Why Employees Should Contribute to Your Company Content

One of the big challenges that a lot of companies face today is that they post content on their company page that is not amplified in any shape or form. The reasons behind this are different, but in most cases, it comes down to the fact that that content is too far away from the employees' what's-in-it-for-me factor. 

This naturally causes employees not to want to share that kind of content – they have nothing to gain from it and — maybe even more importantly – they have no connection to it; it doesn’t resonate with them. 

Why you should encourage employee to contribute to your company content

That is why it’s always a good idea to encourage your employees to share their own content about the company on their social media channels — such as LinkedIn, for example – and to contribute to the company page content. Why? Because when employees share posts about the company, they don’t only speak to your network and followers, but they also reach a whole new circle of people — personal and professional connections of their own, 2nd- and 3rd-level connections, etc. 

That’s how you as an organization, in turn, expand your reach and visibility and are able to talk and show your content to an every time wider audience. Because of employee advocacy, employees thus contribute to the company's online presence and reputation, attracting potential customers, partners, candidates, and talent.

Your employees’ contribution to LinkedIn (and social media, in general) can unlock the growth potential you’ve been chasing and truly make your B2B content marketing strategy a success. Employee advocacy spreads ownership of your content strategy across your organization, doubling its potential for success. It’s when you engage your employees with these benefits that advocacy really starts to take off.

Despite the fact that only 3% of employees share content, they generate 30% of all content engagement for a typical business.

This stat shows just how powerful employee sharing can be as part of your content marketing strategy. But it also shows how much potential is being ignored.

What’s in it for the employees

I’m not gonna go into detail about how you can launch and maintain an employee advocacy program, but let’s just mention that one of the obvious (yet often overlooked) aspects that need to be highlighted is the benefits for the employees. It’s only natural that they are going to question whether they are also reaping any benefits from being your faithful ambassadors. 

And if we look at the specific instance of content co-creation — one of the distinctive parts of employee advocacy — then there are clear and proven gains for them, too: 

• Personal band building. What do your employees gain from amplifying your content’s reach? Sharing content enhances your employees’ personal profiles, pushing them to the front of people’s minds when it comes to new opportunities and establishing their expertise. Regular posting will constantly put them in people’s feeds and encourage interactions and engagement with their posts.
  
  
• Thought leadership. Why do people share any form of content online? To show the extent of their knowledge in that topic or field. Every post is a new opportunity to express an individual point of view, experience, and expertise. Engaging with an existing post — adding commentary, for example — establishes you as a co-creator, adding insights. And all of that contributes to building and enhancing one’s thought leadership and expertise.
  
  
• Enhanced visibility on the company page. Another proven benefit for employees is that being featured on the company page can increase one’s visibility — appearing as a pivotal point in the company’s content strategy and expert professional in the field.

What’s in it for the company

Employee-powered content has many benefits for the company, too, of course. Let’s take a look at the main ones:

• It humanizes the brand. Putting a face on your company page humanizes your brand. You're no longer looking at a logo, but you're looking at a post from somebody with a specific name and function in your organization. 
  
  
• Builds up the Employer Brand. When employees start sharing content about their company — whether it's a repost, personal thoughts or experiences, or a native post about the company — it not only gives visibility to the company but also shows their commitment and their level of ambassadorship toward the company. It builds up a strong Employer Brand because it’s proof that people feel good at that company and share its values and goals.
  
  
• Reaches more people. The numbers don’t lie. If your employees have an average of 300 connections each, and you persuade just 10 of them to share an update, that’s 3,000 more people who can see your content. As we mentioned before, you’re going to be able to show your content to a whole new circle of connections and claim visibility on a much wider scale.
  
  
• Builds credibility. The power of employee sharing isn’t limited to an increased reach. Employee-powered content is, first and foremost, credible — it will give your company credibility that you can’t get anywhere else from any other post. It’s a result of the very different impact that content has when it comes from a human being rather than a brand. You won’t be tooting your own horn anymore; you’ll have a team of employees to do that for you spontaneously.

So there you have it — in short, the main reasons why you should have your employees contribute to your content. 

Now, this can be done spontaneously via a Slack or Teams channel or a Facebook Group. But if you really want to start taking ownership of your employee ambassadors, build durable relationships with them, and measure the concrete impact they have on your bottom line, then launching a formalized advocacy program is what you should do.