More and more businesses are moving away from policies that prevent employees from using social media while on the job. Instead, they’re embracing it, naturally and brilliantly weaving employee enthusiasm and social-media savviness into their marketing.
According to Forbes,com, recent studies show that “plugging into social apps and networks makes employees more productive at work.” In fact, employees who tweet and post to sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are likely to be more productive than their less-plugged-in counterparts. Another study by the Edelman Trust Barometer shows people trust regular employees more than a company’s CEO.
It’s crucial for your business to create a social media employee engagement strategy that relies on employees — voices that your patients trust — to boost your brand and presence across social media platforms. Involving your entire team in your social media marketing efforts will drastically increase your visibility and traffic to your webpage. It also helps turn your employees into company ambassadors, helping them feel proud and empowered — and that they’re valuable and trusted members of the bigger team.
What are some ways to involve and encourage your team to plug into your practice’s social media marketing efforts?
Seek their input
Sometimes, employees — especially those who are active in the social media world — have fresh, new ideas and perspectives. Have a meeting and ask your team members for their ideas on a social media engagement strategy. What do they see trending? How can your company use that information to boost its own brand?
Let them shine
Create shared albums/boards and encourage your employees to add to them when they find something — an article, picture, quote, or creative hashtag, for example — that is interesting and something your practice could use in social media marketing. Have one employee — a content manager — review, choose, and post from the submitted content. Also, encourage your team members to take photos and selfies at work and when on team outings. Clearly define parameters or have a photo policy; for instance, if an employee wants to take a picture of or with a patient, they first need to gain permission. Allowing creative expression will keep your employees invested, enthusiastic, and feeling trusted and confident, all while boosting your brand’s visibility in the social media world.Encourage sharing
With a primary goal of a social media employee engagement strategy being to increase traffic to your website, blogs, etc., it’s important that your employees share, share and share some more! Have available 10-15 sharable items a week for employees to choose from and share on their personal social media pages. Hold monthly competitions, rewarding the employee who drives the most amount of traffic to your practice’s website or receives the highest number of “likes” on an Instagram post.
Celebrate results
Everyone likes a pat on the back. Share with employees specific ways they helped impact your marketing. Did an article that a team member submitted result in increased traffic to your webpage? Did an employee-submitted photo garner a large number of “likes” or comments on your team’s social media page? Sharing this information will help empower your team and encourage it to continue its enthusiastic engagement.
Developing and implementing a social media employee engagement strategy is important for many reasons, most notably to increase your practice’s visibility and leads. Make the plan and execution fun and exciting, and it will be rewarding for everyone: practice owners, staff, and the people who follow your practice across social media platforms.
