Turn Staff Contributions into Social Media Gold

7 Steps to Encourage Employees to Create Social Media Content

Does your senior management team believe that social media is solely marketing’s responsibility? If so, you’re limiting your organization’s ability to maximize its social media results.

Here are three elements every organization, whether it’s a B2C, B2B, not-for-profit or solopreneur, needs to enhance its social media engagement and related content. Tapping your staff for social media content and contributions supplies all three.

  1. Tell stories. These narratives with a beginning, middle and end, make your firm memorable. They engage listeners and allow them to add their own embellishments. Include historical perspectives and personal experiences to build a more rounded view of the organization.
  2. Add human emotion. Stories provide human feelings that are enhanced by the sound of the human voice of the storyteller.
  3. Offer multiple perspectives. Having a variety of employees creating content provides different points of view and insights into your organization.

To get all of your employees involved in social media participation and content creation, here are seven easy-to-follow tactics that you can apply to your organization.

  1. Set social media guidelines. You have a responsibility to let employees know how they should identify themselves and what they can say on social media platforms when they represent your organization as well as when they’re using social media for personal reasons.
  2. Remove fear of failing for employee participation. Since employees are afraid of making a public mistake, give them permission to test new ways of creating social media content and engagement. Help them overcome “This is the way we’ve always done it” syndrome. Provide risk-free ways to test new approaches.
  3. Train staff to give them the requisite skills. “While I can’t write” may be your employees first reaction, you can get them engaged in the new forms of content creation. Don’t underestimate the need to train employees. Offer them tailored training and give them examples to help them create content so they feel more comfortable participating.
  4. Supply appropriate resources to ensure your staff succeeds. Employees regardless of background or education may feel their communication skills aren’t up to professional standards. To overcome these concerns, provide editorial, graphic, copyediting and technological support to ensure staff content shines. This reflects on your firm and brand!
  5. Get employees involved. To this end, integrate these social media responsibilities into everyone’s job description. Otherwise, it will be something that they do when they have time.
  6. Maximize content effectiveness. Like other social media content, incorporate a contextually relevant call-to-action to get prospects to act and a related promotional code to track results. Also include appropriate social sharing to facilitate earned media.
  7. Reward employees beyond their paychecks. Since you’re asking employees to change their work habits, offer an incentive beyond saying “It’s your job”.  Highlight employees’ content and social media contributions, whether it’s a shout out on s social media platform(s) or a nominal gift like an Amazon gift card. You want your employees to get their fifteen seconds of fame.

You must leverage your headcount and financial resources to create social media content across your entire organization to achieve your business goals. Don’t underestimate every employee’s ability, given the proper training and encouragement, to help achieve your business goals.

Do you have any other suggestions to increase broad employee involvement in social media and content marketing creation?

Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen


BTW–If you enjoy this blog’s social media advice, I’d appreciated it if you would take a moment to nominate this blog, https://heidicohen.com for Social Media Examiner’s 3rd Annual, Top 10 Social Media Blogs by clicking on this link and saying why you like the blog in the comment section. Thank you for your support.

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