Eleven Ways To Use Employee Created Content to Grow Your Customer Relationships #ECC

Marketing is EVERY employee's job

Employee Created Content (ECC / #ECC) is the emerging marketing trend that many marketers are beginning to deploy as part of an integrated marketing mix. This robust approach unlocks the relationship and creative value of an organization’s most valuable asset... its people. Your employees are the ones nearest to your customers and know the most about them. All the smart marketing systems, AI, Deep Learning, and Neural Networks, combined can’t match the personalization of a single employee’s direct interactions. Simply put, if you want to maximize personalized, contextual marketing, Employee Created Content is for you. Note: employee GENERATED content is not the same as employee CREATED content.

Here is a sample of ways that ECC can bolster your current marketing efforts:

1. Scale

Whether you have one employee or one million, ECC provides unmatched scale for your marketing efforts. Distributed content creation provides from 10-100X the reach of corporate marketing alone for current Photofy Partners.

2. Localization

Content created by local employees adds local relevance, and valuable SEO connection, to broader marketing initiatives. Back to School is a key drive period for retailers, specific dates, schools and events bring it to life for individual communities.

3. Search Optimization

Geo-driven ads are a great way to reach people with local search and interest targeting. ECC adds relevancy to advertising while expanding the footprint beyond brand channels. Original content, not just resharing pre-packaged brand media, builds local search SEO strength and brings branded content in line with the shopper’s journey.

4. Channel Relevance

Facebook, Amazon and Google dominate digital ad spending but people spend a ton of time and direct their attention on many other channels including ones not visible to tracking or within marketer’s view. Employees naturally share content where they participate and get traction. ECC provides not only invited access to these channels but also insights about media mix beyond crowded and noisy traditional digital channels.

5. Creativity

None of us is as creative as all of us. Community content offers inspiration and motivation to all members of the group along with providing a massive library of creative ideas for all to use and build upon. A Network gives you Reach; a Community gives you Power. 

6. Brand Consistency

In all likelihood, employees are ALREADY creating content. One recent Instagram search of a national beauty salon revealed over a half-million brand tagged images from its franchises across the country. The content was pretty good, but imagine the impact with simple brand tools and templates that lend itself to creativity and properly branded assets. Furthermore, providing a toolkit, training and guidelines creates brand standards and a process for control and compliance, not to mention visibility.

7. Employee Engagement

Every engaged organization seeks to involve its employees in all aspects of its business and empowers them to take action to delight customers. Most frontline employees are fantastic marketers. Every day they connect with customers, solve problems, and personalize shopping experiences. Content creation is a natural extension of their job description.

"Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.” 

- David Packard

8. Marketing Efficiency

In the ever-increasing arms race of digital marketing, the old ways of doing things is not keeping up with the demands and expectations of today’s shoppers. Fresh, original and personalized content is not only critical to their journey, relevance wanes quickly without it. Traditional Marketer’s, and especially Shopper Marketers, MUST find new ways to expand their productivity to keep up, and automation while helpful, is not the complete answer. Empowering engaged employees to help is a huge competitive advantage.

9. Private Channel Access

So much attention today is inaccessible to marketers. Text groups, private channels and settings exclude brand participation for good reason. Every opportunity to connect with a shopper should NOT be taken. ECC offers access with the valuable addition of personal relevancy. The best brand advocate is a friend or family member, not an influencer with no real brand connection.

10. Language

In a global marketplace, language nuances, slang and local norms are virtually impossible for marketers and systems to get right at scale. Employee Created Content doesn’t have this problem as it is fashioned by people with a first person understanding of audience, tone and context.

11. Fun

Many employees are proud of their career and company. Easy to use content tools help them express themselves in creative ways while building an overall brand community footprint. Who doesn’t like being part of the process instead of a cog in the machine? Allow employees to be an integral part, and have some fun, while supporting their brand. 

Empower your Employees and THEY will Power your Brand.