10.15.2024 Sarah Goodall
The increased reach of employees vs branded social media channels is well documented; LinkedIn report it gains 561% more reach. A deciding factor in having a successful Employee Advocacy program is the quality and accessibility of content available to your employees.
Here’s our list of 10 types of content your employees will want to share:
1. Industry news
By curating third party news, especially from well-known media channels, that relates to your industry, you provide a link between the advocacy and the social selling elements of the business. Your advocates are then easily on the road to being seen as experts in their field and can use this type of content to commentary blogs and give their opinions and thoughts on new developments or trending topics.
2. Unique content and views
Following on from point one, giving your employees the chance to create their own unique content will mean your advocacy channel is more credible due to its varied content feed.We recently interviewed Maximus who track their earned media value and share their tips on how to bring employee stories to life.
3. Culture Insights
Apart from facilitating social selling, Employee Advocacy also has a massive impact on recruitment and retention within an organisation. Nowadays, people want to know that they are going to be working for a company with the right ethical approach, with values that match their own and one that walks the walk when it comes to valuing its people.There’s no better way to showcase this than to share some of the behind-the-scenes stuff in your advocacy tool. It’s the human side of your business and, these days, we can be open about flexibility, work/life balance and what makes us tick.
4. Partner/Supply Chain News
To maintain content flow and credibility in your Employee Advocacy Program, stay updated with partner and supply chain activities. Firstly, identify which of your partner businesses are already sharing content. For example, are they posting about training sessions or industry events that you can feed into your posting schedule?Follow Alexandra Fraysse from Henkel, for some great examples of this.
5. The Brand Story
Your employees want to build a credible online presence and, to do so, they need to have a deep understanding of who the organisation is, what it stands for and how it intends to position itself in the market.There’s a tightrope to walk here though. The content needs to genuinely add value to the way your people talk about your brand. It can’t be spin though, or even too marketing-focused. This content is about educating people in why their brand is best but without overtly selling. By getting this narrative right, you will benefit in two main ways: your brand story will get a better profile and you will also reduce the risk of people misinterpreting what the brand is trying to do.
6. Product Innovation
This category will undoubtedly appeal to your sales, and customer support teams. It’s essential to their drive to build relationships based on knowledge and experience to be able to speak about the latest innovations and updates.7. Job Postings
Surprised to see this? Well, you wouldn’t think anyone would want to share them but, according to 79% of job applicants use social media in their job search. It’s also a great way to increase referral hires, which lead to greater job satisfaction and a longer term of employment.8. Leadership and Results
Employees want to inspire their network and, as we heard earlier, everyone likes to share something that makes them look good. So don’t be shy about sharing the good news stories: successes, contract wins, new customers are all worthy of your advocacy channel.And sharing a bit about the culture within the business helps to attract best-fit talent as we can see in this post from Lee Welch at Microsoft.
9. Thought leadership blogging
Almost every organisation has an official blog channel these days. Why not use it to add content with a more personal slant? By encouraging your employees to write guest blogs, you can showcase authentic voices and opinions from within the company and help your employees to increase the standing of their own professional profile.10. Fun
Finally, don’t forget to include some of the stuff that keeps your people coming to work every day. We’re all human; having fun and enjoying what we do is a massive bonus for employees so, if you’re lucky enough to have a fun and friendly culture, share it. It could be anything from the office party to behind the scenes at an event or exhibition – whatever shows your human side.Whatever content you choose, the main thing is to have plenty of choice, ensure it is fresh and up-to-date and make sure you curate content based on the motivations of your employees, rather than trying to match topics to people’s job roles. Employee Advocacy needs to be easy for people and giving them content which is genuinely interesting and which they have a choice about posting, is the quickest way to achieve this.
