Many companies overlook their most valuable asset: their employees. This underutilization, often due to engagement challenges and the high costs of developing effective training programs, inadvertently harms the brand and bottom line.

Employee Generated Content (EGC) is a transformative approach that showcases your top talent and adds a layer of authenticity to your brand, making it more attractive to current and potential employees.

This article explores using EGC to improve your brand's impact and visibility.

Employee-generated content is content created and shared by employees themselves. It’s authentic, unfiltered, and reflects the real faces behind a brand.

For instance, you might have seen LinkedIn posts from connections celebrating a new job. Or perhaps you've seen photos of colleagues proudly sporting company swag, like a recent post from a uSERP employee.

These are textbook examples of EGC. Employees who take pride in their workplace become brand ambassadors, eager to share their experiences.

EGC takes many forms, including:

• Employees sharing their experiences and success stories

• Sharing industry insights or expert knowledge through webinars or blog posts

• Candid photos of office life, events, or team outings

• Employees leading tutorials or showcasing their work

• Announcing professional milestones on personal social media

• Writing reviews on platforms like Glassdoor or Indeed

Share authentic brand moments, and employee wins

The power of storytelling in marketing is undeniable. People are drawn to brands that forge authentic emotional connections. Instead of writing generic posts, focus on celebrating real employee achievements. For instance, a blog post about Jane from sales, who achieved the highest customer service rating, or a LinkedIn update on Store #29’s record-breaking quarter.

Here's a great example of Jeremy Moser, the CEO at uSERP, welcoming new members to the team.

Such posts boost team morale and showcase your company's culture to your target audience and potential new hires. Furthermore, this approach creates a triple benefit: enhancing employee engagement, building brand authenticity, and attracting future talent.

EGC gets more engagement on social media

Think about the last time you interacted with a post on social media. Chances are, you're more likely to engage with content from a friend or connection than a brand. This behavior is typical, as highlighted by a TINT study showing that EGC is shared 24 times more than branded content, and employee profiles receive eight times more engagement.

EGC creates a buzz on social media and transforms that chatter into SEO benefits for brands. Positive interactions with your content on social platforms boost your search rankings. Although this impact is indirect and not a ranking factor, the benefits are clear.

Employees typically have a network ten times larger than your company's follower base. Moreover, leads generated through employee advocacy are seven times more likely to convert. Imagine the potential of amplifying your conversions with the additional reach provided by EGC. This is the substantial impact employee-generated content can have on your brand.

Your audience trusts EGC more than brand content

People trust people. When an employee endorses something, it feels more genuine. It’s a form of social proof, like user-generated content.

Developing an employee advocacy program is critical to honing your brand’s reputation and getting employees to support the company’s mission. These initiatives amplify and direct the voices of your team members so they become your brand’s greatest champions, contributing to revenue growth rates more than twice the average.

Maximizing the impact of your EGC depends on eliminating weak links in your content strategy.

Follow these tips to ensure your EGC consistently hits the mark:

1. Create a strategy that suits your business

Developing an EGC strategy starts with a clear plan that aligns with your business goals.

A few questions to ask include:

• How will you ensure consistency?

• How does it align with your overarching vision?

• What type of content do you want to create?

• What are your goals?

Tailor your strategy to your business needs. For instance, if brand awareness is your goal, encourage employees to use branded hashtags on social media or share expert insights through guest posts. Alternatively, if you're looking to attract top talent, focus on content that showcases your company culture, like appreciation posts or day-in-the-life stories.

For example, a talent acquisition recruiter, Lydia Guidry, shared a LinkedIn post about her company's team-building event. Her post, with its accompanying photo and caption, paints a picture of a team that enjoys working together.

This type of EGC highlights a strong company culture, celebrates existing employees, and attracts potential new hires.

2. Have a clear mission statement, brand values, and policies

Embracing EGC means shifting some control of your brand narrative from the marketing team to your employees. While this seems daunting, establishing a clear mission statement, defining brand values, and setting policies can mitigate risks.

