Melissa Laurie (2:52)

Well, employee generated content, firstly, it's evolved over the years and now it's just become a must have for for companies. It's a really cool core part of their brand strategy. And the way that we like to think about it at oysterly Media is that there's three really big reasons why companies need to be investing in employee generated content. The first part is that it activates employee engagement. And there was a recent study that was done where it actually showed that 77% of employees are actually disengaged from at work. And this is costing the global economy $8.8 trillion. And the way that I like to think about this is I'm sure we've experienced this in our company, whether that we know someone that's like this or maybe we've personally been like this, that we're the silent employees. We might not be actively looking for another role, but we're becoming a little bit disengaged. And this is being a big, I guess, growing concern for companies off the back of COVID and now with hybrid work as well as the workplace is really changing. The second big reason with why companies are investing in employee generated content is that we all have a big common problem. And it doesn't matter if you're a small company or a really large company, and that is attracting top talent. So if you are a large company, you might be thinking, okay, well Microsoft or Google or Meta, they've got the big brand that's going to attract these top talents. But if you think about it, Meta's competing with Google, Google's competing with Microsoft, et cetera. So we can't just rely on a LinkedIn post anymore or another platform just to post our job. Advertisement we really need to be showing what is behind the scenes of our company. This is something that we also do at our company. We create a lot of employee generated content to show what it's like to work at oysterly Media. And there was a recent study that also came out that 58% of job seekers are now searching on social media for information about a prospective employer. So just imagine how much the workforce is changing with Gen Z and then when Gen Alpha is coming through the ranks as well. So we need to be thinking about how we're promoting what it's like to work at our company to attract this top talent and also retain talent as well. And the next final part with why employee generated content is so crucial for your business is that it's a really powerful way that you could actually amplify your products. And one brand that comes to mind that does this really well, is the beauty retailer Sephora. So they actually work with their people to talk about what are some of their favorite products. So just think about this. Instead of outsourcing, creating all this video content, you could actually work with people internally in your business to talk about their favorite product or service and really start to activate their voices. It's a really powerful way to amplify what you do as a brand and create a voice, rather than it's coming from the company voice, but it's coming from your people, which is really engaging. So they're the three really big reasons with why you need to be considering creating employee generated content.

Michael Stelzner (6:13)

Love it. Okay, so what I heard you say is, number one, this gets your staff activated so they're not complacent, they're actively participating in the company in a public way. Number two is that is seen by future hires and it might attract higher quality talent to the business or be discoverable by people that might want to come to the business. And then perhaps the most important to those listening in this audience right now is this gets you more exposure. Right. For your products and services because it's free. You know, you're paying for the employees. I mean, it's not free technically, but it's a economical alternative to paid advertising because each of these employees has their own social network. And that content that they're producing could actually go get picked up by the algorithms and get you a lot of exposure. Am I hearing that correctly?

Melissa Laurie (7:02)

Yeah, correctly, yes. And especially just to dig in a little bit more with attracting top talent. I'm a small business owner, and so when I've been hiring different candidates, one of the big feedbacks that I'm getting from candidates is that they've actually looked at our social profiles and they've done research. So this is really important for small companies as well, just to use that as a tool for recruitment.

Michael Stelzner (7:24)

Love it. Okay, so let's say we're sold on the idea that we want to have our employees actively creating content for us. Now let's talk about where do we start when it comes to having employees create video content? Because video content is kind of the next level up from just posting a link or writing some text. So where do we begin?

Melissa Laurie (7:46)

Yeah. So I think employee generated content has evolved a lot over the years. And I think sometimes when we consider it, we might think of like a employee posting an article on LinkedIn on their own personal LinkedIn profile. But what we've seen with employee generated content, how it's evolved, is now businesses or business Owners are working with their team and they're filming videos and the videos are going on the business profiles. So it could be like their TikTok profile, Instagram, et cetera. So that's been the big shift. And so when we think about creating this style of content, we need to make sure that we set up the foundation so that we're getting great videos coming back from our people. And the way that we approach this at Oysterly Media is that we've created a framework which we call the three P's Framework. So this includes planning, producing and promoting the videos. And this is how what we teach companies when we set up the employee generated content framework. So if you like, Mark, I can start off with the planning part with what you need to do with getting started with employee generated content.

