Content development can be more than just a job for marketers or content creators. What if I told you you could integrate employees from other teams in your content plan? It’s a modern reality that companies are embracing at many levels.
I’ll share current practices for engaging employees in content creation based on personal experience, as well as the benefits to both the organization and the employee of collaborating on content.
Benefits of collaborating with employees on content
When you involve employees in your content plan, they become engaged in the process of internal communication and develop new skills. They understand how work is organized and can create content for their social networks and in collaboration with the company.
In addition, this is a great opportunity for them to develop personal brands: publishing an article on behalf of an employee, a short commentary, a video, or a podcast allows them to raise their profiles and make themselves known to a wider range of professionals.
The company and content marketers can pool their resources and create a content plan together. Employees can help you come up with new ideas and formats.
But at the same time, it is necessary to understand that regardless of the benefits, it is necessary to encourage employees to actively participate in the company’s content marketing.
What types of content can employees help with?
Writing articles for the company blog or social networks
Your employees definitely have something to say! They may just be shy about expressing themselves. But the main thing on your part is to encourage initiative and encourage employees to share their experience and knowledge with other professionals.
Video content or podcasts
Videos and podcasts continue to be one of the most popular types of content, so don’t miss this opportunity. Host an internal podcast or encourage employees to guest on other podcasts within your industry or participate in creating UGC video content for your owned channels.
Interviews, collections of professional literature, training courses, or blogs
If an employee feels he or she is not ready to share knowledge on a professional topic or lacks experience, start with short article collections or recommendations. Later, you can try other formats that will interest the audience.
Employee-driven content in action
I would like to share my personal experience of engaging employees in a content plan. I support employees who want to speak at conferences, write articles and share their experiences, participate in podcast recordings, etc. But in addition to support, it is important to provide the right encouragement and motivation so that this is not a one-time action.
For employee engagement, we leverage an internal loyalty program. For example, an employee writes an article or performs some other activity for which they receive internal currency. They can spend it in the company store and buy branded products and equipment. The benefits are two-fold: first, it allows you to maintain a high level of employee engagement and motivation, and second, it improves the company’s business performance.
You can come up with your own methods of encouragement. This can be both material and non-material motivation, or you can use ready-made loyalty programs on the market.
In addition, you can develop an idea box — a fairly popular direction in all companies, to which employees can add ideas to improve content.
The main thing: do not forget about the close cooperation of the content team with employees who want to participate in writing content. To begin with, you can help them at all stages: from forming an idea to writing and editing text (for this, by the way, it is convenient to have an editorial policy or content requirements, such as TOV, volume, etc.).
I am sure that close cooperation with employees will open up new opportunities in your content strategy and add a fresh look to it.
Photo Credit: Husna Miskandar / Unsplash
