Have you ever considered your employees as influencers? Have you ever encouraged people outside of your marketing department to create their own content?

If the answer’s no, you may be missing out on a strategy B2B brands are using to unlock engagement, reach, and interaction. That strategy is employee-generated content, or EGC, and it’s the process of asking employees to enter the spotlight and create insights that foster trust, authenticity, and create connections with your audience.

Below are some ideas to get your EGC process started and a few best practices to keep in mind as you do.

Take people behind the scenes

EGC offers an authentic way to give followers a peek behind the curtain of your business, both humanizing it and offering social proof and transparency. Given that 94% of consumers would be more loyal to brands that practice transparency, that’s important.

One of your employees could take viewers on a tour of a manufacturing process, show what goes into tradeshow prep, or troubleshoot an issue people regularly run into on-site.

Especially if you’re a business that regularly engages in fieldwork or travels across the country to solve a client’s challenges, that could offer a great opportunity for some engaging visual results.

Employee-generated content on the Motum B2B LinkedIn. EGC on the Motum B2B LinkedIn.

Encourage thought leadership

Your employees are experts in their fields and social media is a great place for them to showcase that expertise and position themselves as thought leaders.

One way to do that is to invite employees to share their knowledge on their own channels through short videos, LinkedIn articles, or commenting on industry news that you can then reshare or promote on your company feeds.

If you want to share original content on your channels, you could invite an employee to write a guest post for a LinkedIn feature, turn their top five industry trends into an Instagram post, or summarize insights from a recent event they attended as a zero-click post.

Celebrate personal wins

There’s a good chance your employees are involved in all sorts of interesting charity initiatives, sporting events, or personal and professional development programs and courses alongside their work with you.

EGC is a great way to celebrate those milestones. If someone in your team recently ran a marathon, ask if they’ve got any pictures to share. If someone has completed a course, ask if they want to jump in front of a camera and share their favourite learning. That doesn’t just add personality to what you do but is a great magnet for future talent, showing that you care about your employees and their growth with your company.

Show off your company culture

If you’ve worked hard to create a company culture, EGC is a great way to highlight that in a way that feels organic. It's another style of content that’s great for both prospective clients and talent.

Over the holiday period, we shared highlights of how the team enjoys a day in the cold, favourite snacks, and even a few of our favourite jokes. All-staff events are goldmines for great social content, and pet pictures are another Motum B2B favourite.

Before you get started

Hopefully, after reading the above, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running. Before you do, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

  • Create guidelines or policies

You’ll get more traction and better results from your employees if you give them clear guidelines on how their content will be used, a few tips on what works well, and any other best practices you’d like them to know. In short, the more your employees know about the process, the better the results will be!

  • Privacy matters

Naturally, you should take steps to protect the privacy of both yours and your client’s businesses, especially if you’re doing something behind the scenes. That may involve approval with your clients if you feel something contains sensitive information, but really it comes down to doing your due diligence.

  • Track your impact

Once you get the ball rolling and you’re sharing EGC, check your analytics regularly to see what’s working and how well it’s resonating. Doing so will help you update your strategy and may be good leverage to encourage others to get involved.

  • Make sure your employees enjoy it

EGC shouldn’t be something that’s forced upon your employees or expected of them. Instead, it should be an open invitation that offers an opportunity to lean into their interests, position themselves as thought leaders, and do something creative they may not have done before.

Want more social media insight?

Check out the social media section on our Thinktank.