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How to leverage your employee's social network

Personal accounts have 5x more reach than business accounts. So, encouraging your employees to engage in the company’s social media platforms could be a surefire way to increase your social media reach.
Ludwig Dumont
Last Updated
October 22, 2021

Cost-effective marketing

It is safe to say that the majority of your employees have social media channels.This means your employees and colleagues will have thousands - depending on how big your company is - of combined social media connections. Studies also show that almost 85% of people would choose products or services that have been recommended by friends, family and colleagues.

So, encouraging your employees to engage in the company’s social media platforms could be a surefire way to increase your social media reach. It’s also worth noting that personal accounts have 5x more reach than business accounts.

While you might consider social media a second home, the same may not be true for all of your employees and co-workers.

That’s one of many reasons why it’s a good idea to create some sort of social media guide that will introduce your employees to social media from a professional point of view. Don’t make this into a big scary deal. If you’d look online and search for social media policies you’ll mostly find policies from big corporations. They are scary. If I’m correct most of your co-workers are career professionals who know how to behave and respect the image of your company.

In a nutshell, you want to tell your employees to share content that makes them look like an expert, shows that it is fun to work at your company, and see them engaging with your content and other people.

Level 1

This is the simplest way to inject your employees into your social media strategy. People love to see people. That’s why posts with faces work tremendously well on any platform. You could show a behind-the-scenes, use your employees to share tips every month or capture those team moments.

Level 2

If your business page is sending out an update or you are sending out an update, make sure your employees know about this. The first minutes of a post are the most important. In those first minutes, algorithms look at how often someone is clicking
on your link, commenting or reading your post. If these metrics are good, your posts get boosted to reach more eyeballs. So having people sharing your post immediately or commenting on it, will make your reach go up.

According to LinkedIn, 30% of the engagement on a Company Pagepost comes from employees, who are 14X more likely to share that content vs. other content types.

Level 3

This one might be a little bit less obvious and also harder to achieve.It actually very much depends on the attitude of your employees and your workplace culture. You should encourage and turn your employees into thought leaders. This means sharing industry news, their opinions on what’s happening within your field of expertise, and sharing achievements or failures at work. Even better if they like writing blogs and tips themselves. Everyone has something to say. Let them be passionate about their work and vocal and opinionated on social media.

This will be the main differentiator for your brand: putting a human face on your company goes a long way toward differentiating your brand in a crowded marketplace. It’s also mutually beneficial. While you get to engage your audience with authentic content, your employees get a sense of value from being entrusted with this responsibility. Your employees will see their thought leadership as a long-term investment in their personal brand, and they’ll be less likely to look for work elsewhere.

On top of that, by supporting thought leadership, your company demonstrates that it’s open to new ideas and collaboration. This positive attitude can spread to every aspect of your organization. The result is increased productivity, a stronger sense of teamwork, and a culture of empowerment.

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