Thanks to the latest digital communication tools, the last few years of remote work have been manageable. What does effective digital communication look like and what role does it play for your hybrid workforce? We tackle that question in this post.
Engaging your employees is essential to attracting and retaining a strong workforce. And how we communicate with staff plays a huge role in determining employee engagement levels.
As some employees stick to remote work while others return to the office, digital communications will be essential to keeping everyone connected and engaged.
Use a dedicated internal email tool to boost digital communication. External tools like Mailchimp overlook key drivers of employee engagement. ContactMonkey’s Mailchimp alternative is designed to boost digital internal communications and employee engagement.
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What is Digital Communication?
Digital communication is the process of exchanging information with the help of digital technology.
In the workplace, digital employee communications speed up the flow of information and enhance team collaboration. With the power of technology, employees receive key information fast, so any barriers to productivity are reduced. Learn about using internal collaboration platforms and ways to leverage the technology.
Not to mention, accessible digital internal communications tools in the workplace make it easier to share feedback, express ideas, and collaborate with colleagues. This adds up to more room for meaningful employee engagement.
Types of Digital Communication Channels
The success of your digital communication strategy will depend on the digital tools you use and how they support your internal communications goals.
For instance, if you’re a fast-moving company with employees located across the continent, you’ll want solid asynchronous communication channels, such as Employee SMS.
On the other hand, if your priority is creating a strong company culture and enhancing team-wide collaboration, you’ll need to optimize your video internal communications.
Some companies will want to normalize asynchronous collaboration while keeping culture front and center. In this case, adopting the right combination of digital communications tools and channels will be necessary.
Popular types of digital communication channels include:
- Intranet internal communications
- Employee SMS communications
- Internal email
- Project management applications
- Employee social media
- Internal employee apps
- Employee podcasts
Face-to-Face Communication vs Digital Communication
The difference between digital communication and face-to-face communication is simple. Digital communication requires an online interface to enable the exchange of information, while face-to-face communication doesn’t.
These days, however, the distinction is becoming increasingly blurred. From Meta’s virtual reality workrooms, to interactive employee newsletters, the latest digital communication technologies are bridging the gap between in-person and online communication.
Needless to say, in the modern workforce, the list of digital communication advantages is growing in tandem with its capabilities. Below, we break down some of the benefits of digital communication in the workplace.
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10 Benefits of Digital Communication in the Workplace
Modern technology has made it possible to connect with hundreds of employees at the click of a Zoom link and overcome a handful of internal communication challenges. But the advantages of digital communications go beyond improved speed and efficiency. Here are 10 ways that advanced digital technologies help improve business communication:
1. Enhance accessibility
With digitized internal communications, it’s easier to distribute information at scale. Instant messaging tools like Slack and video conferencing, let you reach employees from everywhere. In turn, employees have easier access to information, which ultimately leads to fewer misunderstandings and better productivity.
2. Save time
Digital communications tools make it easy to design and send hundreds, even thousands, of employee communications in minutes. With ContactMonkey’s email template generator, you can create and save responsive HTML email templates using simple drag-and-drop elements. Or, speed things up even more by opting for pre-made templates. When you’re done, simply embed your template into Outlook or Gmail and send it off. Mettler Toledo was able to save 4 hours a week and 25 days a year on creating their internal newsletters with ContactMonkey.
3. Boost productivity
Digital communications tools help boost productivity for both employees and internal communicators. By automating messages with scheduled email sending and pre-made templates, your internal comms team saves hours in the workweek. At the same time, employees get essential information quicker, preventing roadblocks in their tasks. With ContactMonkey’s email tracking, you can even figure out the best time to send internal emails and schedule your emails accordingly.
4. Make communications more reliable
Digital communications have a bigger storage capacity and are accessible from nearly any device. This makes them a reliable workplace information hub. Employees know exactly where to go for key company resources, instructions, and guidelines, such as employee onboarding communications.
5. Increase awareness
When information is accessible, it’s easier to keep employees constantly up-to-speed. Digital internal communication tools, such as HTML newsletters, allow you to quickly share company news and events with hundreds of employees at a time. With ContactMonkey’s event management tool, you can even embed event invites directly into your employee emails.
6. Improve employee engagement
Effective communication is the bedrock of an engaged workforce. Digital tools, such as newsletters with embedded employee surveys, make it possible to foster two-way communication on a company-wide scale. So it’s easier for employees to have a voice, feel valued, and ultimately, engaged in the workplace.
Increase email engagement by targeting only relevant groups of employees by using ContactMonkey’s List Management feature. Create custom email lists without needing approval from IT and integrate with your Human Resources Information System (HRIS), like Workday and ADP, as well as Azure Active Directory, to have your lists automatically update whenever employees join or leave your company.
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7. Improve collaboration and reduce siloes
Organizational silos are a common remote team communication challenges, even for hybrid workplaces. The benefit of digital communication technologies is that they can keep employees connected from anywhere. They also open up online spaces for collaboration through digital whiteboards and virtual reality communication. ContactMonkey even boosts email collaboration within your internal comms team by letting multiple users create and edit newsletters at the same time:
8. Empower employees
Digital feedback tools provide a channel for employees to continuously share their ideas, opinions, and concerns. ContactMonkey’s interactive employee newsletters, for instance, let managers track and address employee feedback. This helps empower employees by showing that their input is valued.
