The biggest boon to your social media presence is not the carefully crafted post from your marketing team or the big-budget video you hired that production company for.
No, sometimes the most effective content on social media is content that your employees or customers create, i.e. user-generated content, UGC.
While it may not fit naturally with a brand’s image it is one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences and boost engagement on your social media channels. Especially when it comes to recruiting new employees.
Why is it so effective?
Well, there are a couple of reasons: authenticity and reach.
Naturally, your employees will have a different audience than you!
If they are able to share content they have created about working with your company, they will reach a new audience that you haven’t been able to access before-- and getting your content seen by as many eyes as possible is half the battle.
When your employees or customers share content about your company, it will help your organization get more traction, especially if you are in a newer company finding its social media legs.
Not only will you reach a wider audience but having an employee or customer share their direct experience is way more authentic and compelling than some marketing/HR professional spouting platitudes.
There’s a level of trust inherent in UGC that is very notably absent from the content most companies create about themselves.
Think about it! If your very best friend told you to try a certain product but you recently saw an ad for a similar product from a competing company, which would you try? You’d listen to your friend!
We’re almost always more willing to trust a recommendation from a friend over curated advertising/marketing/recruiting materials.
Employees or customers sharing their first-hand, direct experience of your organization can be very compelling.
So, if you’re making your customers or employees happy, let them spread the news! Make sure you give them credit though, or it could be seen as self-referential or opportunistic.
Back to the concerns about brand I mentioned earlier. Since the content is, by definition, user-generated you’ll have no control over what is said about you. Since it is not your post, you will not be able to delete the post or disable comments should it veer off from the message you would like to be promoting.
Unsurprisingly, organizations with strong company culture are the biggest winners when it comes to UGC.
But how can you make sure your organization is one that your employees are excited about? Why would they want to spread the word?
If you think you may need some help getting your brand back on track before sharing UGC, reach out to us at info@workreels.com. We can help you understand what others are seeing when your team shares their employee experience.