Find out how to Use Worker Spotlights to Drive Gross sales
As a business owner, you know that your people are critical to the success of your business. However, that doesn't mean they always feel valued.
Regular recognition at corporate meetings is essential, as is recognition of your appreciation. Employee Spotlights let you tell the world about top employees and examine their contributions to your company.
Employee spotlights are not just a way to recognize and reward loyal, hardworking employees. They are a very effective (and often underutilized) marketing tactic. They can help humanize your brand and ultimately increase sales.
It's time to stop taking our people for granted. How To Use Employee Spotlights To Give Your Employees The Recognition They Deserve As You Grow Your Business.
6 benefits of employee spotlights
First and foremost, Employee Spotlights are about recognizing the wonderful people who work for your company. However, this is not the only benefit.
They also make for incredibly effective marketing materials. There is no company sales message with an employee spotlight. Only authentic brand storytelling that shares what sets your company apart.
There are some significant benefits to this type of message – the type that can drive revenue up.
Boost your recruiting strategy
Employee spotlights are a fantastic tool that your company can use to attract the best talent. The kind of talent that will take your company's sales to the next level.
It is a huge obligation for someone to take on a new role. This is even more true when it comes to management or a management position. If all job advertisements look similar, potential employees are looking for as much inside information as possible.
You want to know what it is like to work in your company, who your colleagues are and what benefits they can expect.
Employee spotlights highlight the daily experience in your company and can be the decisive factor influencing a candidate's decision in your favor. When you hire, you can run job advertisement campaigns with real employees.
Promote meaningful connections between employees
There are few better ways to create meaningful connections between your employees than a series of articles and interviews that shed light on individual employees.
Employee spotlights can be particularly powerful in large companies where it can be difficult for employees to get to know people in different departments.
They break down barriers and silos that separate departments and offer employees a nifty way to have conversations between teams. This can increase productivity, communication and your bottom line.
Increase social media engagement and reach
Employee spotlights are usually incredibly popular when shared on social media. Employees, their friends, and families love to share posts about people they know. While corporate sales news may only pick up a handful of stocks, this type of social media engagement can be transformative.
Every comment, like and share, brings your business in front of a much larger audience. That could lead to new applicants and even new customers. Potential customers feel comfortable working with a company with incredibly dedicated, connected and happy employees.
As you can see, Twitch has received over 250 likes and shares in the spotlight of its employees and has proven its company's trademark.
Win potential customers for yourself
Employee spotlights are a fantastic tool for attracting new customers. If there isn't a huge difference between companies in terms of price or previous work, the decision can often depend on which company the customer finds it more convenient to work with.
Think about which company you'd like to work with: a faceless company that doesn't even have a team page on its website, or a company that is proud of every single employee and goes out of their way to showcase them?
Expand existing customer relationships
Employee spotlights are not only ideal for attracting new customers. You can also improve the relationship with your existing customers. By sending out employee spotlights in your email newsletter, you are giving your existing customers one more opportunity to explore your brand and reaffirm their decision to work with you.
You can keep track of the services employees offer or learn more about their contacts in your company.
This can bring you more business as something is mentioned in your headlights.
Boost your company's reputation
Glassdoor and other job review sites have made it all too easy to tarnish businesses. Employee spotlights give you the opportunity to strengthen your company's image.
The time and money invested in creating employee spotlights shows that your company cares about its employees. The content of each spotlight can further build your reputation.
What is said by employees can prove that your company is committed to creating a rewarding and challenging work environment. This shows potential recruits that there is a great company culture and that you have nothing to hide.
How to create an employee spotlight
Now that you understand the many benefits of creating an Employee Spotlight, let's explain how to create one.
Before creating your content, ask yourself the following three questions:
- Who will you highlight
- What will you include in your spotlight?
- Where will you post it
Who should I highlight?
Nobody should be blocked when creating employee spotlights – unless, of course, they do not want to participate. (Don't force employees to participate against their will.)
However, for those ready, make sure you highlight a broad cross section of your team. Everyone from the executive team to the new intern deserves the opportunity to be recognized.