By emphasizing these elements from day one, you:

• Ensure alignment with the company vision

• Maintain your brand's integrity

• Promote brand advocacy

Also, clear policies hold your employees accountable and reduce the risk of potential PR nightmares or brand dilution. It’s the sweet balance of maintaining your brand’s essence with showcasing individual voices.

3. Start small and don't force participation

When you start a new initiative, it's natural to feel like you need to go all in. If more contributors mean a wider reach and more content, it makes sense to have all employees participate.

While this sentiment is understandable, resist the urge to go big in the early days. Start with a small group of highly engaged and knowledgeable employees to set the tone for others.

Remember, each employee has unique strengths. Allowing them the freedom to create content that aligns with their interests leads to more authentic and engaging EGC.

4. Create an employee advocacy program

Once your pilot shows promise, use those insights to develop a formal employee advocacy program. Such programs are vital in transforming your workforce into influential brand ambassadors. In fact, nearly 31% of high-growth firms have a formal program, more than double the average for other firms.

To establish your EGC program, follow these steps:

Step 1: Set goals (including KPIs to track results)

Set clear, measurable goals for your program. Are you aiming to increase brand visibility or improve engagement on social platforms? Establish KPIs to track progress and use tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite Amplify, or EveryoneSocial for monitoring.

Step 2: Identify leaders

Find internal champions who are naturally engaged and can inspire their colleagues. These influencers set the standard for content quality and authenticity.

Step 3: Establish guidelines and provide training

Training is critical. Ensure your employees understand brand representation, the content creation process, and social media best practices.

Step 4: Create resources for employees

Provide accessible resources like style guides, brand personas, and content tools. An internal portal or section on your internal site can host these materials.

Step 5: Reward participating employees

Acknowledge and reward employees who actively contribute. Recognition can be public on social media or tangible, like gift cards.

5. Track the right metrics

To understand the impact of EGC, consider internal and external metrics. Internal metrics assess the impact on employee morale, turnover, and retention. Meanwhile, external metrics measure the influence on SEO, ROI, brand awareness, and lead generation.

Internal metrics

Employee feedback: Use surveys to collect morale and job satisfaction data.

Revenue per employee: Calculate using Total Revenue / Number of Employees

Employee turnover and retention: Analyze rates to measure advocacy program effectiveness. Turnover Rate = Employees leaving ÷ Average total number of employees. Retention Rate = 100% — Turnover Rate.

Engaged employees stick around longer and are more productive. Deloitte says they’re 57% more productive and 87% less likely to leave. In contrast, disengaged employees cost American companies $300 billion a year in lost production

External metrics

Lead-generation: Use tools like Google Analytics and Hubspot to track lead sources.

Content performance: Measure engagement, reach, and conversions using platforms like GA4 for analytics and Hootsuite for social listening.

Earned media value: Calculate the estimated value (dollar amount) of all exposure generated from third parties. Formula: Earned Media = (Impressions) x (CPM) x (Adjustment Factor).

Social media ROI: Quantify the returns from social media efforts. Formula: Social Media ROI = (Earnings – Costs) x 100 ÷ Costs.

Understand your performance

Analyze and compare the information to your goals and previous data. Have you met goals or improved upon previous metrics? If not, what metrics need to improve?

For instance, if your lead generation goal was a 10% increase in 60 days but achieved only 5%, review KPIs like engagement and web traffic. Then, explore strategies to boost engagement and drive traffic.

The key takeaway is continually refining your strategy until you find the balance to achieve the best results.

Create an employee advocacy program that elevates your brand

Launching an EGC program enhances your public profile, attracts quality talent, and increases brand awareness. Authentic advocacy from your employees resonates more deeply with audiences than traditional marketing.

Begin with employees active on social media, allowing their engagement to set the tone. Use rewards to incentivize other employees as the program expands, but don't force participation.

Here's a free checklist to help you implement what you've learned today: