In my experience, some of the reasons why intranets aren’t adopted by staff is because they don’t know how to use it or understand how it relates to them.

One of the ways I’ve seen companies address these issues is with Video Avatars.

Video Avatars are similar to screen casts in that they give your intranet audience a visual overview of the site. Where they differ however, is instead of a voiceover talking you through the processes, Avatars feature a presenter, giving it a more personal feel.

A compelling way of getting people to relate is for your presenter to be your Managing Director or another charismatic personality within the organisation. Not only does this personalise your intranet, it also builds trust by it being validated by a key figure from your company.

Video Avatars may not be within the scope of everyone’s budget but they can be considered as a long term investment. Avatars can be used as part of an induction programme to train new starters on the intranet. Plus, as staff become more familiar with their site, additional Avatars can be created to highlight different areas of functionality.

Clients who create Avatars not only have an engaging way to launch their site, they also get the additional benefit of it becoming a visual ‘how to’ guide. This is a tool that staff can refer to long after the site has been launched.

So, not only do Video Avatars help to promote your site, educate your staff and get them using their intranet they also provide them with a site for future reference. Employees can be guided through intranet processes by an authoritative figure that they can trust.

If this idea appeals to you, give us a call to discuss the benefits of Video Avatars with one our friendly Intranet Consultants.

Of course, one of the main purposes of an intranet is to increase efficiency. However, I believe that if you want to encourage your staff to use their new business tool you’ve got to get them interested.

A lot of effort and planning goes into an intranet and visually telling this story will help your staff understand and appreciate this.

Your ‘intranet story’ begins from day one and involves documenting the whole process with photos and images. This could be pictures of brainstorming meetings, staff participating in requirements gathering workshops and graphics of design options. Essentially your ‘story’ represents the journey you went through to deliver your intranet. It gives it a human face which your staff can relate to.

Although this concept takes a little extra thought from the outset, it’s simple to do and costs virtually nothing.  Plus, you’ll have a great story to tell when your intranet’s launched.

One of our clients created a giant ‘scrapbook’ for their launch day. The scrapbook was divided into ‘phases’ graphically depicting how decisions were made at each stage. Photos were included of both the project team and members of staff.

The personal feel of the scrapbook was a huge success with staff, primarily because it helped them identify with those involved in the project. Instead of being a faceless business application, their intranet became something they could relate to.

Telling your staff your intranet story at launch will help them understand the process and how decisions were made. When they see just how much thought and planning went into its creation, they can’t help but give it a try can they?

In this article I’m going to focus on two ‘P’s in particular, People and Promotion. From my point of view, your intranet launch is largely about generating enthusiasm and awareness amongst your staff.

However, before you get started, consider the culture of your organisation. What’s appropriate for one company may not suit another.

Bearing this in mind, here are some launch ideas that some of our clients have used to help inspire you.

If you want your staff to feel involved, how about running a competition to name their new intranet? A prize can be offered to the winner and you also get a topical news story for your site.

I don’t know about you, but I love gifts, and something tangible such as T-shirts or mouse mats promoting your intranet are always a popular choice.

Intranet treasure hunts are popular as they encourage your staff to use their intranet and search around the site rather than just going to one specific page. One customer launched their intranet on Valentine’s Day, so they chose to hide hearts around their site. A prize was offered for the person who found all the hearts first.

You might not want to launch your site on Valentine’s Day but there may be a date significant to your organisation. Looking ahead, you can even celebrate the birthday of your intranet’s initial launch.

One innovative idea I particularly liked involved a photo booth. A client hired a photo booth, encouraging staff to have photos taken individually or as a group.  Not only did this generate awareness, it also provided staff with a profile picture to upload to their new intranet.

You want your staff to use their intranet, so getting them familiar with its functionality and benefits is essential.  Creating a fun, light hearted ‘how to’ video will engage your audience whilst educating them at the same time.

One thing I’ve learned is that your intranet may be a corporate tool but it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun promoting it. If you make your launch memorable you’ll generate excitement and enthusiasm, encouraging your staff to use their new business tool. That’s the whole point really isn’t it?

If you’re looking to improve your existing intranet, engaging your users and encouraging repeat visits is key. By conducting a staff survey you can effectively gauge the needs of your staff. This valuable feedback will let you know what your users like and dislike and what content they’d like to see.

Understanding your users will help you to assess the type of killer applications your intranet is currently lacking. Doing something as simple as placing the contacts directory on your home page could increase usage of your site.

How easily can your employees find the information that they need? Creating a logical taxonomy (navigational structure) that makes sense to your staff will help them locate what they need.

Have you assessed your existing content? If you have outdated and irrelevant content now’s the time to get rid of it.

Alternatively, the New Year may mean a new intranet project.

A good place to start is by getting an idea of what you want to achieve. Reading case studies and white papers will give you a better understanding of what other organisations have accomplished. Attending intranet courses and showcases will help you with the planning of your project. It’s also a good idea to consult some trusted sources. Accessing their intranet knowledge and expertise will help you to create the right intranet for your organisation.

Whether you’re changing your existing intranet or creating a brand new one, remember to be realistic. Don’t try to achieve too much at once, take it a step at a time. By understanding and addressing the needs of your audience you’ll have an intranet that your users keep coming back to.

Once you have finished the testing and design phases of your intranet, you will be ready for your launch.

One way of introducing your employees to their new intranet is to provide them with a screencast.

Screencasts are created by using screen capture software. There are many different products available on the market, including Camtasia, Screenpresso and Bandicam.

