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Welcome to this week’s episode of the HRDQ-U In Review podcast, where we bring you the latest insights and practical tools for enhancing soft skills training in your organization. This podcast is brought to you by HRDQU.com, and I’m your host, Sarah, Learning Events Manager at HRDQ-U. Today, I’m joined by Vanessa Alzate to discuss the recent webinar she presented,

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Not Just for Dancing: How to Re-Onboard Your Employees Using TikTok Videos. So, thank you so much for joining me today, Vanessa. Thank you for having me. And I’ve had the opportunity to work with Vanessa on a few webinars on the topic of TikTok. And she has really great ideas and innovative and just really sharing with the audience. And it’s been really exciting to learn more about that myself as well. So if you have yet to have the chance to watch that webinar.

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Check out the link below in the description and you can see all the content that she has to share there. So Vanessa, before we get started, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do so that we can get everybody on the same page for those that maybe didn’t get to join us during that webinar event? Yes, absolutely. So I am an instructional designer by trade. I got my start in 2009 doing CRM software training and

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I grew from there, did some onboarding, worked with different organizations and government, pharmaceutical sales, et cetera, working on instructor-led training, e-learning, et cetera. So in 2018, I decided to take my freelance business and go all in full-time. And so that’s when APT training was born. Never meant to be anything other than me until 2019 when I got a project.

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that I needed to bring in some support. And I love to tell people that I am like the accidentally owner, didn’t need to be an agency owner, but that’s what it became and that’s what we grew into. And we’re really thinking about supporting organizations, helping them with their learners, meeting them where they’re at, which is really where the TikTok conversation was born from. Looking at the world around us, what people are reacting to, why they are reacting to that.

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why they are enjoying it, and how can we utilize those concepts and apply them to our own initiatives? yeah, anchor training has been growing rapidly ever since. And I’m actually excited. I don’t know if I shared with you already, but as of August 1st, I also became the owner and president of Kirkpatrick Partners, which is, yeah, so it’s the organization that owns the Kirkpatrick model.

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It’s a nice compliment to what we’re doing at Anchor Training with uh learning and performance evaluation. That’s amazing. Congratulations. That’s a great expansion. What changes do you see happening in the L &D space right now? There’s so much going on and it seems like with technology now and eh AI that things are changing at such a rapid pace. What’s your perspective on that? Yeah.

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I am most excited about the changes with AI and being able to be more efficient with our work in order to spend more time with our learners and with our employees to hear more of what they need and provide solutions that maybe AI can create. Let’s say a resource group, create a community where people are sharing ideas and those sorts of more human interactive pieces.

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But that seemed to always get to the bottom of our to-do list because there’s so much content that we have to create. So I think with those, the ability to streamline and utilizing AI and those new tools, I think that’s going to be a really great opportunity for the L &D space. I also think that there’s a lot more conversation happening around the parallels between learning and marketing.

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And I think we will be able to learn a lot from our marketing cousins uh and pull some ideas from them, things like repurposing content. One of the things that we do is we’ll create content and we’ll put it out there once and pray people go to it. But there needs to be that sort of marketing campaign that leads people to it. And by utilizing

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a repurposing strategy where you can create little TikTok style videos that are become those teasers or carousel posts that just share the main idea, you can start to really expand your reach. And it doesn’t take as much time as I think people think because you did the hard part. You did the long form content. So I think that there’s a lot of parallels that people are starting to pick up on.

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and we’re going to start to see more of that in our learning solutions. Oh, that’ll be really exciting to see. And that’ll lead me in here up to this next question that I have for you. What exciting things are you up to next with this new ownership that you have? I can only imagine you have a lot of exciting things in your pipeline. I am trying to hold myself back to all of the things at once and be very methodical about the change. But the first thing that we’re doing is looking at

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the model and their certification program that they have and what updates and what are our learners asking for. So we can start to really build more of that community around the Kirkpatrick model and looking at the model and seeing how we can apply it to things other than training but still learning experiences, right? So there some talks about maybe a second edition of the book that Jim and Wendy wrote.

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um There’s going be a lot more marketing. And I think people just need to have, we meet the Kirkpatrick model with a new one. Great. And, and so kind of bringing it back to the webinar and the content there. um know, the webinar, not just for dancing, how do we onboard your employees using TikTok videos? Can you give us the overview? What were the key takeaways for our registrants at that event so that we can get everybody?