Michael Stelzner (8:54)

Before we go there, let's address some of the misconceptions, right, that people might have when it comes to video content. Right. Because when we were prepping for this, you mentioned that there's a lot of misconceptions that people have. Do you happen to have that information handy?

Melissa Laurie (9:06)

Yeah, of course. So that sort of fits into the planning part. That fits into the planning part. When you think about creating employee generated content, it's not as easy as just expecting people to start filming on their phone. Or maybe you've got a younger workforce and you might consider that Gen Z can just start filming. So you need to give people the foundation to start creating these videos. And it can also be like looking at a blank piece of paper. It could be quite overwhelming if you don't have any ideas or thought starters. So there's some of the misconceptions that companies can often have. So you really need to do the work with the planning part just to give people the confidence and also not be biased just because it's a younger person. Older people can be fantastic at creating this style of content. So really give your people the toolkit. We've start getting started with employee generated content.

Michael Stelzner (10:02)

Yeah, let's just dig in on this a little bit. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that don't think it's just the young people who are on TikTok all the time, Right. Or on Instagram all the time who are capable of doing something like this. It may be that people that are my age might be your demographic that you're going after. Right. And I'm in my 50s. It's very possible that with the right training, you could get anyone in the company to represent you adequately. And don't Just look to the young people that happen to live and breathe video. Is that really what I'm hearing you say?

Melissa Laurie (10:33)

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so moving into the planning phase, so whether it's you that's leading on this project or maybe that's someone else in your company, maybe it's your social media team. So what you want to do is align on what the content themes would be. Because imagine this. Imagine if you just started saying to your team members, let's start creating employee generated content. And so people might get excited. They start creating these videos and you get them back and they're not good and they don't align with the themes that you want to focus on. So it becomes a really awkward conversation on whether you use the videos or not. If you use them, they could reflect badly in your brand if you don't. And it can create an awkward relationship with some of your colleagues. So give some thought about what the content themes could be. And when I say content themes, this could mean content pillars as well. And so what we would recommend is three content themes. And I could just give some thought starters here just to help with coming up with some ideas. So one content theme for your business could be who are we? Or about the people that work at your company. So this could be videos, which are like the day in the life, showing what it's like to have this role. And this really helps work in two ways. Firstly, if you think back how I mentioned about that recruitment strategy, you're showing what it's like to work at your company. And the other thing is about retention. You're actually spotlighting people's voices in your company, so you're sharing what their experience is.

Michael Stelzner (12:05)

Like you said something important earlier that I think we need to key in on, which is that you don't have to have your employees post these on their profile. You could actually post these on the company profile. This might be something we should just spend a second on. Are we curating this from the employees to publish them on our profile? Is that generally what we're doing here? Or are we also encouraging them to post them on their own personal profiles?

Melissa Laurie (12:28)

What we encourage is that the employees will submit the videos to the company and the company will post on their own business profiles.

Michael Stelzner (12:37)

I love that. And I think that's an important distinction between what a lot of people might think about when they think of employee generated content. This is almost got an editorial process to it, right? Where there's a review and there is potentially feedback and all this kind of stuff so that you can comfortably control what you choose to publish. And you get to publish it on the company page or feed or whatever the heck you call it, which I think is kind of cool. All right, so you said there were three themes that you recommend. Three content themes. The first one was like the day in the life, which focuses on who are we? Who works here? What's the next one?

Melissa Laurie (13:13)

So the next one I would suggest is education. So you can talk about trends or insights or share educational content about your product or service. So a company that does this well is Salesforce. So they actually have people in their company, they're creating employee generated content that are talking about some of their tools. So I think that that could be a great angle for many companies when they're creating this style of content as well. And then the final content theme could also be about your work. So this could be about sharing case studies. Maybe it's your winning strategy with what you do. So there's sort of three really big angles that could be a good starting point with a business owner that wants to get started with employee generated content.