8. Strengthen company culture
Digital communication tools help strengthen employee bonds by making it easier to facilitate virtual team building and communication. With the help of digital email design tools, businesses can also tailor the look and feel of their internal communications to reflect their brand identity. With ContactMonkey, you can easily set and save employer branding across all company emails to showcase and strengthen workplace culture.
9. Retain top talent by enhancing employee experience
Improved business efficiency and communication, greater awareness, stronger company culture—all of these digital communication outcomes add up to a superior employee experience. When your business boasts a competitive digital employee experience, you can expect to retain employees longer, and continue to attract top talent in the future. Not convinced? Just look at some of the companies with the highest employee engagement rates.
Digital Communication Examples
Digital communication increases workplace productivity by minimizing information bottlenecks. Here are just a few digital communication examples that prove this in action.
Written digital communications
For most companies, these types of internal communications make up the bulk of their day-to-day employee messages. Written digital communications encompass newsletters, staff memos on your intranet, new employee emails, digital employee manuals, appreciation emails to your team, and even digital contracts.
This style of communication gives employees the freedom to reply in their own time and gather the necessary insights to make an informed response.
Not sure how to start your digital communication? Using ContactMonkey’s OpenAI ChatGPT integration, you can generate email content based on prompts you provide, so all you’ll have to do is customize the text for your audience.
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Automated surveys
These types of employee surveys differ from the traditional kind in that they can be scheduled automatically and responses can be monitored digitally. Using ContactMonkey, you can embed surveys into Outlook emails and Gmail newsletters.
All you have to do is access our email builder and choose your survey style: likert or dichotomous scales, employee net promoter score (eNPS surveys), or anonymous comments. Then, drag your survey block into your email template, and import it into Outlook or Gmail. It’s that simple.
Once responses start coming in, you’ll be able to track them through an easy-to-use dashboard.
Video communications
Video-based remote communication tools help remote and hybrid workers to reclaim some of that personal, face-to-face connectivity. These types of digital communications include video standups over Zoom, virtual town halls, internal webinars, and conferences.
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With modern digital technology, the possibilities of video for internal communications have expanded even further. With trivia plug-ins and virtual escape rooms, you can turn your video conferences into fun team building activities. HTML newsletter templates, like ContactMonkey’s, even let you embed pre-recorded videos directly into employee emails. This can transform long instructional guides into engaging tutorials or help turn leadership communications into personalized videos.
Employee SMS
Employee SMS tools in the workplace are a leading driver of improved business efficiencies. Not to mention, they can help connect deskless workers and save your organization in emergencies, when time is of the essence.
Imagine your IT team notices an outage on your client portal just as one of your remote Sales reps is about to conduct a customer demo. With a speedy digital communications tool like Employee SMS, your IT Lead can reach out to the Sales rep immediately. Thus, avoiding an embarrassing situation during the client demo, and helping to close that deal.
Best Digital Communication Tools and Software
There are countless digital communications tools on the market today. But to cut through the noise, we’ve narrowed down five of our favourites. These brands serve up cutting edge technology with an emphasis on employee-centered communications:
- ContactMonkey: ContactMonkey offers a one-stop shop for digital employee engagement. Our all-in-one internal communications software lets you create professional internal emails within Outlook and Gmail, listen to your employees with pulse surveys, and measure engagement through powerful analytics. Discover all the ways ContactMonkey’s digital software can help you optimize your internal communications with our free demo or by checking out our internal communications software buyer’s guide.
- Horizon Workrooms by Meta: wondering ‘what is digital communication going to look like in the future?’ Horizon offers some foresight. One of the most cutting-edge and advanced digital workplace technologies, Horizon allows remote teams to work in the same virtual space using VR headsets. It boasts improved collaboration and interactivity, and streamlines remote team communication.
For those who are skittish about wearing a headset for the entire workday, the other contenders on our list offer more practical alternatives.
- Connecteam employee management app: This employee management and feedback app lets you analyze employee input and review insights to make business improvements. Managers and internal communicators are able to launch live polls and open up reliable channels for employees to approach HR and senior management.
- Jostle intranet: This digital communications tool serves as an online office, feedback portal, and company news hub. It provides employees with a single hub that integrates company news, ongoing projects, employee social media, and instant messaging.
- 15Five project management: This digital performance management platform allows employers to monitor team performance while gathering invaluable employee feedback. It also enables 1-on-1 meetings to let employees and managers tackle challenges together and improve collaboration.
Want to see what the experts have to say about the future of internal communications? Check out our list of the best internal communications books by the biggest names in IC.
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Optimize Digital Communication in the Workplace with an All-in-One Tool
As businesses try to find their footing following the pandemic, they’ll need to find a middle ground that accommodates both remote and in-person workers. Digital communications offer the connective tools to improve employee engagement and develop innovative internal communication tactics.
Harness the power of digital internal communications with ContactMonkey’s all-in-one employee engagement tool. ContactMonkey lets you create, track, and measure internal communications to boost productivity and workplace collaboration. Get started with your free trial.
