Creating great intranet content: 10 best practices

Great intranets rely on great content. If you are not a full-time communicator but need to create intranet content, I’m sure that gave you headaches before. How do you get your message to the right people and how do you get them to actually read what you write? How do you structure content and what format do you offer it in? And how do you create engagement?

In this blogpost, we’ll answer these questions for you and share 10 best practices of creating great intranet content.

These tips are offered to you by ClearBox Consulting.

1. Use effective headlines to help people choose what to read

Not all your content will be relevant to every employee. That’s why you’ll always want to use effective headlines. The purpose of a headline on an intranet home page is to help people decide to click and read the full article, or not. A great headline should give the reader enough information to work out the relevance.

• Headlines should be short and clear
• Great headlines help people know what’s relevant to them
• Summaries help convey further detail

2. Attract interest and convey meaning with images

Images capture people’s initial attention, and a well-placed image also helps break the page into sections.

• Format images so they look consistent and pleasing alongside your content
• Choose your file-type and file-size carefully, to make sure the image loads quickly
• Put the image on the right-side of the content, unless the image is the main focus

3. Make people actually click your links

People should know what a link will do before they click; this is not a puzzle game!

• Embed links in meaningful text within your sentences
• Let people know if you’re linking to a file instead of a page
• Never say ‘click here‘

4. Structure your articles for scanability

Have you ever asked a question and been told ‘if you just read the guide you’ll see your question is covered in section 3.1, 8.7 and in the last paragraph of section 9’? Poorly structured content can dishearten readers and create barriers.

• The opening paragraph should communicate the most important facts
• Use sub-headings throughout the article
• Respect that many people will not read the full article
• Know that people scan-read dense articles in an F-shaped pattern

5. Help people find your content

The job of sharing information on your intranet doesn’t stop when it is published; you also need to take steps to help people find it, just as a website owner would think about how to improve their Google rank.

• Different people use different terms and names for the same things
• Clear, sensible headlines and factual summaries help people find content through the search engine
• Links from other pages to your content are invaluable

Making your intranet content discoverable is easy with Involv’s powerful search. But what really sets Involv apart is how highly configurable the search experience is. Intranet admins have full control to customize search queries, result templating, synonyms, and more. Features like search scopes, spell-check and matching similar terms make searches smarter. This helps employees quickly find the information they need.

6. Write for your audience, not for your boss

To be understood, you need to communicate with empathy for your audiences’ needs. The broader the audience, the more simple your writing needs to be.

• Get the formality level right for your company culture and the topic
• Use short, simple sentences and be as clear and direct as possible
• Avoid humour, metaphors, acronyms and jargon unless you know your audience very well

7. Know when to use documents vs pages

The web was built for web pages, with the ability to download files coming second. Nobody expects 50% of Google results to be a mishmash of PDF and PowerPoint files. Similarly, people expect the intranet to be made up of pages and offer document files when appropriate.

• Use intranet pages rather than Office documents unless there’s a specific reason not to
• Consider replacing policies and guides in PDF with a collection of intranet pages
• If linking to a PDF or Office file, let people know explicitly

8. Write to start a conversation

The intranet might be your primary digital communications channel, and communication should be two-way.

• Some content serves its purpose merely by being read, other content is only truly valuable if people engage with it in more active ways
• Comments, social sharing and the creation of new observations and ideas can unlock the knowledge within your organization
• An informal tone can encourage feedback

9. Reach the right audiences by using different channels

Your intranet is not a single channel; it is a multi-channel digital platform. Different channels for example are the home page, mobile intranet, push notifications, blog and department sites. How and where you publish content affects how people will use and interact with it.

• Don’t only rely on the home page to get your content noticed
• Use different areas of the intranet in different ways
• Actively engage audiences by using the channels they already use

Involv takes this multichannel approach to the next level. Instead of just the intranet site, you can share intranet updates to Microsoft Teams, mobile apps, digital signage displays, customized newsletters and targeted email notifications. By meeting employees on the channels they prefer and already use, Involv ensures your communications cut through the clutter for maximum engagement and visibility.

10. Know that mobile users have different needs

The screen size and the context of being out of an office environment should be kept in mind when writing for field workers, sales people, commuters and mobile workers in general. If your intranet (or parts of it) is available on mobile phones and tablets then you will want to consider the challenging navigation and reading experiences people will have on such small screens.

• The context for people out of the office is very different, they probably want to get something done right away
• Small screens mean people read even less – good headlines and summaries are crucial
• Mobile intranet users may still want to be engaged and status updates could be a popular form of social communication

More tips, examples and a content checklist

These intranet content tips were brought to you by Wedge Black, author at ClearBox Consulting. If you’d like more in-depth explanation and examples, make sure to download his full intranet content guide here.  On the last pages you’ll even find a checklist to evaluate your existing intranet content.

Did you know?

One thing that sets us apart from most of our competitors is that intranets is all we do. When working with us, you get a dedicated intranet expert who remains at your side during the entire project. He/she will gladly share insights on creating great intranet content and help you with the setup, implementation, onboarding and use of your intranet.

Curious to learn more about Involv and our services? Book some time in our calendar.