I could start writing this article with a bombardment of statistics to prove my point, so you can crunch on numbers all you want.
But just take my word for it: Australian digital marketers are running out of ideas for content. (if you really want to see the numbers, just scroll down to the end of this article)
There have many studies over the past few years, and what the digital marketing industry is shouting is: we have no idea what to publish next! (in addition to the challenges of producing engaging content, producing content regularly, etc).
EGC may be the salvation. At least for a while.
What is EGC?
Short for Employee Generated Content, the strategy is based on the idea that marketing is from people, for people. Oh, and also the idea that a company is made of people who work for people.
It’s also the opposite of UGC, which I am sure you heard a lot of lately. User Generated Content, that is.
EGC, however, tends to be way more successful than UGC. Mainly because it speaks for the company, but at the same time it speaks from the company. But in this case, the company is no longer an institution, the company is the people who make it.
In scientifico-marketing terms, you can think about EGC and UGC as being two branches of online PR: EGC is generated in-house, while UGC is generated by the brand’s fans/followers. Both solve basic PR problems, because they’re pieces of content created by others, recommending your business.
Ta-daaa!
Your employees are a goldmine of content for your audience. They understand your company and know what customers need because most of them work with customers 1:1.
These being said…
You will need to do a LOT of convincing if you want to implement EGC.
Reticence? Yes, there’s that.
In every company, you will be able to find The Star. That one person who is made for the camera. Or the microphone. I’m telling you, they will be s-u-p-e-r thrilled to give a helping hand with EGC.
But what about the rest of your employees? If you want to showcase your entire team, you may have some hard time doing it: they will display varying degrees of enthusiasm…
What’s in it for me? That, too.
“Mate, look. I already have a job and my job is calling me. Why should I do this EGC (which, by the way, also sounds like a technique where you want to measure the electrical activity of my heart)?”
Yesssss, this will happen. So you better build your case early, and make it strong.
I remember when I was part of the marketing team of a beauty clinic and we wanted to create EGC. There was this one woman, a superb professional in her job, but she simply didn’t want to participate in the campaign.
It took me hours to make her understand this effort will work for her too, not only for the company: it would generate feedback from her existing clients, show potential clients that she possesses a ton of knowledge and experience and that she is to be trusted, and finally, convince leads that, boy, this woman is SO worth it!
Bad hair day. Just an excuse?
I’m confident in front of the camera, but I bet at least three of my team members would run for their lives just to NOT have to film a piece of video.
That’s why when I’m running my Meet The Team series I let the team choose the format which is most comfortable for them. We discovered we work well with interviews, which are then transcribed to written blogs.
With your team members, it may be a different format that is easiest for them, be it a blog, a white paper, e-book, interview, video, graphic, voicemail…
I simply don’t want to. This… is… challenging.
The stubborn kind. They simply don’t want to participate because they see no immediate benefit for them or the company. This is the most difficult type of employee for an EGC marketing campaign.
But there is a way around this as well. Subtle competition cues, reporting on website traffic and bookings for employees who have already gone through their EGC… this could be a catalyser for the “no-way-ers”.
Maybe EGC is not here to stay
Maybe the trend will vanish at the end of the year, or two years from now.
But in the meantime, it gives you the chance to show your employees how much they mean to you. EGC gives you the chance to showcase the people that make up your company. It also builds trust within your team, and finally, it can be a valuable content generator for your digital marketing.
With the help of the Digital Marketing Concierge service, I can help you convince your team that they are valuable for you, and that they should take the bull by the horns and speak about their workplace to your audience. Through Digital Marketing Concierge, I will interview, take notes and guide your team in order to create EGC that will resonate with your clients, prospects, and followers.
Discover Digital Marketing Concierge here.
And now, the numbers you wanted:
- Company experts are trusted 66% of the time, while company advertising is trusted only by 47% of individuals.
- 50% of content marketers say they are challenged with creating content consistently.
- Only 28% of Australian marketers say their organisation is effective at content marketing
- Only 46% of Australian marketers have a documented content marketing strategy
- 69% of Australian marketers are challenged with producing engaging content, 54% are challenged with producing content consistently, and 39% are challenged with producing a variety of content.
(source: CMI, nielsen, and Global Deck)