate communications. The aim is to transform messages into stories instead of providing pure facts and thus to bind the target group emotionally to the brand.
Visual language
Today nobody has more time for a lengthy text, nor the need to deal with it. So if you don’t integrate visual content such as pictures or video content into your communication strategy today, you won’t get much response. Our brain not only processes pictorial content 60,000 times faster than text-based content, but also stores it better in long-term memory. To stay competitive today, we need to pack product information into visual experiences.
Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence
Corporate communication is also increasingly influenced by new technologies. In an increasingly complex world, chatbots will play an increasingly important role using artificial intelligence to answer standardized questions in real time. Chatbots replace 24/7 support hotlines and relieve many service employees.
But not only external communication is changing in the course of digitalization. Also the communication within the enterprise looks today completely differently than e.g. still 10 years ago. As we are overflowed with messages these days, it is important to find the best possible tools to motivate employees to get maximum attention and relevance to your message.
The following is an overview of important elements of today’s internal communication.
Change in internal corporate communications
Video Content
Video content is also becoming very important in internal communication. Many companies send us protracted e-mails and text messages that do not attract enthusiasm or attention.
Even short updates can be implemented more effectively and authentically if the information is provided in the form of a video.
Gamification
Gamification is a valuable element in the corporate context to transform dry information into entertaining experiences through interactive elements. It can also take on a very simple form: A simple online quiz between different groups already increases the fun factor, motivates employees and helps to store dry facts better.
Apps, tools and intranet
In the age of “digital nomads”, companies are increasingly faced with the challenge of communicating more effectively with employees and reaching them with relevant information from any location. For this reason, employee apps, messengers and social media are also enormously important in internal communication. Web 2.0 is the new trend word. Using tools such as Slack or Trello, employees from all over the world can communicate and collaborate in real time.
Bottom line
All in all, digitalization is opening many doors today. Real-time communication, stronger interaction with customers and location-independent collaboration. At the same time, however, these changes require rapid adaptation and adaptation of the communication strategy in order to continue to operate successfully in the shark tank and to reach all interest groups.
Nevertheless: Regardless of how much digitalization determines our everyday life, we should not do without a personal conversation in both external and internal communication. Personal face-to-face communication serves to build a long-term relationship and should continue to be part of any successful business strategy.
