18 months in the COVID crisis, while the uncertainty linked to the epidemic still hangs in the air, the time has come to get back on track.
Since the first lockdown, businesses and employees have had to adapt: new processes, new objectives, even new tools… The internal communications and HR functions have had to tackle key issues from crisis management, to teleworking and health aspects.
This crisis and its uncertainties led us to adapt to meet new challenges. Overnight, we made more progress in some areas than in a decade. Nowhere is this more true than in the massive shift to teleworking and the adoption of the video format at all levels of the company.
These changes are here to stay: this atypical event has amplified major underlying trends and the lessons and innovations of the spring of 2020 will endure.
Even if the future is still uncertain, communicators remain optimistic (43% according to a recent study). To meet the challenges ahead, let’s take inspiration from this positivity! Let’s leverage the lessons learned and good practices of this new normal to boost our activity.
To help you, we have compiled in these pages the trends on which to focus in the coming months. Let this inspire you and show you the way!
Facilitate more efficient communication throughout the organisation
Whether your business has done wonders with communications during the crisis or has opted for radio silence and budget cuts, there will be no recovery without good communications.
Here are some very concrete examples where video can help you get off to a good start.
#1 Train the teams
For the resumption of activity, video lets you train your teams in barrier techniques and your sales force in the new collections…
#2 Strengthen bonds between employees
To ensure the cohesion or onboarding of your teams, especially when working remotely, live or recorded video is a must.
#3 Communicate with your customers
To inform them and build trust, use video to show the actions taken during and after the crisis.
#4 Attracting future recruits
On the employer brand side, inform and reassure with video: jobs, talent, post-crisis atmosphere, new working arrangements and remote work…
Keep the good and the (slightly) less good
Video meetings with the kids crashing, the cat trying to pull a stunt or the laundry drying in the background were our daily lot. So were Skype parties and Tiktok challenges. Even our children had “calls” with their teachers and classmates.
So what to keep from this world of zooms, webinars and videos made on the corner of the kitchen table? We’ll give you a few tips to get you started!
“The challenge in the coming months is to keep everything we built in terms of communication during this crisis to make it a springboard for the future.
Sophie Picard, Head of Group Internal Communications at Atos during a Kannelle post-lockdown webinar.
Web series: the right recipe
The web series is an effective format because it is simple to produce and reusable by nature. It is a good way to capitalise on your efforts if you have communicated during the crisis.
To create your web series template, you need to ask yourself the right questions (see below). Think about listing the points that absolutely must be covered in each episode in a framework. And establish artistic guidelines and templates to save time.
The ingredients
- Format: interview, slice of life…
- Duration: 30s to 2 min
- Quality: 720p to 4K (depending on broadcast)
- Orientation: landscape, portrait, square
- Tone: serious, offbeat, didactic….
Doing your stories TikTok style on Linkedin?
If, like millions around the world, you have started using TikTok while in lockdown, trying out some choreographic challenges, it’s time to put your new skills to work for your business. Indeed, Linkedin launched its stories in June 2020: what a great opportunity to get people talking about you!
Little tip: Kannelle lets you create your branded videos in vertical format, as easy as a TikTok. Yes, yes 😉
How to create videos at home
We’ve all used our imagination to meet the challenge. But how do you produce your videos from home or the office with the minimum of equipment? Read our tips in the guide “Creating professional videos at home”.
Adopt a natural video style
The crisis has considerably changed our relationship with video, particularly in regards to form. Spontaneity has taken precedence over a more polished style and the very “corporate”.
Genuine, engaging videos have emerged, helping us to evacuate pressure. And unsurprisingly, this is the kind of piece of content we want to keep seeing in our feeds.
Spontaneity all the way
Regarding advertising, social media videos or internal communications, our expectations have changed in recent months.
During a webinar in May 2020, Carole Danancher, our CEO, had the chance to ask the Atos Comms team how they saw the coming months. The verdict was clear: “There has been an evolution with the emergence of more natural and relaxed videos. This will be the trend in the coming months.”
Going further, they said: “The Kannelle app is great for spontaneous and genuine videos. It breaks the codes and the reservations of the kind of ‘We don’t communicate like that, it’s not professional’. But it is now!”