What to include in an employee spotlight
While you can put anything you want in the spotlight of your employees, there is one general format that most employers use.
The basics of an employee spotlight
There are several elements that no employee should be in the spotlight on. These are:
- Employee Name
- Employee picture
- Job title
- direct quote
An employee spotlight doesn't have to be as comprehensive as you might think. This information alone can be enough to achieve some of the benefits listed above.
The optional (but recommended) extras:
If you want to make your headlights shine, you should add a lot more detail so that readers get a complete picture. For example:
- a detailed description of their role
- the length of their employment
- a question-and-answer session
- their hobbies outside of work
- anything else interesting about the employee
What to ask coworkers in a spotlight role
A video interview or written Q&A session can bring the spotlight to life for your employees. Be sure to ask questions that make it easier for employees to speak positively about your company, and give readers and viewers a good idea of what the real work is like there.
Here are a few topics to cover:
- Discounts for employees
- Corporate culture
- Corporate governance
- the professional role and why it's fun
- why the employee accepted the job
Civis Analytics uses a Q&A style spotlight to help readers get to know their employees.
However, be careful not to get too caught up in the details of their roles or try to find the perfect soundbite. Canned questions can lead to outdated answers. Instead, trust your interviewer's instincts and delve into anything interesting that employees share.
The more unusual and diverse your employees' spotlights, the more likely it is that people will read each one. It also means that confusing the format of different headlights can work just fine.
Short Form Headlights Vs. Long Form Headlights
Your employee spotlights can be long-form parts of short-form snippets, videos, or social media posts. Short and long emitters offer advantages.
So why choose?
When making an effort to create employee spotlights, you should do both. Start the staff spotlight with a quick recap or introductory video so readers can see everything at a glance.
Then, dig deeper into those who want to spend time getting to know your employees. You can post the full length video interview or transcribe your entire Q&A session. You could even have employees write an in-depth blog post.
Don't be afraid to break down elongated headlights into short, easily digestible pieces that can also be shared on social media platforms. The more opportunities you have to reuse the content, the more valuable it becomes.
Where to post employee spotlights
Put your employees in the spotlight anywhere, anywhere. Your brand blog is a great place to start. Create a new post for each spotlight employee and have a dedicated section on your blog that readers can easily browse past spotlights.
Use social media to spread the word and access your blog posts. Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are a great way to significantly increase the number of people reading your headlights.
Also, don't be afraid to use video snippets or direct quotations from each spotlight to make posts. You can also put employees in the spotlight by giving them full control of your social media accounts for a day.
It's also worth including each new spotlight in your company newsletter. We've already talked about the benefit of showing your headlights to potential and current customers. This is a great way to make sure everyone knows about them.
If you've filmed your employee's spotlight, upload it to YouTube too. Not only is YouTube a great way to host your videos, but these types of videos are also incredibly shareable and can increase awareness on the platform.
Don't forget to publish your employees on your company's intranet or instant messaging app. Spotlights are great for improving employee morale and helping employees get to know their colleagues better.
What should I do after employee spotlights are published?
When you've completed the first few Employee Spotlights, spend time getting feedback from your team and audience. Ask them what they liked about the interviews, what they didn't like, and what they missed. You can even ask who should be highlighted next.
With this information, you can make your next employee spotlight even better. After that, collect more feedback and tweak it again. Whatever you do, don't stop creating it. The more headlights you create, the greater the chance your business will benefit.
It doesn't take long for the employee spotlights to be anchored in your corporate culture. You will wonder how you ever got along without it.
Conclusion
It's no exaggeration to say that employee spotlights can change your business for the better. You can use them to:
- attract better talent
- Improving employee morale
- Expand your reach
- gain new clients
- Build closer relationships with existing customers
- Improve your company's reputation
It's not difficult to create either. A simple Q&A or a quick video is all it takes to transform your company culture for the better and thereby improve sales. What's stopping you from getting started today?
Who will be the star of your next employee spotlight? Share in the comments!
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