Build your engagement strategy

Completed

An engagement plan consists of marketing and communications and intends to educate your employees about the new technology, how to use it effectively and create excitement. For Microsoft 365 Copilot, the objective of this engagement plan is to successfully introduce and broaden the awareness of Copilot, with a focus on fostering an AI skill-centric vision for employees. The communications strategy should aim to build anticipation before the launch and celebrate successes post-launch, emphasizing the value and benefits of Copilot. Additionally, the strategy should highlight the available resources and learning opportunities to support employees in adopting and mastering this new technology.

Before building your engagement plan, take time to understand who needs to be informed, key messages to convey, and preferences for communication channels. Consider the following questions and examples (ex) given when preparing your engagement plan:

1. Who needs to be informed?

• Groups impacted by the Microsoft 365 Copilot implementation, ex:

  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • HR
  • IT
  • Finance

• Audiences who will drive the change forward, ex:

  • Adoption managers
  • User enablement specialists
  • Champions
  • Early adopters
  • Stakeholders

• Support organizations, ex:

  • IT operations or help desk
  • HR

2. What do they need to know?

• For the onboarding state, ex:

  • Foundational knowledge
  • Rapid enablement training

• In the future state, ex:

  • Copilot adoption and prompt sharing
  • Engaged community of practice
  • Identification of new AI-ready scenarios

3. How do they like to communicate?

• Recommended modalities, ex:

  • Email: Use company email to connect individually, through distribution lists, or company-wide.
  • Social: Use platforms such as Viva engage, LinkedIn, or Teams to push out helpful project updates and engage with employees.
  • In-Person or virtual: Town halls focus groups, office hours and 1:1 conversations provide leadership an opportunity to answer questions and interact with the team.

• Preferred modalities, ex:

  • Incorporate all content into employee-preferred all-company memos, current Viva Engage or Teams site and during C-Suite Town Halls.

• Ideal timing, ex:

  • Include in weekly all-company memo because of high readership.

• Helpful resources, ex:

  • Copilot for Microsoft 365 Adoption Hub
  • Internal community of practice

4.What content will be helpful for your communication plan?

• Track resources and content, ex:

  • Copilot for Microsoft 365 – Microsoft Adoption
  • Copilot for Microsoft 365 User Onboarding Toolkit

As you build your engagement plan, there are four elements that should be included. These elements are outlined in the following infographic along with action items under each element:

Consider the following best practices when building your communication strategy:

• Ensure staff is considered when putting together the messaging to help them identify, “What’s in it for me?”
• Convey the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot through scenarios that address business challenges and use them in email announcements and training sessions.
• Incorporate success stories that demonstrate cross-functional collaboration and teamwork and share them by using Viva Engage or Teams.
• Pick a mix of activities including email, posters, leaflets, physical and remote events, and plot them along the project timeline.
• Schedule events where people can experience the products and ask questions.
• Tailor activities for driving awareness to company and culture.
• Have a leader send out a communication announcing Microsoft 365 Copilot and invite into Community of Practice, hosting a launch event, or sharing the benefits during an all-hands meeting. These various activities will go a long way in validating Copilot’s importance and getting everyone on board with using the new technology.

These various activities will go a long way in validating Copilot’s importance and getting everyone on board with using the new technology.

Use our Copilot for Microsoft 365 User Onboarding Toolkit to help your business users realize the full benefit of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This kit includes ready-to-send emails and community posts that you can send to your business users as they onboard. The content is designed to be customized to suit your organization’s needs.