Michael Stelzner (13:59)

Okay, just a couple quick questions. So first of all, it's kind of the day in the life.

Melissa Laurie (14:03)

Yes.

Michael Stelzner (14:03)

Of an employee. Like here I am in the factory manufacturing the widget. Right. Or here I am on the road selling the product. Education is this is what the product's features might be. Right. Or here's a cool thing you might not know that this piece of software is capable of doing. Right. Maybe even here's the engineering magic that goes on behind the scenes of this product. Right. And then the case studies would be like, here's some of what our customers are experiencing. Is that what I'm hearing you say? Is that kind of the distinction between the education and the work? Okay.

Melissa Laurie (14:38)

Yeah, exactly. And just to d and just to put a bit more color on the education side. So what we do, we create employee generated content and put out our TikTok profile. So we will talk about what are some of the social media trends. So if you within the social media industry, you might also do that as well. What's happening? What do your clients need to know about?

Michael Stelzner (14:58)

Ah, like industry trends. Okay, I love that. Okay.

Melissa Laurie (15:01)

And then another great example and I would suggest that listeners could also look at this after listening to this, but have a look at airline social media profiles, especially on TikTok. Like when you have a look at Emirates and other sort of competitors in that space, you can actually see that they're working with their people to create employee generated content. So type of Educational content they do is like how to make coffee at 30,000ft. And it's just interesting content that we're curious about. So I think that's just another example that's worth considering. Just have a look at their style of content, might give you some ideas.

Michael Stelzner (15:38)

So once we've got these themes, then let's talk about how to put together maybe what's acceptable and unacceptable and all that kind of fun stuff. Right. Because you're going to have stuff all over the board without this, right?

Melissa Laurie (15:50)

Yeah, of course. So you want to give some thought to your brand guidelines now do not make the mistake and think that this needs to be like a 12 page document. We do not want to stifle creativity and scare off people in your business. So just think about just some of the basic things. So some things could be like the type of text that you want on the video. So we know that when you add big text on the video that it's a really great way to engage someone as they're scrolling. So you might just want people to use some classic style which might be black and white. Or maybe you say to the people that are taking part in this program that you're happy for it to be quite colorful and for them to pick their own style. So just give some guidance on that. And that just helps with the look and feel of the videos that are coming back. Something else that you might consider is just some of the basic things just to include in say like a do's and don'ts table. So you can create a table. It's the do's of things you could do and also the don'ts. So a don't could be maybe you don't want them filming in a certain area in your office, for example. Another don't could be no swearing in the video. I know it sounds obvious, but it's good just to cover that off. So just give it some thought and think about a few things in each column for do's and don'ts and then as you go on this journey, this might evolve and this is a great way just to give some guidelines to your people when they're starting out with creating this style of content.

Michael Stelzner (17:23)

Do we want to talk about once someone's finished the video, how they actually get it submitted or whatever?

Melissa Laurie (17:28)

Yeah, so as we touched on a moment ago that this content would be going on your business profiles, whether that's TikTok, Instagram, Even post on LinkedIn where we're relevant as well. And so you need a process with how you're going to get all this content and you might be thinking, okay, I'll use Google Drive or Wetransfer or another Dropbox, et cetera. But it can be confusing and become a little bit messy. So what we use in our company and what we advise our client partners is Monday. It's a project management platform. I know that some companies might use Asana or something else, but with Monday, you can set up a dashboard and give your people access and they can directly upload the video there. So just imagine you've got a nice dashboard, all the videos are getting added, and then you can also have a section for captions and hashtags so that people can also be adding that into the dashboard. And then what you can do in these programs as well is that you can then directly give feedback on the videos if there is anything that needs to change or let people know if the videos are approved. And this is just going to save you so much pain and headache because it will streamline how you collect all the content.

