By Karla Bird, Head of Social Media
According to Sprout Social, there are an estimated 5.17 billion total social media users in 2024. That’s a huge market that your business has a direct link to, and it cannot be ignored.
Social media transcends across multiple generations, targeting an engaged community in a way that other forms of advertising and communications fail to.
Ensuring your whole team can devote some time to social media will help you engage with each generation in unique ways, keep your content fresh across each platform, and build authenticity for your brand.
It also offers a way to get real-time feedback from an invested audience because, let’s face it, if your staff aren’t interested, your audience won’t be.
Here, we explain how to involve your staff in company socials and why it’s valuable to do so. We also introduce some snippets from Magic Word Media’s socials for inspiration.
The value of an engaged social media team
Brand presence is everything, and on social media, that presence is out there 24/7, not just during the 9-5, so it’s crucial to have a strong team running yours.
People want to see who is developing the product, what goes on behind the scenes, and the processes involved. The only way to do this is to showcase the staff, making the magic happen.
This creates trust with your audience, as it makes them feel like they can understand more about the brand's inner workings. When they have a question or comment to make, they interact with real people.
Employee engagement on social media will also bolster your brand's reach in the long term, as it will extend to each of your employees’ networks.
Similarly, recommendations from peers are more likely to gain long-term trust than advertisements because whatever role they play at your company, they will have unique knowledge and expertise that they can share.
Behind-the-Scenes Social Media Content
By sharing your staff's behind-the-scenes content and personal moments, you directly invite your social media followers to share your story.
This means that not only do they want to buy your products or services, but they are also invested in your triumphs as a brand, meaning the connection lasts far longer than a one-off purchase.
Milling machinery specialist Christy Turner requested Magic Word Media’s social media support to help raise its profile. MD Gary Young wanted to get his team involved in the marketing efforts and to share ideas. Magic Word Media put together a plan with the team, with regular brainstorming and shared drives for everybody to have their input.
We always recommend kicking off staff-led content with an introduction to your team. This could be a reel or video with introductions from everyone involved explaining their names and what they do, or even a static post with a detailed caption.
Other staff-led personal content could include a sneak peek at a new product launch, a tour around your offices (narrated by a team member), a visit to an awards ceremony, or even a day in the life.
Staff Engagement in Social Media
It is vital to ensure the success of staff-led content by encouraging those involved to like, comment on, and share your company's social media content without it feeling forced.
Your team can share anecdotes from creating the content and be part of the story rather than standing by and sharing another generic company post.
Staff engagement is crucial as it will lead to your team’s social network engaging, too, giving you access to many new potential followers.
In the long run, this will also highlight a positive company culture, which can prove invaluable in attracting like-minded customers that resonate with your values and become invested in your brand's long-term success.
Empowering Staff to Create Social Content
Encouraging staff to participate in creating social media content can be tricky to begin with. If it’s not their usual area, it can be a little out of their comfort zone, where mini-company workshops or tutorials can be instrumental.
Task your staff social media expert to demonstrate the basics, including best practices for sharing and creating company content on their personal accounts.
This strategy has helped Magic Word Media’s social channels grow. We’ve seen a rise in engaged followers keen to see what our staff are up to and working on next.
Through tracking metrics, we have seen unprecedented growth across genders and generations, so we have boosted our audience rather than just increasing our target audience.
We have put this down to growth within our individual staff members’ networks and collaborating effectively as a team.
Using WhatsApp for Social Collaborations
What better way to collaborate with your staff on social media than a social network?
Creating a dedicated WhatsApp group for generating social content ideas is an easy way to keep track of what you might see and what to recreate for your brand and test out the quirkier ideas on a captive and invested audience.
How often do you scroll in the evening or during your commute and find viral social trends perfect for recreating your company’s social accounts? A social media WhatsApp group could be the place to share the idea in real-time before you lose the idea to another algorithm.
This can lead to more dynamic content creation and make your company one of the first to jump onto a new trend, making you stand out in social media strategy.
Similarly, this WhatsApp group can be the perfect place to praise your employees for their contributions to social media efforts.
If a staff member’s idea has got exceptionally high engagement or a new trend they sent through has made for great content, you can easily praise them for it, ultimately giving them ownership for their contributions.
Measuring the Impact of Team Engagement
Several key performance indicators can help you measure the success of staff engagement in social media. These include tracking post reach, engagement rates, and increases in followers, shares, saves, likes, and comments, as well as monitoring click-throughs to your website or anything you are currently promoting through your social media.
If you need help analysing your KPIs or monitoring your social media growth, Magic Word Media can assist you.
In addition to tracking the digital success of your changes, it’s also important to value your staff's feedback to help improve your strategies going forward to foster a culture of continuous improvement and raising the bar with each new triumph.
Team engagement in social media is significant for the growth and development of your brand’s accounts. It promotes a culture of authenticity; if your employees love what they are part of, customers and clients will love it and want to be involved.
Captivating your audience with real people and behind-the-scenes content helps them feel like they are part of the experience. If you want your business to grow, integrate your employees into the social media fold.
If you’re ready to take your socials to the next level and would like some support in bringing your staff along with you, contact us today.
Call: +44 1473 526424