As we've all realized, recent years have seen a revolution in communication.
Till recently, most content we consumed was created, edited, and presented by designated professional parties. This content was presented via traditional platforms, such as newspapers, television channels, and radio stations.
Nowadays, everyone and anyone can sound their voice. Anyone can write a blog, grab a microphone, record a podcast, turn on their camera and film a short video to be uploaded to YouTube, advertise a brand on Instagram, send short messages using platforms such as Twitter and Tik Tok and reach a broad audience in countless ways.
Many content creators achieve actual exposure and reach an audience of thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of followers.
How do organizations generate and deliver content?
As in the traditional method used in other areas, many organizations generate and present content in a concentrated fashion, whether by delivering content intra-organizationally or inter-organizational.
It seems that EGC- Employee Generated Content is becoming a dominant trend in the field of business. EGC mainly refers to making worker content more accessible to users outside the organization, which generates marketing content and increases brand exposure.
There are many examples of brands such as Starbucks, Reebok, and United Airlines, all of which encourage their workers to share their activities on various social networks and show the world the values, abilities, and values the brand generates.
While content is used mainly for marketing purposes, there is also immense value to workers generating content by workers for intra-organizational use, which is an aspect I wish to elaborate on. Organizations have various tasks and want to recruit their workers to attain different goals: tutorials, completing tasks, adhering to procedures, etc. Furthermore, it is safe to assume they wish to know these workers' daily routines and challenges better. Organizations would gladly generate more efficient communication between the different factions of the organization, aspiring to attain more productive work.
Any worker can share challenges or skills, convey crucial professional information, ask questions, etc.
Encouraging workers to post messages via blogs, articles, videos, interviews, podcasts, and infographics create many opportunities and advantages, as well as some questions and concerns.
Challenges of using workers for generating independent content
Quality of content: not every worker is a skilled writer; not everyone knows how to use the various media correctly or is proficient in creating quality content.
Resources: it takes time and resources to train workers who show interest in contributing and being more involved. Creating low-quality content or content not accessible may lead to content users rejecting it, which can affect general content consumption.
Control: this leads to a certain lack of power on the part of the organization, which doesn't enable it to supervise every worker and prevent them from making mistakes, misconceptions, and uploading inappropriate content.
Advantages of using workers for generating independent content
A different perspective: organization workers have the best insights regarding the organization, especially the divisions in which they work, and provide fresh perspectives.
Authenticity: workers' sharing of subjects close to their hearts generates a sense of reliability and a perspective that, due to its informality, speaks to audiences consuming the content.
Improving worker engagement: content created by workers gives the working force a voice of its own. Workers will feel more appreciated and will become more motivated and engaged.
Saving on research: the content creator usually "lives" the world on which the content is based and saves precious time that might have been spent learning this information from another source.
Enhancing communication between divisions can lead to the creation of an informal expert map and expose skills that might benefit the organization in various areas.
How do you make this work?
Formulate a strategy that suits your organization
Like any activity, ask yourself what your objective is and derive the strategy and method from it. What suits organization X won't necessarily fit organization Y.
Define guidelines and control mechanisms
Define and limit your project: what subjects should the content discuss? Do you prefer reviewing every content item before uploading it? Do you wish to define formats and templates to attain clarity and uniformity?
Define/recommend preferable types of content: a day in the life, success stories, FAQs, news, and "inside information" on fields relevant to the organization, what our competition has been doing, etc.
Turn first to the most relevant workers:
Workers who are already active in social networks. Some may already be creating personal content and managing blogs/channels with many followers. They already know their way around these realms…
Workers that are considered active in their division.
Experts in their professional area of knowledge or workers who possess abilities that can benefit others.
These workers will show the most interest. Once they set the tone, they will attract other workers.
Give them the tools
There might be many workers who would like to take part in this but need some direction. This is where tutorial meetings on how to use various platforms, content delivery guidelines, and recommended work methods can be helpful.
Grant them access to as much data as possible to allow them to expand and increase the knowledge they wish to share.
Encourage them to generate content that serves them
Our will as human beings to feel worthy can motivate us to share what we contribute to the organization or can contribute to the organization or its workers.
Furthermore, difficulties and challenges can lead to creating content that, in turn, can increase collaboration between different interfaces in the organization and clarify the situation for decision-makers.
Technologies
Allow workers to use simple technologies as similar as possible to the media they are accustomed to using. They will feel "at home" using these platforms and create higher-quality content.
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