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on the same page and caught up if they didn’t get the chance to watch that webinar or as a refresher for those that did. Yeah, absolutely. I believe there’s so much change that has happened in the last few years. And it’s not just I believe, we know a lot of change has happened in our organizations. And even just, I think it was yesterday, Zoom announced that they’re now moving through a hybrid work environment. There’s constant change. So I think our employees need a moment

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of a pause and to re-onboard to the organization. Who are we now after the pandemic? What is the vision? What is the strategic plan? How does my role fit into that? And so by utilizing strategies that are so popular and useful on platforms like TikTok, you can start to build that community and that re-onboarding campaign.

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So getting people used to what the office looks like now, maybe you move to a smaller office, or maybe you’re thinking more about opportunities to social distance, right? So desks are a little bit further apart. You can create a quick TikTok style video and just show people what the office looks like now, or even how to sign out the desk or the conference room.

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That could be a quick TikTok style video that just goes into the key points as opposed to having a document, a process somewhere that people have to read and understand quote unquote. So utilizing TikTok style videos to share tips, tricks, whether it how to set up your home office, how to be a better manager and compiling in a place. And I’m not saying TikTok.

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I’m saying like Slack, we’re all hanging out or a Teams channel. Or if your LMS has the capability to host your own content, your own TikTok content, use your LMS if that’s where your people are hanging out. Use the community space for your employees to provide those videos so that they can easily access them. They can comment on them. They can share them with their colleagues.

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and they can really start to build more of the community and allow them to provide content to you. And I think that’s where that community really starts to be built because our people are best subject matter experts. There’s a lot of knowledge that they have that they just have in their head because they’ve done the work so often. So we can start challenging them to create these quick videos for those quick tips and tricks, 30 to 60 seconds.

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videos, a lot of those things that are not in our procedures and our training can start to be compiled in these communities. So if they leave, if they retire, if they move to a different position in the organization, you don’t lose that institutional knowledge. And how can TikTok style videos be effectively incorporated into the re-onboarding process for remote or hybrid work environments? Yeah.

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So I think that’s probably one of the biggest challenges that we have. And it’s very hard to engage a remote or hybrid employee because they don’t have that time where you’re all sitting around the water cooler or the coffee pot. You need to be intentional about creating those spaces and those communities. So being able to share with them some of those unknown, unwritten rules that you just kind of hear about.

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um through these TikTok style videos, can start to make them feel more part of that community. So I think it’s about finding a good place to share those videos and give them some prompts. What did you wish you knew on your first day? What’s that one tip that makes utilizing our CRM software a little bit easier for you? And start sharing those tips.

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And I think it starts to really engage your remote employees. The other thing is, you know, they may not feel like they know you because they never see your face or they don’t see your face as often. But if they start to see your face on these videos, they start to make an emotional connection to you. And you start to kind of be like their friend, you know, and you can start to build emotional, the emotional

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attachment to the organization. So you can really build that community. Yeah. And it’s like those videos on TikTok that you see of employees that are in the office where, you know, there’s one person behind the screen asking the same question to every employee getting their perspective. And I think that those videos are so fun to watch. It’s fun. You can build culture. You can laugh a little bit. And it really gives you a different perspective on your employees and what learning can be.

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Yeah. And so are there specific best practices for scripting or filming and, you know, editing TikTok style videos for re onboarding purposes? Yeah. So I think the first thing to note is that done is better than perfect. So I think with the explosion of video over the years, we’ve often said video can take a lot of time. There needs to be a lot of production.

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who’s gonna be the actor, who’s gonna do the script. TikTok videos really made it more accessible for anybody to create a video. Some of the best videos are created and some of

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So I think it’s first getting out of the head space and it has to be perfect and you have to look perfect because people are actually going to cheer you on more because you’re doing something really hard. You’re showing up on camera. So just finding a spot in your office, in your home office, in front of a window. That’s the best lighting you can have. It’s the natural light. Getting a little tripod work. Actually where I’m sitting right now.

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I have a stack of books and a popcorn bucket that holds up my camera when I do YouTube videos. So you can use anything for a tripod. As long as you’re holding it up and the microphone is able to pick up your voice, you’re good. And then utilizing whatever platform you have available to you to edit. I’ve edited TikTok videos. I actually don’t like the TikTok editor all that much. I find the Instagram editor to be a lot easier.