Michael Stelzner (18:43)

Love it. Okay, what I heard you say is the first, really parts of your process are to come up with some content pillars, if you will, or themes.

Melissa Laurie (18:50)

Yes.

Michael Stelzner (18:51)

And then to come up with some sort of guideline on how these video are going to look kind of the dos and don'ts. And then build some sort of system using a project management tool to basically have people submit videos and maybe trigger some automation or process where it goes up for review. So once that is set in motion, where do we go next?

Melissa Laurie (19:12)

So we're moving on to the next P, which is produce. So this is all about creating the content. And so you might be thinking that because we have a camera on our phone that people might just be familiar with filming videos. But it could be really awkward starting out and staring at the camera. It's not natural. Right. And so you need to set your team up with success. So this is all about training your people about how to film these videos. And there's a lot here. This is probably the biggest, meatiest part. So you will want to look at carving out probably a day, which is what we do. We'll train companies for a day on this step. So just don't overlook what you need to go over here. So where you want to start with this is actually letting your team know about the content themes that you've landed on so that they understand what are the themes and also the why. Like why are you suggesting that they create videos on these things now? Just to be clear, they don't need to Create videos on every single theme. There might be a theme that they're really excited about. So just give them that space for creativity. The next thing that you need to consider in this part is actually what makes a video very engaging. So you need to train your people on what makes a video high performing. And there's certain things that you can include such as pattern interruption. So when you're filming videos, you can do certain things like where you have a lot of quick cuts in the video. I'm sure a lot of us have seen this where you see that there's a video that's stitched together and there's different movement that's happening. This is a strategy to hold the viewer's attention. Or another example could be, I'm sure that we've seen this where you're. Someone's filming and they're walking around. So just think that the background is changing so it makes the video a lot more interesting rather than someone just sitting face to camera. So there's sort of some of the elements with what you need to consider and educate your team members on real quick on this.

Michael Stelzner (21:20)

There's some things that I think we can dig in on here. First of all, in an ideal world, you're training people and maybe you've even got a little course with videos that you prerecorded that they can walk through that can demonstrate these things, right? Like here's an example of one that is very boring, but here's the exact same one where it's like maybe a slightly better because of these things and you could show it off. This is the area where I think some people are going to struggle, right? Because if they don't actually regularly create short form video, they're not going to know to do all these things. Right? And obviously this matters to the business because the more engaging the video is, the more it'll be shown to more people. Because that's how the algorithm works, right? So let's talk about the hook a little bit because I know a lot of people struggle with the first couple seconds of the video. Do you have any insights on that?

Melissa Laurie (22:09)

We refer to it as the first frame. So just imagine someone is scrolling on social media. It doesn't matter what platform it is, right? We've got a moment to earn that person's attention. And so when we think about that first frame, it's the visual, like what's happening there. It could be that if you add that big text on screen. So that could also encourage people to watch the video. It could also be the caption that you use. So there's all these different elements. So really think about what is that first frame or the opening hook. So you might see a lot of videos where there's a bit of movement, like something happens and that sparks curiosity. Also with what you say at the start and the speed that you say it. Sometimes people can be a little bit slow to get into the the start of their video. So think about how you can get your key message across quite quickly. And a way that you can do this is just to speed up that opening part to earn the viewer's attention at the start. There's a few things that you can do there. Just another quick tip as well could be you might have seen videos where someone's doing something at the start, so they're making a cup of coffee, they're moving something. That movement also creates a bit of curiosity as well.

Michael Stelzner (23:25)

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Melissa Laurie (24:53)

So we're working with a university at the moment and we're creating their employee generated content and we're working with some of their teachers. And so this could apply. This opening hook could apply to many different industries. So I'll share this one, but we're using the opening hook with why this is the best job in the world. And so straight away that's like, oh, people will be thinking, why is this the best job? And what we're doing is. And I suggest, really considered creating this video style as well, because it's a really good one to get started with. Quite simple is that we've actually created five questions and we've sent it to six different teachers, and they're all filming a video face to camera, answering these questions. And then what we're doing is cutting up the videos and stitching it together. So imagine you see this video, it's why this is the best job in the world. And we'll have one person respond, then the next person, then the next person, and so forth. And so that's just an example of a really powerful opening hook. The second thing we've got pattern interruption because we're changing the scenes and someone else is responding to the question in their own style and sharing different value.

