6 Ways To Increase Sales By Using Internal Social Media

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?