This week, I had a client come to me with a conundrum.
Her company had recently implemented a new and exciting LinkedIn marketing strategy, but she was having trouble encouraging her employees to jump off the metaphorical cliff and get started.
Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest challenges companies face when kicking off a content marketing strategy can be a lack of buy-in from their employees daunted by the prospect of generating content or sharing content. Fear can also be an issue as many staff members will deliberately avoid being part of a digital conversation in case they get it wrong.
In response, I have crafted a simple checklist that demonstrates what types of material your employees could be creating and sharing and how to generate ideas.
My first tip is to tap into the very thing that makes your company tick. Most businesses I work with have an intrinsic set of core values and philosophies, and these can be a great way to get employees brainstorming related concepts, themes, and ideas. Referring to these values can double as a fantastic checklist, which then becomes the framework from which your employees can share their stories.
For example, say your company values are:
Responsibility: An employee could demonstrate a recent project that he/she or the team undertook, and how they were 100% responsible for the outcome
Team: This could be as simple as 200-word blog post on the latest achievements of a fellow employee
Innovative problem-solving: identify an issue that arose in the workplace or for a client and expand on how the individual, the employees or the company as a whole dealt with the problem
Secondly, identify a common purpose which then makes it easier to achieve common goals. It is often helpful for employees to view the process as an avenue for building trust with their customers and clients. By consistently referring to the values framework that you have established as a guideline you will also have formulated a useful strategy to reinforce your message.
Source and share relevant 3rd party content that resonates with company values. Created by others (hence the 3rd party tagline), this content can include white papers, industry publications, newsletters, reports and more. Always comment and explain it to others when digitally sharing as this will establish you, the employee as an authority in your industry.
Keep it smooth and coordinated by scheduling content in advance. I always recommend Investing in software such as Hootsuite and/or a shared content spreadsheet to remove any potential barriers to the process.
Once the employee begins to see their marketing efforts are working via likes, increased views, connection requests, or direct messages encourage them to engage and collaborate.
And that, in a nutshell, is a very straightforward way to get your employees onboard and inspired.
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