Michael Stelzner (26:02)

Question real quick on why this is the best job in the world?

Melissa Laurie (26:05)

Yeah.

Michael Stelzner (26:06)

Are we stating those. Are we publicly saying that in words, or is it just the text on the screen, you having the teacher repeat those words? I'm just curious.

Melissa Laurie (26:13)

Yeah, yeah, great question. So what we advise is that the teacher would repeat that. Those words. So why this is the best job in the world. And then we would choose whichever one, whichever clip is probably the most engaging, because people will show up a little bit differently. So we'll look at their sort of their background, and then we'll choose whoever is the most engaging at the start. And they would actually say that at the start. And then if it's a longer video, let's say that as I mentioned, there's, you know, six people sharing their opinion. We might repeat that question, say, by the third or fourth video. So it reminds the viewer and we get that reinforcement.

Michael Stelzner (26:50)

Okay, perfect. So so far we're talking about the produce side of this, right? We talked about how it's important to train your people and to explain the why behind these themes that you've selected. And then we talked a little bit about how to create a really good video. I'd love to explore how to come up with ideas a little bit, just because sometimes people don't know where to start beyond the one you just gave them, which is, why is this the best job in the world? I know that when we were prepping for this, you had a couple of ideas of where people can go to kind of get inspired to create content.

Melissa Laurie (27:21)

There's a lot of ways that you can get inspired. So in terms of education, if we look at that content theme, you can look at different publications and see what are sort of the latest industry trends or happening. So if I take the example of if you, you're in the marketing landscape, for example, you might follow certain people or brands on LinkedIn and they're sharing some updates or on LinkedIn there's the, the trending news updates as well. So you can keep abreast of that. There's other articles or your podcasts that you can listen to just to find out information and then you can be using that and sharing that in your. Your videos. Also another way could just be using ChatGPT and asking ChatGPT what is the five things that are trending in social media today and getting that information. And then you could position yourself or your team can as a thought leader. I think the way that you could consider it is like you're the news outlet, like you're giving that information directly to your audience and your. Yeah. Positioning yourself as a thought leader in the industry. So there's just a few ways with, with how you can get started with thinking about different ideas.

Michael Stelzner (28:36)

Okay, this is a question we didn't prep for, but it's related. Do you recommend having someone else kind of be there and guide the employee a little bit and film a couple takes or is this more of a self service thing where you train the employees and hopefully they just go off and do it on their own?

Melissa Laurie (28:53)

Okay, so with the produce phase, just imagine that you're in a room together or your conference room or at your office and you really want to carve out time to do this. So you would go through this motion of sharing how to come up with different content ideas. Everyone will come up with different content ideas. The next part is that you'd want them to script it out. So there's a lot of value with typing it out or writing it out. So you would look at what is your hook, what's the body of the video and if there's a call to action, we use a template in our company. So you use a template to craft this and then back to your question, Mike. So what you would want is that everyone actually films a video in this training, at least one or two. And so they actually get some of the reps in with filming the content. And then if people are open to it and we advise that you do this, then you'd want to share the videos with everyone. Like let's say you've got a projector, you can put it on a big screen and you can give everyone input or support with their videos that they have created. So it is important that yes, they learn how to film in this, in this training, but then after it, they'll be on their own with filming the videos and then I would submit back to the company. And also the way that I think about this is it's learning a new skill. It's when you're creating videos, it's like, like going to the gym. You need to get the reps in. In every video you do, you become, you'll become a lot better, you'll become quicker, you'll learn editing techniques. So you really just need to give space to your people to learn and fail and you give that opportunity that they can grow and learn this skill.

Michael Stelzner (30:31)

Speaking of editing, talk to me a little bit about the editing side of it because obviously some people are really gifted at editing short form videos more than others.

