In this article, we'll introduce you to five reasons why employee-generated content is crucial to the success of your corporate comms.
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Today, the voice of your employees is louder than ever before. Employees use hundreds of channels and formats to communicate. Whether it's photos of company events on LinkedIn, videos about the latest progress on the intranet, tweets from former employees, anonymous testimonials on Kununu.
Employee Generated Content (EGC) is everywhere. And it's wise to have a strategy for controlling it.
So what can you do?
As a communications manager, you will never be able to fully regulate your company's EGC, but if you manage EGC wisely, it can give you the following 3 benefits.
Before we get to the benefits, we need to look at a few basics first.
Employee Generated Content (EGC) means images, videos, blogs, and other content that employees create themselves. This content is often shared on employees' social media accounts and ideally (from an employer branding perspective) offers a positive insight into the experiences of employees in your company.
Employee generated content not only focuses on external channels, but is also found in a company's daily internal communication. This ranges from a video in which the boss explains the business goals for the next quarter, to a document with the ideal customer profile, to a video with congratulations on a teammate's birthday.
The different types of employee generated content include:
Content created by employees is becoming an important part of internal and external communication, as EGC can convey a level of authenticity that both applicants and employees long for.
Encouraging people to create content can not only have a positive effect on the impact of the company brand, but also improve internal team interaction.
1. Increasing trust in the corporate brand
Using employees' unique insights can give your company a head start in thought leadership and brand recognition. Studies show time and again that people trust other people much more than a “faceless” brand. Content created by employees can give your brand a trustworthy face.
As a result, employees can better promote employment with the company and the integrity of your brand. With EGC, your team acts as brand ambassadors who share your work culture with their friends, families, colleagues, and followers.
With the increase in remote work, content created by employees is becoming even more effective as the gap between work and private life has narrowed. People want to see the human side of your company more and more, and your employees can adopt this perspective for your company.
2. EGC promotes a sense of community and personal development among your employees
People who share an opinion or idea on an internal or external communication channel do so because they want to exchange ideas with like-minded people. These conversations and interactions have the potential to promote a sense of community among employees, as they share common interests in a similar environment.
In addition, top talents are always looking for personal development. By producing EGC and making their thought leadership known, they are expanding their personal brand and network, which can result in great opportunities such as lectures, events, and blog posts. This in turn increases the public image of companies.
3. EGC increases employee engagement
When employees feel that the company is investing in them, they are more willing to actively participate and remain loyal to the company.
If employees feel that their company and colleagues value their opinion, they are more willing to express their opinion, contribute new ideas and try out new concepts. They are also more willing to participate in corporate initiatives, which makes it easier to make changes in a company and keep the company flexible. If you recognize this relationship between employees, colleagues and companies and attach great importance to it, this increases the motivation and involvement of employees overall.
4. EGC promotes the creativity of your employees
People communicate differently. That is why, depending on the preferences and personality of the employees, some formats work better than others. Allowing your employees to use more than just text messages creates a wide range of expressive options in your internal communication channels, in which everyone can express themselves creatively. This continuous practice of creativity is also spreading to other aspects of daily work and inspires the rest of the team to look for more effective ways to communicate at all levels of their work. In the end, this improves overall communication within a company.
5. EGC reduces employee turnover
When the four points mentioned above are achieved, a foundation is created that improves corporate culture. Transparent communication, a sense of connection between employees and a high level of commitment testify to a positive culture that employees feel proud to belong to. Loud this Microsoft report on work expectations employees value working in an environment with a positive culture more than ever. 46% say that employers must offer a positive corporate culture, and in some cases even place this above salary. A workplace with a good corporate culture therefore not only attracts new talent, but also encourages current employees to stick around for the long term.
Employees like to create content because they also want to share their experiences with the company online. When company management supports EGC and creates a safe environment where employees aren't afraid to share their experiences, they increase brand awareness, generate engagement, and help recruit top talent.
Content created by employees changes communication as we know it. They are one of the most important elements of the 3rd generation of corporate communication.
Here You can read more about generations of corporate communications.
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