Screen capture software enables you to create:

• Visuals of screens
• Visuals with audio

Screencasts are a valuable learning tool for your staff, providing them with a visual guide of how to use their intranet. They enable your staff to familiarise themselves with different screens and functions that will help them perform their jobs more effectively.

Showing staff the practical benefits their intranet can provide will help to encourage user adoption.

When you create a screencast you can choose the level of detail that you wish to go into.

You may decide to showcase a specific application which your audience are likely to use on a regular basis. If your company organises events, you may wish to focus on how to book rooms and equipment. Alternatively, you may choose to provide an overview of your intranet as a whole.

Introducing your users to their new intranet with a screencast will highlight its benefits, encouraging staff to use their new business tool.

Being a multinational company with a workforce of thousands they faced two particular challenges:

• How could they generate interest and enthusiasm for their new intranet?
• How could they get photos of all their employees for the intranet?

The solution came in the form of a photo booth!

Branding it with their intranet, the company took the photo booth to several of their sites around the country.

Staff were invited to use the booth at a time convenient to them throughout the day. The idea was a huge success with staff flocking to use the booth. Employees took pictures individually as well as cramming in for team photos.  They could then choose which photo they wanted to upload as their intranet profile picture.

This simple yet very effective idea is a great example of a good intranet launch. Not only was the intranet introduced to staff in a fun and engaging way, it also managed to encourage intranet use. When you raise awareness of your intranet in a way your employees can engage with, they will be more likely to use it.

Imagery is a very powerful tool for portraying your brand. A picture or image can speak volumes about your organisation. They are as important if not more so than the text content of your intranet.

Your Brand Guidelines will determine the type of images that your organisation can use and how they can be styled. Brand Guidelines will have been provided to your designer as part of your creative brief. Brand Guidelines will give you a clear framework to work from for:

• Picture quality
• Content of images
• Style of images

It’s important that your intranet designer adheres to these to ensure all intranet images are appropriate to your corporate identity.

Your Brand Guidelines will advise you which colours are acceptable to use for imagery. However, be mindful that your colour blind users will be unable to view certain colours.

When adding images, think about the type of environment you want to create with your intranet.

You may wish to create an informal feel by using employee images. Alternatively, you may prefer to use photographic images. Changing just one image can transform the overall look of a page.

Whichever images you choose, ensure they look consistent with regards to labels, cropping and borders.

The type of images that you use on your intranet will help you convey your company’s vision. By giving your images a consistent look and feel you will create a familiar environment for your employees.

There are many different types of user interface and what you choose depends on what is relevant to your intranet audience.

Some examples are:

• A search engine
• A drop down menu
• A button to go straight to a task

When creating a user interface, you should consider the following factors:

Keep it simple

Make sure you keep your interface clear and simple. A good user interface will make it obvious how to carry out a particular task or function.  If your staff can’t understand how to perform a function they will get frustrated and confused.

Consistency

Be consistent. If you provide a clickable button for booking a holiday, make sure that a button is provided to access other similar tasks. This will help your staff predict the type of action they need to perform when carrying out other tasks.

Efficiency

One of your key objectives is to reduce the time your employees spend searching for information. This means you will need to identify what your user is trying to achieve, what is their end goal? A good interface will help staff achieve what they need to do with minimum fuss, fast.

Having a user interface that is simple, consistent and efficient will make it easy for your staff to perform tasks on their intranet. When an interface is user friendly your staff will be able to access what they need quickly, creating a more efficient and productive workforce.

In the first four articles on writing a creative brief, we discussed the importance of including a company profile, identifying your target audience, how you will speak to them and intranet goals.

In this article, we will discuss why the timescales and budget for your intranet need to be included in your creative brief.

Once your intranet designer has a good understanding of your timescales and budget, they can create a design that realistically meets your needs. Photographers, illustrators, and other resources such as media, fonts and stock images will all have cost and time implications, so they will need to be aware of what your budget and timescales can accommodate.

The answers to the following should be included in your creative brief, keep in mind your SMART intranet goals:

Budget

• Specific – what is your budget?
• Measurable – how much is your budget?
• Achievable – is it realistic? Do you have a contingency plan?

It’s always a good idea to keep your project sponsor informed of any budget and cost implications. Also, remember to make allowances for any additional editing costs.

Timescale

• Realistic – When does the project need to be completed by?
• Timely – Do you have any specific deadlines? How will overruns affect your overall intranet project?

If you need the intranet to coincide with any other marketing, make sure that your designer is aware of this.

Including information on your design budget and timescales within your creative brief will give your intranet designer a good idea of the type of design they can realistically achieve.

You will now have all the information to be included in your creative brief. The next step is to discuss your creative brief with your intranet designer and have a design created.

In the first three parts we discussed the importance of including a company profile, information on your target audience and how you will speak to them within your brief.

In this article we will discuss the importance of including your intranet goals within your creative brief.

During the planning stage of your intranet, you will have set out some SMART goals for your intranet (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound). These goals will include the aims and objectives of your intranet. It is important to include this information within your brief so that your intranet designer understands what you are trying to achieve from your intranet.

You will need to mention whether your intranet is:

• Mainly used to help employees complete tasks
• Mainly used to communicate to employees
• A combination of both

If you have a task based intranet your focus will be on processes such as accessing documents. If your intranet is communications driven then the focus will be on news articles and company information. Alternatively, the business priorities may be to provide a combination of both news and processes.

Having this information will help your designer understand which content should be on key pages of your intranet.

Including this information in your creative brief will help your intranet designer create a layout and design that fits in with your business objectives.

After you have covered intranet goals, you will now want to consider your budget and timescales. We will cover this in our next article.