Melissa Laurie (30:40)

Yeah. So the editing tool that we use at Oysterly is cupcut. There's a free version. It's. It's brilliant. I know there's other editing platforms out there, but we love it. So you can download the free version or there's premium and you get it on your phone and that's where you can edit. So you'd want to just teach your people how to snip the video. So just imagine that you're setting up and you're doing say like a face to camera video. You might have a part at the start of the video that you don't want. So you need to snip the start and the end. There's also different tactics. We've actually improving the audio as well. So just imagine that you're doing say a day in the life and you're walking around the office showing how you get set up for work and what the lunchroom looks like. So you might want to remove some of the background noise as well. The other thing is you want to teach people with how they can actually put that text on screen, which again you can do in capcut. So you want to share or carve out some time with this produce section just about how to do some basic editing of the videos. Now I'm going to just share two different options here. So option one is that you can encourage your, your people, your team to edit the videos so they can just clean up the video and snip the start and the end and pull the cuts together to create one final video and then they can share it with you. And we call this a clean version there's no text on screen. And then what you can do is when you get the video back, if something needs to be tweaked or edited out, it's a lot easier because you can sort of just snip it out. And then that means that you can then add any text on screen that you want, like the subtitles. That's one option. Option two is that you encourage your employees to do the final video. So that would mean adding any text on screen. So such as that big text that we spoke about at the start of the video, maybe it's subtitles as well. And then you're getting the final version. The challenge here is that sometimes the text might be too low or too high. There might be a spelling mistake. And that means that you have to go back to that person, ask them to change the video. So just consider those two different options. You might want to start with the clean version style and you could do the final editing or you might go with option two. I think it just depends on how advanced the team is with editing.

Michael Stelzner (33:02)

Yeah, I mean, I would guess that in an ideal world you get kind of the raw video and then you have someone who knows what they're doing edit it so that they're consistent. Right. Because there's a lot of craft to editing short form videos that most people are just never going to fully understand. Would you agree with that?

Melissa Laurie (33:17)

Yeah, exactly. When we're working with companies, what we do is we would. And you could just do this in your own, your own business as well, but having that one single person that can do the editing. So we would take all the videos back from the company and do the editing and add the magic touches as well. Things like we might snip out a few parts of the video that is a little bit long winded or not necessarily. Just to keep the video a little bit more punchy and engaging. You might want to add some sound effects as well. There might be some graphics that you want to add. So there's certain things that you can do which we call the magic touches. Just to elevate the video a little bit more.

Michael Stelzner (33:55)

Love it. Okay, so we've talked about the first two parts of your process, which is plan and produce. Yeah. Okay, what's the third part?

Melissa Laurie (34:02)

Okay, so the final part is promote. And so there's a few elements here. So firstly, you get the videos back, let's say they go into a Monday dashboard or another dashboard. So you need to look at like the captions and hashtags and make sure that's all ready to go. And then you'll start posting on your social channels. So you can post the same video if it's on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube so that you can start getting it out. So one consideration that you might have is that you might want to boost these videos so you can put some media budget behind so that you're getting more views on your videos. I wouldn't overlook this because imagine that your team have put in all this work to create all these videos. It's worth considering giving the videos a little bit of a boost so that it's giving them a positive feedback loop with how the videos are performing. So that's one thing to consider. And that also means that you get access to a lot more reporting just to see how the videos are working as well. When you boost the videos, just out.

Michael Stelzner (35:02)

Of curiosity, like for people that don't know about that, because maybe they're just pure organic shop. How much money are we talking about? And yeah, just give us a sense of. I mean, when I think of boost, I think of Facebook because obviously you can boost posts, but yeah, are we talking about like just putting a small amount of money behind these?

