ChicExecs Co-Founder and Co-President, Kailynn Bowling, shares how to get employees engaged in company marketing initiatives on Newsweek blog. Here are key takeaways from the piece.
It’s so valuable to involve your employees in marketing initiatives, but how can you convince them to join in on the fun without making it mandatory? Follow these eight tips to get your employees excited and involved in company marketing initiatives.
1. Get the Basics Right First
All of the other tips on this list assume that your team is happy, well-compensated and effectively managed. You can’t market yourself out of a toxic culture. If morale is already low, you’re going to have an uphill battle with engaging employees.
Take an honest look at your organization. Are you in a good place, or is there work you need to do? Focus on real issues first, because marketing initiatives are only possible if you have a healthy culture in the first place.
2. Incentivize Participation
If you force employees to post about the company on their personal social media, it’s a recipe for resentment. You definitely don’t want to force it down your team’s throats or punish them for not participating.
The best way to encourage engagement is to reward participation. When you reward positive behavior, you encourage employees to keep engaging with your marketing initiatives. Offer fun incentives like PTO, brand swag or bonuses to pique your team’s interest.
3. Ask Employees to Like, Share and Comment
Again, you can’t make this mandatory, but you can ask employees to like, share and comment on your social media or blog posts. An influx of comments from your team can encourage customers to engage with your content, which can really get the ball rolling with customer engagement.
4. Invite Employees to Create Marketing Content
Your marketing team works hard to create awesome content, but if you want to give every employee a seat at the table, invite them to create marketing content for you. That includes writing blogs or filming a short video for YouTube.
5. Ask Employees for Their Opinions
Employees feel more engaged when they have input on a project. If you want employees to engage with your marketing initiatives, ask for their feedback on a campaign before it goes live.
6. Host an Activation Party
What’s more engaging than a party? Throw an internal activation party to get your employees excited about the new marketing initiative.
7. Recognize Their Hard Work
A few employee shoutouts on social media can do wonders for employee engagement! Celebrate your team’s certifications, anniversaries and other accomplishments on the company’s social media.
8. Create Custom Hashtags
Employees need to focus on their full-time jobs, so you need to make engagement as simple as possible. Hashtags make it way easier for employees to brag about your brand on social media.
Read Kailynn’s entire feature here.
