
At Round Table Companies, we work with clients on amplifying their brands through creative storytelling. That means we’re working with individuals and businesses with big messages who want to reach their audience emotionally. Consider it non-traditional advertising with an honest, heart-centered message (yes, you can sell with honesty).
Once we finalize a new creative product for a client (a book, comic book, film, or other creative piece), the marketing effort becomes the focus, and the power of social media enters the picture. What we’ve discovered is that the folks closest to the project have the greatest potential to spread the word if they are asked to participate. Below are 6 ways to help launch a product by using—and motivating your staff to use—social networking.
1. Create An Internal Facebook Page
Whether you do this for your company or for each project/product, an internal Facebook page is a place to celebrate the victories, share information, and give shout-outs to jobs well done. The beauty of an internal page is that while it’s private, it makes it easy for people to share if they wish to. You’ll be amazed at how self-policing a group like this is. People don’t post pictures of their pets here, but they do infuse their own personalities into the work.
2. Make It Easy For People To Share And Like Your Words
You want everything you post on your blog, website, or online anywhere to be easily sharable. People are inherently less apt to copy and paste a URL into a tweet than they are to just click the share button. When you make it easy for folks, you increase your odds dramatically.
3. Encourage Staff To Have Twitter And Facebook Accounts And Use Them At Work
By creating an environment that encourages people to participate in social media, you increase the odds that they will eventually start sharing (or talking about) your product or service with their own networks.
4. Listen To Your Employees
Employees who feel heard are more likely to talk—so engage them! Find out what they love most about the project they are involved in and then encourage them to post a blog or article about that aspect of their work. Giving them an opportunity to think about their values and talents differently and writing about them sparks pride and a sense of identity within your organization.
5. Publicly Celebrate Great Work
When someone does something awesome, where do you share it? People do 20 awesome things every day, so make sure you have a place to celebrate great work and great choices. When people feel noticed, they work differently. And when they feel good about work, they talk more openly about it and want to share ideas and celebrate other people’s good work—all of which can play into your social media campaign.
6. Encourage Reading And Commenting On Other Blogs
Reading other people’s writing inspires new thoughts, new ideas, and new conversations. Commenting on those when you feel inspired not only helps create new thinking, but it also links back to your organization. So these comments can be viewed as little foot soldiers out there fighting the fight for you. Most major publications give you the opportunity to create a profile as well. So if you post commonly to an outlet (I post a lot on Forbes), you can create an identity there where other people can follow your comments.
Actively using social media—and encouraging your staff to use it, too—can greatly increase their motivation and your ability to reach new networks. What’s not to LIKE about that?
Hi Corey,
Some great tips here!
I would agree 100% that engagement, interaction and effective communication are key aspects to a solid social media strategy. Encouraging employees to use social networking is not only smart, but it makes use of the time that’s spent on it anyway.
Because, let’s face it, everyone’s on it anyway, right?
Thanks for sharing!
~Christine
That’s a good take on it, Christine! They are on it, aren’t they? Instead of companies going nuts blocking it, maybe it’s time to be smart and use it!
Christine, you highlight a fantastic point. Why are we asking people to not have fun at work? We should be integrating what they want to be doing and finding ways to capitalize on the changing landscape. Bravo!
Hi Corey,
Thank you for those social tips. We know that nowadays our business success is basically based on are good online social skills.
Hi Corey and welcome to this fabulous blog..
So really, encourage the staff to create Facebook and Twitter accounts and use them at work. Now that would really be cool if the employees did just that and helped their brand. Think how much fun work would be for most.
I have to agree with everything you said here. I mean everything you have listened is so important when you want to build a good brand. It has to be more personal though and not just a company rah rah session. That I definitely agree with.
Great share, thank you so much and I hope you and Carol both have a great week.
~Adrienne
Adrienne, thank you for your comment. I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed the post!
Adrienne, I know a lot of companies that outright ban anything remotely resembling social media. It’s really a shame when they could be using it to their advantage. Plus it becomes a forbidden fruit and these days people can check that stuff on their cell phones anyway. Maybe we’ll convince them 🙂
Hi Corey, Great advice here and I especially like your suggestion to read and comment on other blogs. I think that is a great way to warm someone up to the idea of blogging and sharing their thoughts online. I always recommend new bloggers to go that route and it will help them develop their own writing voice. Thanks for the post!