Melissa Laurie (35:18)

Yes. Yeah, like 100 bucks. Yeah, if that. You know, it could even be less. So I'm a big believer that you've got your, your content, Your content needs to be good, it needs to be engaging, and then you can just give it a little bit of a boost with a small ad budget just to get the video out there more and more exposure as well. So, yes, start off, start off small. You do not need to spend a lot of money. And then you get a lot of data as well with reporting just to see which videos are working well, what content themes. You might find that these day in the life videos are working really well and you're getting a lot of comments. So you might start to focus on creating more videos like that. So it's really important that you've got that feedback loop.

Michael Stelzner (36:00)

What's your thought about YouTube shorts versus TikTok versus Reels? I know they're all like kind of direct competitors to each other. And then of course, we can throw Facebook in there as well. Posting the exact same video on all those platforms, does it ever create any problems? What's your thoughts?

Melissa Laurie (36:15)

It's fine to post on the different platforms. I think it's just identifying firstly, what are the main channels for you. And then beyond that, I think we're in a, we're in a really exciting phase where all these platforms now have the same format which is that vertical video or short form video. So it means that we can create this one engaging video asset and get it across our main social channels. So that's the way we look at it at Oysterly Media and make sure that we're getting that maximum reach across your different channels. The one thing I would just say that if it's like a very trend related video, let's say that's popping off on Instagram or TikTok, you might consider not posting that on LinkedIn because LinkedIn now has video format. So there could be some great videos that you create that you think well this is quite professional. It's talking about a new product that we've just released. You might look at posting that on LinkedIn. So it's just about giving some thought to the purpose of your your channels and where these videos could fit best.

Michael Stelzner (37:17)

What about Threads and X? Because I know they also work with video. Do you generally not or what's your thoughts on that?

Melissa Laurie (37:24)

Yeah, definitely. You could definitely post on there. I know Threads is doing a really big push. We've video content as well. So it just goes back to the video, the purpose of the video and then get it out across your main channels where, where relevant as well. And also just make sure you've got a great caption. Don't overlook the caption which is what people see when they're scrolling. You want to think about how you can again earn the viewers attention. So think about how you can write something that gets people wanting to watch.

Michael Stelzner (37:54)

Let's talk about the employee role. Once this thing is published, if anything, what's what is expected of the employee? Are they expected to share to their personal profile or are they getting tagged somehow or like talk to me about that.

Melissa Laurie (38:07)

You touch on a good point. So we want to keep the employees incentivized as well. Because if you start creating this program in your business, it's a really big benefit for your employees because it's a new skill that they're learning. In fact I think it's a life skill to learn how to develop video editing and coming up ideas, et cetera. So you want to keep people motivated and engaged. And so one thing that you can do is incentivize your employees. Something that a lot of the companies do that we work with. They will often give them a voucher. For example, we're working with a hotel brand so they give them a hundred dollar voucher that they could use towards staying at one of the hotels. In my company we do A virtual trophy and a voucher. It's just something fun where we vote on our favorite video.

Michael Stelzner (38:56)

Do you give everybody one or do you just give it to the ones that get published? I'm just curious, Yoda.

Melissa Laurie (39:01)

We actually all the videos will get published, but we do a voting system and we will share our favorite video of the month. And this all comes down to, we think about like the technique the person used. Is it a different video style? Have they done something a little bit different outside their comfort zone? And then we all vote. And then I've just gotten an image of Canva, which is the virtual trophy and we put their face in the trophy and we award it to them because we've got quite a diverse team around the world. And then I also give them a hundred dollar voucher.

Michael Stelzner (39:32)

That's nice.

Melissa Laurie (39:33)

So that's what we do and it works in our business and it just again, if it goes back to that retention, it's just spotlighting the different voices in your, your business. And just something personally that I've learned with having remote teams as well. I mean, our head office is in Singapore, but we do have some remote teams, is that it brings everyone together because everyone is seeing everyone else's videos on our social platforms and it connects us. So you'll see this magic come to life in your business as well, especially when we think about hybrid work. And then something else that you touched on, Mike, is just about tagging. I wouldn't advise with tagging employees. I don't think it's necessary, I don't think it's necessary to get them to share on their profiles either. Just think about it for your business, just being that content on your profile so that it's unique to what you're sharing. I also think that there's something to be said about. You can be. Sometimes companies can be pinged if it's, if it's caught by the social media platform, but the video is being posted in multiple places on the same platform. So if you're posting the video on Instagram on the business profile, but then it's going on an individual's, individual's profile as well. Instacart doesn't know that you've got an agreement with, you know, your employees. So I think just, just think about having that original content on your own business business profile being more valuable for you.

