Engaging Remote Teams with Private Podcasts: Tips and Best Practices

The modern business world continues to evolve at the speed of light, with more and more companies shifting to remote or hybrid work models. It seems like changes are happening nearly everyday – how can you even keep up?! The transition to remote work offers both flexibility and efficiency, but it also brings up some unique challenges such as team engagement, communication, and alignment with company values. It can be difficult to keep employees informed and accountable. Traditional communication methods such as emails and video meetings no longer feel personal or effective. So what’s the better option? That’s where engaging remote employees through private podcasting comes into play as a powerful solution. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to use company private podcasts to keep remote teams informed, engaged, and working efficiently!

 

What Is a Company Private Podcast?

A private podcast for companies is an audio feed designed specifically for employees and internal teams. Think of it like a radio show that’s exclusive to your company, where leadership and team members can share company updates, training materials, success stories, and other insights directly with their team in an easy-to-access format. 

With information being provided via podcast, it becomes a flexible option for team members to engage in wherever they’re located, whenever it works for their schedule (unlike a scheduled video meeting). 

Private podcasts are just that… private, meaning they’re not available to anyone and everyone on public listening apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Company private podcasts are only available to authorized team members who have the direct link to access it. This ensures the communication channel is secure and focused – free of distractions or irrelevant content. 

You can learn more about why we love private podcasts for building value (both within your team and with your audience) in this blog post. 

How to Use Private Podcasts to Build Value

 

Why Private Podcasts for Remote Teams?

Private podcasting can be a powerful tool for remote teams for a ton of reasons. Let’s take a look at just how they can transform your team’s overall morale, productivity, and results. 

 

Enhancing Connection and Engagement

Engaging remote employees through a company private podcast adds a personal touch to the typical “rehearsed” style of corporate communication. Many organizations rely on email newsletters or chat channels for updates, which can feel impersonal and dry. 

Private podcasts stand out by offering a more human voice that conveys tone, emotion, empathy, and authenticity. This makes leadership messages more impactful and can help employees feel more valued and connected when they can hear their leaders’ voices. This fosters a sense of belonging and company culture (which ultimately leads to stronger team morale and productivity). 

 

Strengthening Team Culture

Speaking of company culture, it’s crucial to have a strong one, especially when working with remote teams. This culture is what keeps teams connected both on a personal and professional level. This can create stronger communication and collaboration – which leads to better results for the company and stronger employee loyalty. A private podcast can reinforce the values of the company, share team achievements, and highlight employee success stories.

 

Streamlining Internal Communication

If you’ve ever worked on a remote team, you probably can relate to that feeling of dread when you see another lengthy video meeting invitation hit your calendar. Private podcasts serve as an efficient alternative to these meetings, as well as all of those lengthy emails you may have to sift through. Employees can listen at their own convenience – during a workout, in the car, or over their lunch break. This makes it a flexible solution that respects their time while ensuring they also stay informed and up-to-speed on expectations, projects, and company happenings. 

 

Supporting Training and Development

Whether you’re onboarding new team members, providing ongoing training or professional development, or sharing industry insights, private podcasts offer an engaging learning experience that employees can work through at their own pace. This makes training more effective and less overwhelming. Gone are the days of sitting in a day-long training session where you’re drifting off or getting distracted because it’s simply too long or too much information at one time. Private podcasts can help transform company training and development, giving employees an enjoyable and engaging way to learn. 

Best Practices for Engaging Remote Teams with Podcasts

Before you dive into launching a private podcast for your remote team, there’s a few best practices we encourage you to keep in mind. These are the practices we’ve seen work for our own clients and in the podcast industry as a whole. 

 

Develop a Clear Strategy

First, develop a clear strategy for your private podcast by defining your main objectives. Do you want to improve team alignment, enhance training, deliver consistent company updates, or boost employee engagement? Having clear goals can help ensure your podcast stays relevant, impactful, and worthwhile. 

 

Choose the Right Hosting Platform

Make sure to choose a secure and user-friendly hosting platform that supports private access and analytics. Hello Audio is our favorite platform for hosting private company podcasts, along with Captivate.

 

Create a Content Plan & Schedule

Establish a regular production cadence for your private podcast and create a content plan that aligns with your goals and strategy. This may be a mix of company updates, leadership insights, employee spotlights, and industry trends. 

 

Segment Content and Engage Employees

Segment content for different departments to keep it relevant and engaging for all team members. Provide opportunities for employee interaction, such as Q&A segments, employee interviews, guest expert sessions, etc. This will keep them engaged and make them feel seen, heard, and valued. 

 

Tips for Sustaining Engagement

With a private company podcast, it’s important to continuously be tracking engagement and making adjustments as needed. Tracking key metrics such as listenership, completion rates, retention, and feedback can help you further refine your content strategy and provide content and formats that resonate most with your employees, their interests, and their needs. This can help you close knowledge gaps and present information in a way that aligns with the learning and working style of your team. 

You also may want to experiment with different private podcast formats to ensure you have maximum engagement with your employees. 

 

You can try formats such as: 

• A consistent host with guest interviews with various departments or leaders. 
• Department-to-department host rotations where team members take turns hosting episodes and showcasing their work and unique ideas. 
• Message-centric episodes that revolve around a theme or message, such as company updates, industry trends, or employee spotlights. 
• Q&A sessions where employees can come to ask questions. 

Real-Life Examples of Private Podcasts in Action

While this may be a newer concept to some, private podcasts for remote teams is actually pretty popular among companies already. 

 

Here are a few real-life examples of company private podcasts in action today: 

• AT&T’s “Leaderlab Podcast” is used for employee onboarding and education. 
• Netflix’s “WeAreNetflix Podcast” shares company culture insights and updates, fostering a strong sense of belonging.
• Shopify’s private podcasts keep employees informed about company strategies, industry trends, and team wins.
• Spotify utilizes internal podcasts to align employees with strategic initiatives and maintain a connected remote workforce.

Get Started With Private Podcasting for Remote Teams

Private podcasts can be a great tool to strengthen team culture and align everyone around company goals, even when colleagues are dispersed across time zones. No more feeling disconnected and alone in your work. A private podcast can bring excitement and a personalized, human-centric way to receive updates, guidance, and inspiration among the entire company, from the company leaders and employees to peers.

If you’re ready to enhance your remote team engagement through a private podcast, reach out to our team of podcast ninjas to help you with every detail. 

We help remote teams craft engaging audio content tailored specifically to internal audiences. Our service provides end-to-end private podcast solutions, from strategy and script development to distribution and analytics. We also provide virtual recording studios that are both private and confidential so you can get your episodes recorded professionally and with ease. 

 

Book a call with us today to launch your private podcast and get your team connected!