The “au naturel” video: you’re worth it
If you’re hesitant about the jump to more natural videos, really, there is no reason anymore: even L’Oréal, a brand-focused company if there is one, has adopted the trend.
In May, as the shades of its customers’ hair began to fade, the brand pulled off a master stroke with a home-made ad created with and by Eva Longoria. The result was a demonstration of the effectiveness and ease of application of L’Oréal hair colours, all under a unifying message “We are worth it”…
Case study: video in the field
The Val d’Oise regional council highlighted its field workers throughout the crisis, an approach they are keen to maintain.
Equipped only with a smartphone (and Kannelle), the communications team was able to present people mobilised in the field in their daily lives during the lockdown.
A little inventiveness, combined with the simplicity of the concept was the right recipe to communicate on social networks!
Your employees: your best spokespersons
Who better than your employees to produce authentic and spontaneous video content? By putting them on stage and in the spotlight, or even by entrusting them with the production, you will also benefit from several advantages:
- Engagement and motivation
- Development of new skills
- Involvement in the life of the business
Moreover, 65% of consumers consider that a business’s employees are its best ambassadors.
Rethinking face-to-face activities
Even if a global pandemic is not expected to strike every five mornings… the trend towards more digitalization in the event industry is likely to continue.
This will not happen again
Webinars but not only!
Webinars, already well established in B2B, have proven their worth. For 73% of marketers, it is a useful way to generate leads (Insidesales.com) and therefore an alternative to physical events.
But some have been more daring, like the biggest film festivals that have gathered on Youtube for a unique event: the We Are One festival.
Even when seminars and trade fairs make a comeback, organisers will be well advised to have a digital plan to reach participants who would be resistant to the concept of physical proximity with many strangers in a closed environment.
Breakfast: the alternatives
The breakfast is a classic B2B marketing event for meeting and listening to customer feedback or expert opinion. It can be replaced by a video case study. It’s up to you to adapt the level of sophistication to your prospect journey: is it a way to generate leads? Is it a way to generate leads? Is it an argument that your sales team can incorporate into their approach?
For example, Cherry Pick, a platform for matching customers and freelancers, uses Kannelle to produce its “Feedback”. It’s as easy as pie: the customer answers the questions asked by the employee and in just 15 minutes the professional and branded video is ready for broadcast.
Virtual business seminar
Since his arrival, the new CEO of Atos had intended to launch an “Innovation Week” as a global event. “Everything had to be reformatted to make it a 100% virtual event. It’s a different kind of logistics: everything has to be pre-registered, delivered on time, qualitative, and available to everyone around the world,” Sarah-Pearl told us in a webinar.
This comms veteran adds: “Innovation week is a real technical challenge but also a challenge for internal comms: how to create interest from our employees.” A challenge and a small revolution. All thanks to video!
Collaborator video: the laundry list
When it comes to filming, provide your employees with the basic equipment to complement their smartphone: a tripod for stability and a lapel microphone for sound. For lighting, Mother Nature does the job very well, but provide a spotlight too.
When it comes to setting up, simplify the task for your colleagues with a simple, semi-automatic application that integrates your visual identity. Did anyone ever tell you that with Kannelle, creating your videos only takes 15 minutes? 😇
Last point: with team often working remotely or in different locations, think of a good sharing tool (Google Drive, Dropbox, Wetransfer…).
Video to recovery: it’s up to you
To initiate or accelerate your recovery, there is no secret: you have to communicate. Internally, to train and motivate. Externally, to exist, to build confidence, to recruit and to sell.
To do this, what better means than those that have proven themselves in the midst of the crisis? First and foremost, video.
Now is the time to adopt video and the more relaxed formats found on social networks. It’s not too late, the opportunity is there, you just have to know how to seize it.
Especially since we are putting aside the highly formatted corporate or advertising video to make room for a more natural and spontaneous video style. And to do this, just ask your collaborators to help you create content: that is bound to be more authentic!
Finally, with the budgetary restrictions incurred by many comms and marketing departments, it is necessary to choose more economical tools that integrate the visual identity and that are easy to use for everyone. To do that, Kannelle is here for you 😁
