What is EGC in Social Media and Should Your Company Jump On It?

Since the introduction of TikTok, social media has been all about people-focused content. It’s created a revolution in the type of content people want to see on their feeds. Moving away from the polished and curated style Instagram once coveted, people now crave authentic stories from real people. And companies are also affected by this change. If you’re a business on social media, you need to keep up. It’s time to swap out the branded posts and sales messages for personality-driven content featuring the people behind the brand. This is what’s known as EGC (employee-generated content).

On the surface, EGC is a powerful tool many businesses use across TikTok, LinkedIn and other platforms to let the personalities around the office shine in a public format – M&S or Hobbycraft do it well. But behind closed doors, we understand that many brand owners and senior leadership teams are unsure about really leaning into this, fearing they might lose control over the brand narrative. In fact, passing over the phone to your team could lead to huge success for your online presence.

What Is EGC on Social Media?

EGC is any content created by the employees of a brand, which means anything from “a day in the life”, employee challenges, interviews with staff members, or personal posts shared on LinkedIn. It’s generally good for brand reputation as it helps build trust with the people behind the business and allows your followers a look behind the scenes at the experts they could be emailing or calling on the other end of the phone.

It is a great way for brands and businesses to connect with their audiences since it adds value beyond what they are selling or advertising, and allows them to show personality and engage while strengthening their community. 

EGC is often key to any employer branding strategy as well. If your potential candidates or professionals in your hiring sector see your workplace as somewhere that is open to new ideas, sociable and gives independence to employees, they’ll be more likely to apply. That pool of applicants should generally also be people that your colleagues want in your team since they feel they relate to the content your current employees are pushing out. With that, EGC can be an incredibly cost-effective recruitment tactic for employers.

The Benefits of Employee-Generated Content

Around 92% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people over branded content. Additionally, content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. 

This type of content has become more common with channels adopting TikTok style content which is more relaxed, authentic and playful. To create successful EGC, you don’t need a lot of time or an advanced camera set up – overproduced content won’t resonate with your audience. All you really need is a team that are enthusiastic about what they do, a phone and a good video idea.

Brands with employee-generated content in their strategy

Look at M&S Romford’s TikTok channel, for example. They began creating content that customers cared about, showing staff members and items newly in stock, creating engagement among their audience. Hobbycraft also entered the EGC scene which massively increased engagements on their TikTok channel and pushed their follow count to over 60k. Sisters and Seekers are also great at EGC. Sisters and Seekers is a clothing brand centred on a certain aesthetic, building excitement on social media about upcoming clothing drops, events and launches, especially featuring its staff wearing the clothing, which builds trust and credibility. They are an extension of the aesthetic, and brand, that fans buy into. Users are more likely to engage with content and purchase from your business if they see your employees using the products and loving them.

EGC benefits the brand or business and its employees, so it’s a mutual and usually supportive win for all. We are even beginning to see those creating EGC content become influencers in their own right, as employees are becoming the face or faces of a brand rather than only working behind the scenes. This has advantages for your company not only for increased loyalty and social media engagement but also for employee engagement and things like workplace happiness and people retention.

Why are businesses not utilising EGC and how can they?

Many businesses have not yet jumped on the EGC bandwagon as they are concerned that they won’t be able to control the content and that it will take time away from the team’s work. Whilst it does take some time away from the team’s day-to-day tasks, the pay off is much greater. You have a group of experts that are passionate about their work at your fingertips and therefore the ability to capture content that is valuable and will help to build your brand, your way. Proactive employees will start to come up with quick ideas and execute them in the time it takes to grab a coffee in the staff kitchen.

To avoid any clashes with the company brand, you can establish clear guidelines to support your brand values while letting your employees’ personalities shine. It’s a good idea to have a couple of main managers for the channels who team members can ping their ideas and content through. You can encourage colleagues to get involved, as much as they are helping to build the brand’s platform they are also building one for themselves. It’s an opportunity for your employees to show their expertise and knowledge around a subject and in turn, create content that resonates with your audience… and grows it! 

Ultimately using EGC builds trust and credibility among your audience, as well as, creating a community of engaged followers and customers. It adds a different level to content that isn’t over-produced or salesy, and allows your audience to see a more personable side to your business while letting your employees display their knowledge. It allows viewers to build a connection with your brand or business and feel like they have an “in” on the day-to-day runnings. 

It’s a valuable tactic that marketers are only just beginning to tap into. In my opinion, your employees know the most about the business so why not let them show it?

Mollie and the rest of the Tank team are happy to talk to you about EGC and your social media strategy, get in touch today.