If you want to both connect with your target audiences and boost employee happiness in the workplace through content marketing, employee generated content is one of the best ways to do so.
This content consists of blog posts, videos, social media posts, and more that employees create for marketing and branding purposes, and it can go a long way in elevating your organization.
In this blog, our Digital Marketing Manager, Nicole Garcia, will cover the benefits of employee-generated content, examples, and how you can integrate this content into a holistic marketing strategy.
What You’ll Learn
- What Is Employee-Generated Content (EGC)?
- The Benefits of Employee Generated Content for Organizations
- How to Implement EGC In Your Workplace
- Measuring the Success of EGC
- FAQs About Employee Generated Content
My Expert Insights into Employee Generated Content
When producing content for your marketing strategies, employee-generated content is one of the best tools you can use. I find this content to come with multiple internal and external benefits for brands, going beyond conventional content marketing to bring a human face to companies while showing staff that they have real value.
Through behind-the-scenes workplace content that highlights the people behind your organization, you can assure audiences that real people are behind your offerings and customer service. At the same time, employees will feel appreciated as you give them a platform to express themselves and their unique voices.
With a varied mix of employee generated content behind your marketing, you can easily ramp up content production while reaping the unique benefits it offers.
What Is Employee-Generated Content (EGC)?
As the name suggests, employee-generated content, or EGC, is content that employees produce discussing certain topics for the purpose of marketing. Often, this content promotes both the employee and the employer, giving audiences insights into employees’ individual contributions and personalities while also showcasing the brand.
There are many types of employee generated content your employees can create and which you can share across various platforms.
For instance, you can create:
Blog Posts
Publish in-depth blog posts or articles with unique insights and expertise from your employees, or tell your employees’ stories through highlights.
Videos
You can use many types of videos to connect with audiences using both short- and long-form videos, from behind-the-scenes workplace footage and event highlights to Q&As, recruitment videos, and employee testimonials.
Social Media Posts
Use platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to publish exciting content featuring employees or teams to connect with and grow your following. You can also wind up tapping into your employees’ following to expand your audience. Another key trend here is employee takeovers, which entail employees “taking over” a brand’s social channels for a limited time, during which they can post various types of content that speak to them.
Podcasts
Employees could make and host podcasts that involve sharing their own insights, interviewing industry leaders, or discussing industry news, among other topics. You can also repurpose video or audio clips recorded from podcasts for social media posts and more.
Let’s get into some compelling employee-generated content examples to explore what you and your employees can do:
Social Media Event Posts
Joseph Mohay, President of Franchise here at Ignite Visibility, shared a popular post on his personal social media channel to promote an event that our team attended, IFA.
In this post, Joe discusses the various takeaways from the event, thanking our team, clients and partners in the process.
Not only does it spark conversation about the event with an open-ended question, but it also includes images of the event to lend more visual appeal to the post for increased engagement.
It’s a great example of an employee representing an employer at an event and sharing the highlights, promoting both himself and the brand in the process with an engaging post.
Video Posts Highlighting Individual Employees
In addition to traditional social media posts and images, there are plenty of great employee-generated content examples using video to connect with audiences through individual employee highlights.
One example here is from IBM’s Global Social Strategy & Orchestration leader, Nada Alkutbi, who took to LinkedIn to promote her first TikTok video last year. Specifically, she used this platform to showcase IBM’s first THINK event while showing that real people are behind IBM and its success.
This example helps illustrate what you can do with some behind-the-scenes workplace content as you focus on specific employees who put a face to a brand.
Another recent example of a brand using content in the form of an expert video is Mark & Spencer’s employee-dedicated Instagram channels, which allow specific employees to discuss their products and relate them to their own preferences and lifestyles.
Irayne is one such employee who uses videos to promote Mark & Spencer gift offers along with specific outfits that match her lifestyle.
To appeal to Mark & Spencer’s male audience, another channel features Rob Manning, who also promotes certain offers while expressing his own thoughts and preferences.
Employee Blog Posts
Other employee-generated content examples include blog posts that either tell employee stories or share employees’ perspectives in their own words.
For instance, Deloitte has blog posts detailing employees’ career paths with Deloitte, from how they got started to their ability to flourish within the organization.
In this post from Deloitte, Richard Rosenthal is the feature, an employee who started with Deloitte thanks to his experience attending a “take your son to work day” at the company, where his father worked at the time.
These are just some of the many ways to go about developing a range of content that helps market your business while giving a platform for the people behind the scenes.
Another example is our own Ignite Visibility blog! We encourage all our Igniters to submit blogs on topics they are experts in or feel passionate about.
By sharing their knowledge employees:
- Bring expertise and experience that is both credible and helpful
- Have the chance to be showcased as an industry expert
- Help strengthen the company’s reputation
- Highlight unique perspectives and points of view
The Benefits of Employee Generated Content for Organizations
There are many benefits of using employee-generated content to develop your branding efforts and help you stand out among competitors.