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I’ll edit in Instagram. I’ll edit in tools like CapCut, InShot, these apps that you can get for free on your phone. I’ve also edited videos on Camtasia. So really any video editor that you have access to, you can create those same video styles. And then it’s just a matter of watching what’s really popular out there. So utilizing Google

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that maybe has a keyword highlighted is really important right now. It’s really big. And actually, what’s been all over my feed is podcast video, video podcasts. So it’s someone with a microphone that’s just sharing a tip. There’s no fancy editing. There’s no dancing. There’s no synchronizing to audio. It’s literally someone sharing a

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And I think for scripting, I will tell you that sometimes it’s the hardest because we’ll want to add more words, but TikTok videos really force you to think in really succinct short ways. So know that your first draft will probably be too long. And usually by draft three, you’re getting a lot better. And it’s like a muscle. Once you do it a few times,

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you kind of pick up how to do it and it becomes so much easier. So you’ll definitely the more that you do it, the easier it’s going to get. And how can organizations measure the effectiveness of their videos that they’re using for engaging their employees and onboarding their employees? Yeah. So you’re going to want to look at things like likes, shares, comments.

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um For me, the comments are probably the most important because that means that people are engaging with each other. You’ll also, depending on the tool and the platform, see how many peace times people are sharing that video, which means they’re finding a lot of value in it and they want to share it with a colleague as well. Listening to some of those conversations, seeing how people are reviewing, watching, and how long they’re actually watching it for. uh

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firms have the ability to show you how long people are watching a video for. And I have someone I met at a couple of conferences this year. And she’s been doing these videos, TikTok style videos. And she works for an insurance company. And at the ATD conference, she shared with me, I have analytics that prove people will watch more, the entirety of a TikTok video and multiple of them.

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like in a series, as opposed to a five minute video, they will drop off a lot quicker. So it goes back to the dopamine effect and how the brain works. Right? So it’s a lot harder to keep someone get to giving someone dopamine hits for five minutes. But TikTok style videos, because you have only 30 to 60 seconds, it’s a lot easier to give them that hit.

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So they’re going to want to watch the next video. So if there’s a way you can take that five minute video and cut it up in multiple 30 to 60 second videos, they’ll probably watch the entirety of it as opposed to sitting there and having to fully pay attention for those five minutes. Wow, that’s really interesting. It’s the short feed, the clips, keep your attention span.

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And so what are some creative ways to showcase an organization’s culture, values, and missions through these TikTok short feed videos? I think the more that you can get the people involved and actually sharing how they are showing the core values of the organization, which core value they resonate with the most, and share how someone exemplifies that core value. I was actually reading Traction.

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um a book about implementing the EOS system for an organization. And they talk about core values. And in one organization, what they did was they provided a gift card to someone who you had to be nominated by someone else, but you exemplified one of the core values of the organization. You wrote an email to the entire organization on Friday and said, I saw Sarah exemplifying excellence.

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our core value and here is what she did. And then it would be up to you the following Friday to say, saw Joey exemplifying the core value of community and this is what he did. And then he got the gift card. What about doing that in a TikTok style video and saying, I exemplified excellence and this is what I did or this is why it’s important to me.

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And then you can almost like the ice pocket challenge, challenge someone else, say who you challenged or text in the caption or something, and challenge someone else to talk about the core values. And then you start to create these quick videos that really show you how the core values have impacted the entire organization. Now imagine being a new hire and having a string of hundreds of videos to see how core values have impacted.

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all of these employees. So those sorts of things and really showcasing who your people are, are ways you can really maximize um your onboarding efforts and encouraging your company culture. And I think showcasing volunteer days, having a talking head video with the CEO, it’s so much more relaxed, a TikTok style video.

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in some of those longer welcome videos from your CEO. So it’d kind of be nice to see them a little bit more as a human, just one of us, as opposed to the CEO. So you have a lot of opportunity to really build up that authenticity and that trust, and then start to get your people involved. Absolutely. And what about cross-departmental? How can you…

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you know, encourage collaboration using videos in that sense? Yeah, I think one of the most powerful ways to utilize that cross collaboration amongst the departments is to share how you two are working together in a project or how your work affects another department. Or even the ability to showcase a day in the life

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for my role. You may be in a different department, but your goals are actually to end up in learning development or sales. Now you can see some of that day in the life and see if that’s the work that you want to be doing. And then go reach out to that person at video, set up a coffee chat and learn more about how they got there. And maybe there’s a project you can work on with them to grab some of those.

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additional um responsibilities and that additional experience. Well, I think everybody’s wheels are turning now with all of the great ideas that you shared today, Vanessa. And before I let you go, can you let listeners know where they can learn more about your work? Yeah, absolutely. The best place to find me is LinkedIn, Vanessa Alzate there and AnchorToTraining.com. Great. And well, thank you so much, Vanessa, for your time today.

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Thank you for having me. And thank you all for tuning into this week’s episode. We hope you enjoy listening to the HRDQ-U In Review podcast, available on all major streaming platforms. If you did enjoy today’s episode, make sure to give us a follow and leave us a review. I will see you all next week. Thanks.