Why aren’t employees ‘linking in’: the challenge of employee engagement

For our latest blog, Kirsty investigates the challenge of encouraging employees to get engaged on LinkedIn.

Britons spent an average of 109 minutes per day using social media and an average of 396 minutes a day on the internet according to a Statista survey of internet use last year. So, if we Brits are spending so much time browsing our social media channels, why do businesses face so many challenges in getting their teams to engage with their own content on channels such as LinkedIn?

It's a problem I come across frequently. Clients share a wealth of content to their audiences, including educational thought leadership pieces, information on events, up to the minute opinions on breaking news stories, and insights into some of the great charitable work they do. Yet their biggest champions (in theory) seem reluctant to engage. And this attitude has a tangible impact on the potential reach and influence of their company message, both to potential and existing business partners and future employees.

There seems to be a prevailing belief that LinkedIn is reserved for job hunting; people prefer to collate and curate content that reflects their own selves and their aspirations rather than appearing to be too closely tied to their business. In essence, they err towards distancing themselves from the company they work for, possibly to appear open to other offers.

So, is the problem that they just don’t see it as a valuable communication and educational tool?

In the past, this view of LinkedIn as a job board might have been accurate; functioning more as an online CV, with people using it to make connections and demonstrate their employability. But that’s all changed. As social media has evolved, LinkedIn has become a content hub, a source of news and views and importantly for businesses, a shop window in which to display their offerings to potential customers and employees.

Social media is also mostly seen as a personal endeavour, and many want to keep their online social media presence very separate from their everyday work persona. This is especially, and more understandably true of platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where carefully curated online lives can be a world away from a person’s professional persona.

This separation is perfectly valid. And I know many people who prefer to keep their personal and professional lives strictly separate. LinkedIn is a bit different however, as it is by nature more work orientated, and this difference may be why I am often asked by businesses if they can compel their staff to engage with their LinkedIn output. The answer is simple, No. And if they try being a bit heavy-handed on the matter, they run the risk of demotivating their valued employees.

There are however ways to encourage your staff to share, comment and like company posts. But it should be a case of encourage not force.

Make the business case

Businesses can for example make a strong case for the benefits of engagement for the future success of the company, ergo, the employee. Many people within the organisation, in my experience particularly within the C-Suite, just don’t fully understand how clicking a few buttons on LinkedIn can positively influence business development.

The first step to increasing employee advocacy is making the benefits crystal clear, these include:

• Increase lead conversion – According to data by Onalytica, 84% of B2B buyers start the purchasing process with a referral and leads generated through employees have been found to convert 7 x more than any other lead gen source.

• Insurance is a people business – the industry is full of connections and high levels of trust are built across our relationships. If someone you know and trust is recommending an insurance product or service, you are more likely to take the time to find out more than if a brand is pushing it.

• Improve brand perception – employees are a business’s biggest advocates; they can help to shape the perception of the business with their audience, telling your story with their own authentic voice.

• Attract new talent – the sharing of content on social media, particularly relating to CSR activities can position your business as a fun and socially conscious place to work, making it attractive for potential employees.

Make it easy

Some people I’ve spoken to simply don’t understand how and when to engage and they are nervous about saying the wrong thing or ‘hitting the wrong button’. There are many high-profile stories about employees landing their company in hot water for a social media misstep.

A business must have clear and simple guidance in place to show their people not only how to engage, but the best ways to do it and the type of behaviour people should display in their online interactions while they’re representing the business.

This clarity can provide the confidence to employees that not only are they positively supporting their company, but that they’re doing it well and avoiding any potential pitfalls.

Make it fun

Gentle encouragement via a competition is a good way to keep people on track and give them an incentive to keep sharing content. Some of my clients have had great success with the operation of a league table of engagement; here they track likes, comments, shares, reactions, and brand mentions and compile a monthly table highlighting the best engagers within the business, you could even consider offering a small prize for the best quarterly engager just to give them something else to work for!

A strong employee advocacy programme should be an essential part of a business’s digital communications strategy, and though it can be tricky to get employee buy-in, once engaged your people can be powerful drivers of business development. The intricate networks of connections we form on LinkedIn means that any content we share has the potential to be seen by thousands of pairs of eyes … for free. This kind of marketing is invaluable to businesses, complementing other activities such as ‘traditional’ press activity, podcasting, webinars, and videos – a social media strategy is the glue that binds each of these activities.

If you’d like to learn more about developing a social media strategy for your business, or would like some guidance on increasing employee engagement, please contact kplank@fullcirclecomms.co.uk