Does Your Social Media Strategy Promote Employee Engagement?
Does Your Social Media Strategy Promote Employee Engagement?
More often than not, the businesses I work with look to social media to grow their businesses via the sale of their products or services. There are the few early adopters who have come to understand the power of their social media presence as a recruitment tool, using their profiles as a way of communicating their employer brand. In both instances, these businesses look for return on investment based on these outcomes (increased revenue or growth of their teams) – often overlooking the opportunity to use it as a tool to promote and drive employee engagement.
Employee Social Media Use
Whether you like it or not, your employees have a voice online, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, give them a place to raise their voices – whether it’s via a secret Facebook Group, making use of Facebook Workplace or perhaps using platforms such as Slack or Yammer. You can easily and quickly create an online community for your workforce they can make use of. Identifying who the ‘influencers’ are within your business and getting them on board with this will be key to success. You can use this community to celebrate wins with your team too, and keep them up to date and informed in regard to what is happening in your business.
Are you listening?
Any business currently in operation should have some form of online listening strategy, so should there be any ‘bad-mouthing’ from your workforce, your marketing or communications team should be picking this up already. Most businesses have social media policies in place to protect themselves from the damage a disgruntled employee can make. However, few businesses have a listening strategy that includes a reflection process for any mentions of their brand online that originates from their own personnel. Are you really listening to what your workforce has to say if they do choose to share anything online?
Invest in building your (online) community
There is a culture of groups of people wearing uniforms or similar clothing. The idea being that they wear the uniform with pride, creating a feeling of belonging. School uniforms are an example of this – while wearing that uniform the individual represents the community and is expected to behave in a way that reflects the values of the school. Football and Rugby team players wear uniforms, and their supporters will essentially don the branded merchandise (that they have invested in) to show they belong, wearing their hats, scarves, shirts, etc. with pride.
When it comes to business development, you can actually use social media as a way to invest in your team too. I admit that this isn’t a great analogy – but perhaps we should be thinking of LinkedIn profiles as the ‘uniform’ of the business world. Creating branded headers, providing a facility for a professional headshot, and other collateral that can be used on LinkedIn profiles that reflect your brand can become a virtual uniform for your team. Invest time in your sales and Business Development teams by helping them create a LinkedIn profile to be proud of, that sings your brand and highlights their strengths – remember it’s their profile too, so give them room to personalise it by doing their equivalent of wearing their ties too short! Invest in the online presence of your team, and offer them training opportunities that will show them how to use LinkedIn as a perfect business development platform to smash their goals, meaning they meet their targets and can claim those incentives you promised them.
I can hear the panic whispers of business leaders terrified that by making their guys and girls stand out on LinkedIn as ultimate professionals, the consequences will be that their best salespeople get poached – but isn’t the point of this that you have created a working environment where your engaged employees won’t want to leave?
If you’re reading this, you may already be aware of the negative impact a disengaged workforce can have on your business both in terms of profitability, productivity and retention. If you’ve never seen the stats, I implore you to reach out to Remus Rewards and have that conversation!
Christina Robinson
Digital Marketing (and more specifically Social media) has exploded in recent years. If you are not embracing digital marketing activities in your business, then you are being left behind and it’s time to catch up.
