Everyone on your team has a vested interest in your company’s success. It means continued employment, professional development, and, ideally, financial reward. If social media is part of your marketing mix (as it should be), then encouraging your team to spend a few minutes a week to reinforce the work of the marketing department makes total sense. As long as it’s authentic engagement, it’s powerful and positive.
Like your own social media efforts, team members may have their personal favorite channel(s). It may be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or YouTube. They don’t need to stray far from where they may be already OR put in just a little effort if they’re not on social media at all. Again, authenticity is key. Explain the importance to the organization and let them make their choices. If they’re reluctant for whatever reason, don’t push it. It’s not worth the potential hit to morale of someone feeling forced.
Why does it matter? For one, it helps amplify your voice. Their likes, shares and comments validate your relevance in the social media landscape and increase visibility in various platform feeds. If they’re passionate about a post, encourage them to comment. For example, if you’re announcing a new product or products that they were involved in bringing to market, sharing their excitement and your encouragement of that company pride will help spread the overall message. It gives you a way to engage more deeply with your followers, which adds another boost to your reach.
It’s also a great message to existing and potential customers/clients. If they know someone is part of your team and cares enough to engage, it says something about your organization and the service they’ll receive by doing business with you.
That’s why it’s also important to make your posts about your clients or your team rather than just the company or the product. Your clients and the work you’re doing to help them succeed should be the basis of your story, no matter what the channel. Your team’s commitment to making those successful projects happen takes your message to the next level.
Marketing is a team sport and that team expands the entire organization whether big or small. Make everyone part of the story and the story keeps getting better and better.