Employee-Generated Content Boosts Growth: Here’s Why

Digital transformation has completely changed the B2B buyer journey. With 70% of consumers trusting the recommendations of their peers and networks on social media, compared to only 15% who trust brands, we now live in a Trust Economy - where transparency and digital word of mouth is key to company success.

This should come as no surprise. People trust people, not logos.

What Is Employee Generated Content (EGC)?

Employee Generated Content (EGC) is a variant of User Generated Content (UGC) - and it means exactly what it says; content created by your employees.

EGC is content generated by employees in the form of blogs, videos, social media posts, and images communicating your brand values, the benefits of the business they work for, and helpful information to support prospects and customers at each stage of the buyer journey.

When it comes to social media, many businesses have a comfort zone that involves sharing company news and asking employees to share it. However, employee-generated content performs much better than any other source of content. It’s a missed opportunity if employees only share company announcements.

Employees Have A Much Wider Reach

Employees have on average 10x more followers (Source: PostBeyond) than a brand’s account. By creating expert employee content, you are building trust with your target audience.  

By empowering your employees with the digital skills and confidence to become more active on social media, you are creating brand ambassadors that will help you to have new conversations.

Instantly Filling Gaps In Your Editorial Calendar With Content

According to research from the Content Marketing Institute 71% of their respondents said they mainly outsource content creation. Bringing this in house, allows teams to build up a bank of employee generated content that is much more authentic, saving on cost too.

Trust, Relevancy And Authenticity Are Vital To The Success Of Your Public Perception

There are no better people to share knowledge about your products and services than your employees. They work on the frontline every day, hearing questions and understanding how your products and services work. This positions your employees as credible, go-to experts in your industry.

What’s more - your target audience will relate to the authenticity of your employees’ real stories and personal experiences.

Improving Employee Engagement

With only 21% of the global employees feeling engaged at work, employee generated content can help. How? Because when employees are given a ‘voice’ in a large corporation, they feel valued, become more invested in the business, and provide essential feedback that improves organisational growth.

Employee Generated Content can transform the traditional employee newsletter - sharing announcements from employee to employee and support a thriving internal culture.

Attracting Top Talent To Your Organisation

Your employees’ voices are a huge asset when it comes to sharing positive experiences of your company culture. Encouraging employees to share fun in the office (or at home!) and company events with a brand-specific hashtag will give potential candidates a view of how it feels to work in your company.

Furthermore, sharing stories about wellbeing in the workplace is something that Gen Z and Millennials now expect from an employer – social media provides a mirror to reflect these messages. Simply saying ‘generous compensation package’ isn’t good enough anymore.

Supporting Employee Advocacy In Your Organisation

The success of your Employee Advocacy Program relies on interesting, trusted content. By feeding your Employee Advocacy tool with Employee Generated Content, you will keep your tool topped up with engaging content to share on your employee social media channels.

In summary - Employee-Generated Content (EGC) has unparalleled potential to contribute to your marketing strategy. Not only benefiting the marketing team but also empowering every employee in your organisation - reducing the cost of disengaged employees and improving your bottom line.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog, why not check out this podcast from Andy Lambert, from Content Cal & Adobe.