Launching a new intranet is exciting news for your organisation. Getting your launch right is really important for generating an initial buzz and also encouraging colleagues to adopt your new intranet. There are many tried and tested ways that businesses have launched theirs and to save you time, I thought it would be useful if I gave you an overview to get you thinking.
- Launch at inception.
This might be a bit late for some of you, but there is a lot to be said about launching before you even have your intranet business specification. Getting support and working collaboratively can really help with your new intranet’s adoption. It’s also a great way to boost engagement. Taking this approach might help with stakeholder interviews and requirement gathering.
- Launch with a bang.
The big bang theory goes all out with design, budget, communications and promotions to ensure that no one can escape the fact that your new intranet is launching. I’ve seen intranet launch parties, countdowns, cakes, videos, jingles and more. All with the aim of building awareness and educating everyone on your new arrival and what it’s all about.
You may already have a date in question or the project may have been initiated to tie in with a business anniversary or major event. If no date has been set, think about a creating a significant launch date. Can you create a story around the date itself? Is there a date that means something to you?
- The no launch, intranet launch.
Under the radar, blink and you miss it launch. An email to all users the week before highlighting the intranet is launching and the date and of you go. This approach is seeking natural adoption from end users and assumes that everyone is on board and has been engaged throughout the planning and content generation process.
- Secret Squirrel launch.
This method is intentionally trying to generate interest by teasing everyone about the launch of something amazing, without giving the game away. Keeping the final design, name and look and feel secret might be quite a job in itself if you have worked collaboratively up to this point. It’s a great way to generate an office buzz but it sets high expectations.
- Chinese Whisper Launch.
Launch your new intranet but don’t tell anyone. Run it alongside your old one and leak links to your new intranet and let your end users discover it for themselves for the first week before you then announce it and switch everyone to the new site.
Which intranet launch plan is right for you, will very much depend upon your organisation’s culture. At the end of the day your goal is to promote the arrival of your new intranet and get as many colleagues as possible to adopt it and start to engage and use it.
Whatever method you choose to adopt, you will need to schedule the launch and draft launch communications. When communicating to everyone, it’s important to think about your tone of voice as this again can create a perception of what your new intranet will be like. If being on brand is priority, you may want to engage with marketing to ask for their advice and support.
I hope this has got you thinking. You might find our intranet management guide useful. Here at SORCE we’ve experienced hundreds of intranets of all shapes and sizes and are skilled at helping uncover opportunities to improve engagement and business processes
