The podcasting industry is steadily growing. Over the last decade, the number of monthly listeners in the U.S. has more than tripled. These podcasts serve a variety of purposes, aside from just entertainment. Many people listen in hopes of learning something new or as an outlet to get their news.
Today, we’ll be discussing an excellent way that you can implement podcasting in your organization. It can improve the flow of communication on your team, and it is especially useful for remote teams.
You’ll soon come to understand how internal podcasting benefits organizations and how you can implement it into your stream of communication. As you read through, make sure you also consider all the resources you have at your fingertips. For example, you can work with a corporate podcast company. They can help you develop the right strategy and handle everything from production to hosting and editing, ensuring a smooth process that saves you time and effort.
What are Internal Podcasts?
Before jumping into things, let’s make sure you have a clear understanding of what an internal podcast is, its purpose, and the associated benefits.
An internal podcast communicates important and relevant organization-based information to its employees. The organization can choose to privately distribute its content to employees, or they can allow the public full access.
Take note: If your internal podcast is open to the public, it will demonstrate complete transparency and allow anyone access to all the inner workings of your organization.
The main purpose of internal podcasting is to keep teams informed about things going on within the company. In each episode, you can educate your employees, communicate new information (like product launches, upcoming events, or campaigns), or create reminders about existing practices.
It doesn’t end here though, internal podcasting can serve a variety of other purposes, including:
Boosting your employee engagement and morale: Reading through emails can be quite boring, especially compared to listening to a podcast! If your team is engaged with the content, there is a better chance they are actually absorbing all the information. Internal podcasts are a great way to equip your employees with everything they need to know. Plus, by minimizing the knowledge gap, you’ll increase your teams’ morale!
Encouraging your employees to grow: Your internal podcast can help your team learn more efficiently and develop their skills. You can have valuable discussions that teach your team how to solve common or recurring problems. For example, if your team is struggling to complete a digital task, you can provide a brief tutorial that explains how to troubleshoot.
Inspiring employees: You can spark a passion in your team by talking about big wins and future goals. Celebrate the wins and show excitement about the company's progression over the last quarter/major milestone. You can also use this time to transition into the next big thing (e.g. product launch, campaign, new quarter), talk about goals and how you’ll accomplish them.
Onboarding: When a new employee joins your team, introduce them into your company through engaging podcasts! Offer all the onboarding information (e.g. policies, training, company history, mission, values, expectations, and procedures) in a way that feels more personable, it’ll give them a better sense of who their teammates are and how the company operates. Also, it will surely keep them more engaged than boring administrative videos or text.
The Benefits of Internal Podcasting
Of course, the most obvious advantage of internal podcasting is how it keeps your team well-connected and informed. If your main source of communication is currently via email, then we have some unfortunate news for you: The truth is that company-wide emails or memos may not be reaching all your staff. As a result of content overload, over 70% of employees don’t even read company emails.
This is quite concerning, especially if these emails contain vital information. With emails, it is tricky to know whether someone has actually opened and read your message (unless, of course, they respond); but with podcasting, you’ll be able to track your views and engagement. And, if done right, your employees will hopefully find a podcast more entertaining than skimming through several emails.
On top of that, here are a few more ways that an internal podcast will benefit your organization:
Amusing and engaging content: It’s no secret that social media and the digital era have diminished our attention spans. With this shift in how we consume media, it is also wise to adjust our approach to communicating in the workplace. As a result, podcasts are an innovative way to educate and engage your team.
Connects remote teams: It is more difficult to bond with your teammates in a remote workplace. Internal podcasts can help bridge this gap and lead your organization to smoother communication. If employees hear directly from their leaders, it will make them feel valued, more involved, and will in turn increase motivation.
Unified Message: In traditional communication streams, like email, there is so much room for misinterpretation. Two people can read the same line of text and gather entirely different messages. With internal podcasts, you’ll ensure that all employees will receive the same information by the same speaker. They’ll be able to hear the tone of the speaker’s voice and identify their emotion, whether they’re being serious or sarcastic, or communicating excitement or doubt. By eliminating ambiguity, your team will be aligned and will have a shared purpose and set of goals.
Schedule Flexibility: With prerecorded podcasts, your team members can choose where (if working remotely) or when they’ll tune in. Unlike lengthy meetings that interrupt employees and take them away from their task at hand, they can listen to the podcast when it is most convenient for their individual schedule. This flexibility is a game changer. Without the pressure of time constraints, your employees can solely focus on the content.