Michael Stelzner (40:55)

What about putting the name of the employee on the video or in the caption or do you generally just have it be generic? I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that. Best practices.

Melissa Laurie (41:06)

Yeah, yeah, you can definitely have the employee's name if they want that. So advised that the employee would come up with their own actions. So it could be like they could run in third person that. This is Cheryl's day in the life of working as a IT engineer. So that's, yeah, definitely an option.

Michael Stelzner (41:24)

Yeah, very cool. Any other things that. Let's just say we've got this in motion and we've got people submitting videos. Is there any kind of maintenance or continuing suggestions on getting people to come back to do more or anything along those lines?

Melissa Laurie (41:41)

Yeah, yeah, I think just the way that I would approach this is to gamify it, make it a fun experience. And when you start this program, you might find that some people are a little bit reluctant to get started. So I even found this in, in our company as well. And we, we specialize in creating social videos. And what I realized is that people have different priorities. They've got other work commitments and other things that are happening. So this becomes low on the pecking order. So you really need to think about how you're. You're selling this in as it's, it's training, it's for the development not only in your business, but outside their business as well. Like if they're using the strategies that they learn to build their own personal profile. So I think that's really important. And really you only need a small handful of people to get started. And so as we think about the promote stage and you're putting your. These videos on your own business profiles, you might be promoting them in your company newsletter or other internal channels as well. Just really give some thought with how you're. You're spotlighting these videos and really showing off the, the people about taking part. And this is important because this is like another recruitment tool because what you will find in your business is that other people will start getting interested and maybe they want to take part in this program. So you could do like a phase two with new people that want to get started. So think of that like a, an engine where you're, you're training your people and motivating and, and then making sure that they feel comfortable. It's. We're not creating a Hollywood film, right? So it's okay that the videos look a little bit authentic and a little bit more casual because those styles of videos are going to generally work better on social media.

Michael Stelzner (43:29)

Melissa, this has been really, really insightful. If people want to connect with you on the socials, where do you want to send them? And Then if they want to work with your business, where would you want to send them also?

Melissa Laurie (43:41)

Yeah, sure. So firstly, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can just look up Melissa Laurie. Then beyond that, we've got a lot of free resources on our company website, which is oysterlymedia.com so you can go there to learn more about employee generated content and other things about how to do scripting and so forth. So if you'd like to reach out, you can contact me through either LinkedIn or our website as well.

Michael Stelzner (44:06)

Melissa, thanks so much for coming on the show. Really appreciate your insights today.

Melissa Laurie (44:10)

Oh, thanks so much. It's been great chatting all about employee generated content and I hope this has really been informative for the listeners as well.

Michael Stelzner (44:18)

Hey, if you missed anything and we did talk about a lot of things, we took all the notes for you@socialmediaexaminer.com 666 if you're new to this show, be sure to follow us. If you've been a longtime listener, would you give us a review on whatever platform you're listening to and maybe tag your friends? And also, if you love this show and you want to listen to other shows, we've got the AI Explorer Explored podcast hosted by me, and the Social Media Marketing Talk show hosted by Jerry Potter. This brings us to the end of the Social Media Marketing Podcast. I am your host, Michael Stelzner. I'll be back with you next week. I hope you make the best out of your day and may your marketing keep evolving. The Social Media Marketing Podcast is a production of Social Media Examiner. Just a quick reminder before you go. If you're ready to become indispensable in the age of AI, the AI Business Society is your solution. Join now and secure your discounted membership by visiting social mediaexaminer.com AI I can't wait to see you inside the AI Business Society.