Engaging Employees on Social Media
By Graysen Reid
Most every business has turned to social media to communicate and market their brand. Millions of people use social media daily, making it easy for any organization to reach a large audience through one or many platforms.
There are many tips for gaining followers and creating content, but one point that is often left out is employee engagement on social media. While employee engagement is often undervalued, utilizing it can continuously boost your company’s social media, build trust, and attract customers and clients.
Most of your employees probably already have some form of social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or another platform. You can take advantage of their following and use that presence to boost your own brand.
Employees are great resources and can increase awareness for your organization. They have friends on social media who want to keep up with what is going on in their lives and that includes your business. When your employee shares a company post or comments on a status, their friends and followers see it. This creates an opportunity that might have never been realized without that comment or share.
Increasing employee engagement doesn’t have to be a big task. By taking it step by step, your employees will become more comfortable with the overall process.
First, make sure you give employees something to talk about. Post frequently on the company page and send out emails or reminders about the content you have posted. Blogs, white papers, news releases, and webinars are already pre-approved for your employees to post. Make sure they know these things are available for them to use.
It is important to get your employees excited about what’s happening in your organization. If your employees aren’t enthused, no one else will be either. Keep them informed and updated about everything they need to know. Their excitement carries over to social media and can create enthusiasm in their own social network.
For some employees, social media is a snap, but for others even a Facebook post might be intimidating. To make sure your employees are comfortable with social media, provide training sessions on proper social media etiquette and point them in the direction of accounts that are using it to its full potential. It’s also extremely important for your executives to be active on social media. They can set an example for other employees that helps ease everyone into the engagement process.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to post about your employees. People love to get shout-outs on social media, especially when they feel appreciated and acknowledged. If you post a picture or tag them in a post, they will be more likely to share it with their friends, who will probably like or share it as well. This creates excitement that can bring you new audiences that might have never heard of your brand otherwise.
By simplifying the process and giving helpful tips, your business can maximize social media use and boost brand awareness and engagement. All by simply tapping the “like” or “share” button.
Graysen Reid is a Dux account coordinator and social media specialist.