Blogging has become one of the most popular marketing methods of the digital age, with almost three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies boasting their own content platform. Lesser known - but just as effective - though, is the internal company blog.
Designed to be used by your team only, it’s a more corporate approach to content that can have a wide range of benefits for your in-house branding.
One perk of building an internal blog is that it can improve the hiring process, making onboarding a better experience for everyone involved. How? Let’s take a look.
Simplify the Hiring Process
Whether you’re expanding your company or filling a position after an employee’s departure, the hiring process can be long and tedious. With an in-house blog, though, you can speed things up.
Alert your team to the news that you’re hiring new staff with a blog post. Detail the position/s you’re looking to fill, the sort of employee/s you’d like to hire, and any employee initiatives you have for referring new recruits.
You may also want to detail background check requirements, too, so that potential new hires can ensure they’re up to scratch. Fair Credit explains, “While most background checks contain accurate information, any inaccuracy can have disastrous consequences for an applicant’s job prospects”. Foreknowledge of requirements is a fantastic way to ensure you choose the right candidate.
A detailed blog post not only alerts your team to the hiring process but actively encourages them to help in the search, giving them accurate information to ensure they recommend the right people. A little help can take a lot of weight off of your shoulders!
Introduce Your New Hires
Once you’ve found your new team member, it’s time to introduce them to your existing staff. Encourage inclusion and keep your employees up to date with an introductory blog post. Include a little bit about the new staff member, what position they’ll be taking, and give them a chance to write something about themselves, too, if they’d like.
Small actions like this can make a big difference in your workplace! On the new hire’s first day, they won’t have to introduce themselves to everyone they meet, and your team won’t be startled by their arrival. It’s work like this that ensures team integration.
Provide Onboarding Resources
Around 10% of employees resign from a new position because of a poor onboarding process, making it vital that yours is a success.
An internal company blog provides the perfect place to share essential resources. With invite-only access and an intuitive layout from BlogIn, you can curate employee-only content for new hires that makes onboarding a breeze.
Upload existing content, add new information, and provide a collaborative space to ease staff into their new roles. It’s also simple for managers to direct their employees to resources whenever they need a refresher.
Share Your Company Culture
Just as a public blog can build a brand’s image, so too can an internal blog.
Your content can be oozing with personality, reflecting your fun, quirky workspace, or be professional yet relaxed. With the right tone of voice, your company can come across exactly as you want it to.
This is an important focus of company culture and sets the tone for new talent. How you write reflects how you communicate internally, giving staff a clear idea of the vibe in your workspace.
A blog can also help share company culture by:
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Sharing in-house values/morals
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Showing off past and future company events
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Creating a collaborative space for team building
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Adding sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes of your workplace
The act of having an internal blog itself can build your company culture, portraying your business as a contemporary, cool place to work.
Encourage Internal Communication
A blog doesn’t have to be a one-sided experience. It’s not always about one person writing and the rest of the team reading. With the right blog platform, you can create a collaborative space that encourages communication.
Not only can you open your blog up to your entire team, encouraging employees to write content for their colleagues to read, but you can also include a comments section to promote discussion. Let your team know they’re welcome to share opinions, add their own tips, and chat with each other via the blog space. BlogIn can also integrate with Slack, allowing your team to discuss blog posts in designated threads.
But how does this help new hires? For one, it gives them a place to go for team help. They can easily ask questions on the blogs to clarify something they’re confused about or request blogs on specific topics. It also gives new staff a place to engage with their colleagues. For remote teams in particular, this is a huge perk!
Offer Mentorship
Almost 90% of employees starting at Microsoft found that their buddy/mentorship program helped with productivity when they met just 4-8 times in the first 90 days of employment.
Having a mentor to guide you can make all the difference in the onboarding process. If you’re hiring, consider setting up a mentorship program and using an internal blog to complement it.
Your blog can become a resource for mentors, helping them understand more about their role as a buddy and giving them a place to turn to when they’re unsure of something. It’ll also help pass knowledge from the mentor to the new hire. The mentor can select useful content to aid their teachings, and easily direct their ‘mentee’ to resources that complement their role.
Though a blog won’t be the be-all and end-all of mentorship, it’ll certainly help improve your program.
Final Words
In our opinion, an internal company blog is a no-brainer! Providing a vital resource for new hires, creating a collaborative space, and helping share your company culture, the benefits are undeniable when you’re bringing in new talent. Just be sure you use a reliable platform that’s easy to navigate, like BlogIn, to get yours off to a good start.