For example, they can listen to the podcast during any point of their daily routine, while they are commuting, taking a lunch break, or exercising. Not to mention, you can pause or rewind the podcast at any point; If they need to take a break or didn’t catch the last comment, it’s never going to be a worry.
Examples of Internal Podcasts WeAreNetflix by Netflix is a well-known internal podcast that posts its episodes publicly. In these 6 seasons of content, Lyle Troxell, Senior Software Engineer and host of the show, discusses the experience of working at Netflix.
In addition to this podcast, Netflix’s job webpage also highlights a blog, videos, and several other tools and resources that will provide aspiring and new employees with a strong sense of Netflix’s values and work culture.
Another example is Tell Me Why by American Airlines. The name is rather self-explanatory, as the premise of the show is to explain the reasoning behind the decisions they make. They discuss topics related to scheduling certain routes and destinations, why they fly a certain type of aircraft, or how they get through the busy seasons.
This podcast provides its employees (and the public) with general knowledge that answers outstanding questions and fuels their curiosity. By offering an overview of their business mode land decision making process, they are operating with complete transparency, gaining the trust of its team members and customers.
How to Create an Internal Podcast
1. Identify The Purpose of your Podcast
Before you create your first episode, you should have a clear goal in mind. Start by asking–what is the purpose of our internal podcast? Your answer should help you pinpoint what topics you should address.
For example, if your main goal is to educate your team about current and new practices, then that should be the focus of each episode. So, next time you’re getting ready to launch a new product, you should offer all the relevant product knowledge in one recording.
2. Plan out your Content
It’s not a good idea to sit down, press record, and “wing it”. Chances are, when you improvise, you’ll forget to bring up the important topics and you’ll spend too much time rambling about insignificant details.
So, before jumping into things, you should plan out your content and develop a loose script. It’s best if you collaborate with a team and bounce ideas off of one another. As a matter of fact, brainstorming is more effective with diverse teams. Collaborating with people who have different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences will fuel creativity and innovation.
When you do get together with your team, you should consider an overall theme, tone, or concept of the show, the topics you’ll discuss, how many episodes you’ll produce, and any other relevant, logistical details.
3. Find your Host
After you finish planning your approach to the show, you’ll need to determine who will be the face (or voice) of the podcast. You need to select someone who is an effective and engaging speaker. Not to mention, your host needs to be willing and interested in taking on this role.
If you’re planning to have other speakers or guests on the podcast, you’ll want to secure them now, too. You should try to find people who have expertise in the industry or topic that you’ll be discussing. Ideally, these guests would have an interesting story or perspective to share.
4. Invest in Podcasting Equipment
To record high-quality episodes, you’ll need to have access to the right tools. You’ll want to consider renting/purchasing microphones, headphones, cameras, a recording/editing software, and a soundproof recording studio (but, a quiet space will also do the job).
After you’re finished with recording you should review the episode, remove any awkward pauses or mistakes, and improve the audio quality. You can also leverage a remote recording software, which will streamline the recording and editing process.
5. Choosing a Podcast Hosting Platform
Now, you’re ready to upload your episode(s). You can host your show on popular and reliable podcasting sites like Libsyn or Podbean. From there, you can then submit your podcast to popular directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.
If you decide to post this content privately, the uploading process is quite similar to publishing a public podcast. The only difference is that you’ll need to provide each subscriber (in this case your employees) a unique RSS feed after you send them an invitation/link.
6. Spreading the Word
Creating and uploading your content is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to make sure that your employees are actually listening to these episodes.
Promote your podcast to your employees verbally and/or digitally. You should talk about it in meetings and through regular communication channels (e.g. emails, Microsoft Teams, Skype, or Slack).
Remember to get regular feedback from your employees to see what they think about the podcast. You may want to keep things anonymous to ensure you get honest and constructive comments or concerns.
Is Internal Podcasting the Answer to Failed Communication?
Yes, it very well might be. It is an excellent and modern way to bring your team closer together, strengthen your company culture, and keep everyone informed and engaged. Plus, it addresses the recurrent issue of unopened company-emails.
So, why not give internal podcasting a shot and see how your employees respond to it?
By: Emily Nyikos
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Jony Studios is a content marketing agency specializing in B2B podcasting and audiobook services. They have worked with many clients, from startups to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio, and many others.
