By: Kelsey Boes | @KelseyBoes

We all know that social media is beneficial for improving a brand’s visibility and connecting with consumers. However, what most people don’t realize is that social media can be used to improve internal communication within a company and boost employee engagement as well. By using an employee engagement program, you have the ability to pull all employees under one umbrella for a single platform of communication. Employee engagement also helps improve a brand’s social media presence and engagement with their audience.

According to an article by Social Media Today, “On average, when employees share something – anything – with their social networks, each one reaches 20 times more people than a typical brand sharing with the same number of followers.”However, one key component in assisting employees in sharing company content is creating engaging content for employees to put on their social media channels, and making it easy for them to share. By giving employees the opportunity to share company content, you not only boost engagement with an audience and your employees, but also increase your brand’s social media presence across all platforms.

Some additional benefits of employee engagement on social media include:

• Cost-Effective

By using employees to help assist in sharing social media content, you minimize cost as you avoid paying for any additional resources. This partnership is low risk with a potential high return.

• Increase Sales

According to a U.K. study by Fred Reichheld, “a 7% increase in word of-mouth advocacy unlocks 1% additional company growth.” In addition, it has been proven that 78% of salespeople who engage in social selling beat their quotas and outsell peers.

• Build Trust

According to research conducted by Nielsen, we know that 92% of consumers report that “word-of-mouth and recommendations from people they know” are the leading influence on their purchase behavior. Only 37% trust search engine ads, and just 24% trust online banner ads. When employees post content about a company, their followers are more likely to trust the content than when a company puts out the same information.

An increasing amount of companies are starting to recognize the many benefits of employee engagement, so it would be beneficial for your company to start looking into an employee engagement social media program as well. With 50% of employees already posting messages, pictures or videos on social media about their employers, it’s important to ensure that this communication is putting your brand in a positive light. By utilizing employee engagement, you not only help make your employees want to be advocates for your brand, but also make consumers interested in your company as well.

Do you feel like employee engagement on social media is beneficial or too risky? Please share your comments below!