There has been no improvement in how internal comms professionals rate their organisations’ use of digital and social media channels, according to Inside Insight, a report compiled by corporate communications and marketing recruiter VMAGROUP.
Key findings
- Over the last three surveys, 70% of respondents continue to rate their organisations’ use of digital and social media channels as ‘poor’ or ‘average’
- As a static trend over the past four surveys, almost two-thirds of internal comms professionals have not had any internal or external communications related training in the preceding 12 months
- 45% of respondents spend no time or less than one hour on personal development activities
- Over a quarter of internal comms professionals do not have a formal internal communications plan
- Internal comms teams will need to be more creative with resources with almost 90% of respondents expecting demand for their services to increase in 2018, but the function’s budget and headcount growth is restricted
- Communications planning, employee engagement and change communications are the most important skills for an internal comms professional
Discussing the poor use of social media by organisations, Andrew Harvey, executive director at VMAGROUP, says: “During the launch event there was a general consensus from senior internal communications professionals that the issue with the ineffective use of digital and social media may be dependent on the IT platforms and resources made available within organisations. As well as that, the level of resources invested in these channels may in fact mirror their perceived value to CEOs and senior leaders.”
In terms of how poorly resourced internal communications is these days, Harvey believes the worst repercussions of this will be seen in the future, thanks to poor skills and measurement. He concludes: ”Alarmingly, the key element that may be holding the internal communications function back is itself, with a lack of professional development, planning and measurement.”
Methodology:
This, the seventh edition of Inside Insight, is compiled from over 670 responses to a survey conducted in Q4 2017. The report compares data from previous years to highlight trends, opportunities and challenges within internal communications.
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