It’s quite easy to bash Coca-Cola. Health advocates are concerned about the sugar and chemicals. Others are concerned about the beverage company’s political and environmental footprint.
But among technology fans, Coke is always a winner. Beyond helping many a developer stay alert through the day and/or night, it also was one of the largest companies to collectively say “text me.”
In late 2014, employees at the company’s Atlanta HQ voted to keep texting and dump voice mail, a sign that modern employees prefer quick, easy interactions via smartphones, and preferring being connected everywhere, vs. traditional voice-to-voice or voice-to-voice mail conversations.
Businesses that want to communicate better internally can keep this in mind, especially since more and more of the population including most of your workforce owns smartphones and is also quick to respond when they get that buzz or chime when a text arrives.
Try these strategies to keep your employees in the loop via texting.
- Make texts appear personal. Though you may send out the same note to hundreds or thousands of employees, it should read like it’s intended just for the recipient, using a light, conversational tone.
- Make them aware of upcoming events. If there’s anything that employees might be interested in attending, share it in a text. Maybe it’s a company official giving a presentation. Maybe it’s an interesting city event. Maybe a holiday party. Instead of including all the info in the text, provide a link for more details.
- Offer opportunities for input. Employees might like being part of major or minor decisions, especially if it’s a call to submit a creative name for a new initiative or volunteer for a project, rather than providing constructive criticism. Some texting software allows people to text back a simple yes or no. Make sure to remember to credit any suggestions that are used.
- Don’t get political. As tempting as it might be for a company official to express an opinion about a local or national political issue that’s dear to his or her heart, it’s all kinds of wrong. It might violate campaign laws, but it also might make employees who don’t feel the same way uncomfortable. Even though his or her political leanings may already be known, it’s different when it comes through as an official company text.
- Create groups. If you’re planning to text regularly, separate your database into categories like all employees, employees of different branches or teams, managers, union members, or different employment status (full-time, part-time.) This will also ensure that topics stay relevant, you may not be interested in hearing what other groups are doing.
- Avoid group conversations. Your texting software can help organize your database so everyone gets one individual text, and they can respond back to you. But unless you have a small company, or at least a small group, you don’t necessarily want them all to responding back in the same conversation, this can get hard to moderate.
- Make automatic tasks. Save yourself some time by associating an activity with each employee, such as sending them a congratulatory text on their birthday or work anniversary. Remind them of the upcoming enrollment for health benefits if it’s the same time every year. This depends on your size, of course if you have less than 50 employees, it might be easy to compose and personalize the note yourself. But larger than that, then automation can be your friend.
Texting can be an excellent way to improve internal communication. Employees who may not get or check emails regularly, or miss bulletin boards, may still read a text that comes right to their phone.
Guest Author Sophorn Chhay is an inbound marketer, specializing in attracting targeted visitors and generated sales qualified leads. Through Trumpia’s SMS and marketing automation solution he helps businesses and organizations communicate effectively with their customers or members. Trumpia is offering a free Mobile Marketing Success Kit so don’t forget to grab your free copy. For more information on putting together effective internal texting solutions visit Trumpia.com.
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