How to launch a successful internal communications app

Once upon a time, organizations had to rely on emails or intranets to reach far-flung employees.

For those who worked in non-office environments such as hospitals, retail stores and factory assembly lines, it was tough luck.

Nowadays, with a smartphone in practically every employee’s pocket or purse, there’s a better way: internal communications apps.

A free guide from Ragan Communications and Sitrion reveals getting an app up and running, doing it right. The free download, “How to launch an internal communications app,” offers tips from the communications leaders SAS, Fortune Brands, HealthSouth and ConocoPhillips.

Don’t blow your big opportunity to communicate directly with all your staff. There are steps you can take to ensure your app is successful.

“The ability to reach an employee in a manufacturing setting at the same time that you reach somebody sitting in the office, for a U.S. manufacturing company like ours, that’s pretty cutting-edge,” says Elizabeth Castro, senior director of corporate communications at Fortune Brands, a home and security products company.

The download offers guidance for those who are thinking about creating an employee app but are unsure where to start. You’ll find out:

• What SAS did to determine which features would get its employees to download and use its app.
• “We had a lot of great direct feedback from employees on that, which was helpful in determining where to start,” says Becky Graebe, internal communications director for SAS, the North Carolina business analytics company.
• What HealthSouth learned from personas and focus groups.
• How to make the case to executives and sell them on the benefits of the app. Hint: They like to hear about how it will improve their own communications. Learn what your secret weapon is in selling your app to decision-makers.
• How to make an app that’s useful—and what “one-stop shopping will do for your employees.”
• Why the launch matters. Castro advises organizations to make sure it’s done properly. “Don’t rush to it,” she says.
• How to follow up. You can’t just push the app, then sit back and relax. Once it’s out there, you must ensure its success and weigh future enhancements.
• Why content matters. One tool, more than any other, will help you keep content fresh to entice employees to use the app on a regular basis, experts advise.
• The one essential question you should ask when creating and sustaining your app.

Just about every organization can launch an app that will move it beyond older, inefficient forms of internal communications. Learn how to make yours a success.

Download the guide today.

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