Here are some key reasons why you’ll want to implement this content:
Increased Authenticity
One of the main benefits of using employee generated content is the ability to make your brand feel more authentic to audiences. People want to know that real people are behind your company and not just see you as a faceless entity.
92% of consumers also want recommendations from friends and family before trying a brand, while 70% also trust strangers. Your employees can help build that trust by discussing the many benefits your company offers from a personal perspective while also showing their knowledge and expertise.
When people see and come to know and like the various personalities behind the scenes, they’ll be more inclined to turn into customers based on that positive association between your trusted staff and your brand.
Improved Recruitment
Prospective employees will want to know your company is worth working for before they commit to any brand, and EGC can significantly help here.
Testimonials from employees and recruitment videos featuring happy employees can convince more potential hires that you’re right for them. This can especially be the case if prospects find certain relatable personalities and perspectives among your staff that show that you’re a good fit.
More Engagement
Using EGC also has the ability to engage your employees more. If your staff know that they have the chance to express themselves and get their voices heard among your audiences, they’ll be more enthusiastic about participating and produce high-quality content that resonates with them and your target market.
Increased Employee Happiness and Productivity
Not only will EGC contribute to more employee engagement, but it also has the chance to increase employee happiness and productivity by enabling staff to hear from their peers, according to findings from Firstup.
Employees at a company will be more likely to trust you as an employer if you give their peers a voice and some freedom to be themselves with your content.
Ultimately, it’s about giving your employees the chance to create rather than merely consume content.
How to Implement EGC In Your Workplace
Take the following key steps to properly implement an EGC strategy that helps with marketing while boosting employee happiness and trust:
1. Create a Culture of Trust and Openness
To start with, create a culture that promotes trust and openness among employees at every level to encourage more employees to engage and take part, leading them to create high-quality content.
2. Recognize Contributions
When employees create great content, give them a shoutout! Try public recognition by reposting their content, giving out internal company awards, or offering extra employee benefits like a coffee or free lunch.
3. Address Potential Challenges
Ensure all EGC is compliant with your company guidelines, including your style guide and brand voice. It must also be compliant with certain legal aspects of your industry, with industries like finance and healthcare coming with somewhat stricter requirements to stay compliant.
You also need to keep all content consistent with your overall branding. While employees can maintain their own voices and personas when producing content, they need to align with your brand messaging to help establish a clear identity across your strategy. This will work much the same way as influencer marketing as you establish what kind of brand image you want your employees to project.
Additionally, address any privacy concerns that might come along, respecting employees’ wishes to keep certain details private and protecting their data during content creation and publishing.
Measuring the Success of EGC
With your content strategy in place, you can begin tracking the performance of your EGC.
Depending on your goals, whether you want to boost brand awareness or generate more leads and sales, here are some key metrics to measure:
- Engagement: Keep track of various engagement metrics to see how audiences are interacting with your content and gauge popularity, including likes, comments, and shares. You can then compare and contrast metrics with other posts and platforms.
- Reach: This measures the total number of users who have viewed your content, which is different from impressions that measure how many times your posts have landed in front of users without them necessarily seeing them.
- Sentiment Analysis: Look at the comments and use certain analytical tools to assess the overall sentiment among your audiences, which could include brand mentions. A positive sentiment will elevate your brand and its reputation.
As you track and measure your EGC efforts, determine how they contribute toward your overall business goals and objectives. They should work toward specific ends, such as boosting employee productivity or branding.
FAQs About Employee Generated Content
1. What is employee-generated content?
Employee-generated content, or EGC, is content that employees produce to supplement other content marketing efforts. Employees often lend their own personalities and voices to this content to help it stand out while also promoting their employer’s brand.
2. How do I start using EGC in my workplace?
There are plenty of ways to approach an EGC campaign in the workplace, starting by engaging employees and encouraging them to produce a range of content. Employees can then create blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, and other content covering various topics, from behind-the-scenes footage of a day in the life of an employee and product promotions to personal testimonials and employee highlights.
3. What are the best tools to manage EGC?
There are multiple tools you can use to manage and measure EGC campaigns, such as:
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- Social media listening tools
- Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platform analytical tools
- Google Analytics to track website visits and conversions
- Content creation tools
Develop a Winning EGC Strategy With Ignite Visibility
Looking to get the most from employee generated content? The team at Ignite Visibility is here for you. We can empower your employees to produce top-quality content that aligns with your branding needs while building employee happiness, engagement, trust, and productivity.
Our experts can help you:
- Generate ideas for employee-generated content
- Develop a comprehensive content strategy based on your goals
- Continually produce content that connects with audiences across platforms
- Measure and optimize EGC strategies based on performance
- And more!
Sound good to you? Reach out to us today to discover how our team will help you achieve the best results with ECG and other high-quality content.
