Many times employees feel disconnected from the main goals or the overall brand of a company. They come to work, clock in, put in their hours, clock out, and go home for the day.
There is no sense of belonging to the company, there is no sense of responsibility for the company brand, and many employees are not even aware of — or care about — the company’s main goals. As an employer, it is your job to fix that.
Assuming you’re not the founder of one of those corporate gems, here’s some tips on increasing your sales using your employees personal networks.
It is your job to create a work environment that people feel comfortable bringing new ideas to, it is your job to instill a sense of pride and accomplishment in each position and it is your job to make your employees feel responsible for the company name, brand, and reputation.
Here are some ideas to bring together your employees and make them feel involved and responsible for the brand and image of the company:
Hold Regular Company Meetings
Employees need to feel like the company is a cohesive unit — like a family or a team. Hold short but regular meetings once a week to provide an encouraging thought, goal reminders, and open the last few minutes for suggestions on how employees can improve the company.
Bringing everyone together does not mean you have to spend an hour rambling about company pride, according to Forbes.com; you should do five things during a company meeting:
- Spend twice as much time on the agenda as you normally would
- Spend twice as much time on the attendee list as you normally would.
- Schedule the meeting for half the time you originally intended to.
- Don’t start 1 second late.
- If it’s appropriate for your business needs — holding a stand-up meeting. There’s intriguing research showing that stand-up meetings can be more efficient.
Post Company Goals
Post company goals in visible places throughout your place of business. When results are shown publicly it becomes a bigger priority.
Make sure your employees know what the goals are for the company, then have each employee write down at least three things they can do individually to help the company achieve those goals.
During your regular meetings, you can ask your employees to share their ideas for how they are going to help the company achieve its’ goals. According to mindtools.com you need to set smart goals, “goals should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time Bound”
Celebrate Success. Online.
When employees reach their individual goals you should congratulate them and thank them in some way. When the company reaches a goal as a whole make sure you celebrate that success. I’d highly suggest “popping bottles.”
But most importantly, ask your employees if they’d like to be tagged, and connect with them on social networks and tag them from the company page. Big milestones for employees are big news for their personal network!
Encourage Input, Ideas, and Questions
Encourage your employees to bring new ideas to the table. If ‘two heads are better than one’ then surely 15 heads are even better. Encourage questions during your meetings and try to create an open relationship with mutual respect with all your employees.
Check on Progress
Check on the progress your employees are making on their individual goals and as a group. If they know you will be following up with them it creates a better sense of urgency and importance.
Host Social Media Contests
Do your employees know that your company is on social media? Do they know that there is a regularly updated blog about the company and the company goals? If they do not know, they cannot help it to grow.
Encourage your employees to help grow the company social media by posting, commenting, and even contributing blog posts or ideas. Another way your employees can become involved in the online branding of the company is by participating in a social media contest. Hold a contest on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram for your employees — whoever makes the most comments or posts within a certain time-frame wins, or whoever remembers to contribute blog ideas on a regular basis for a certain time-frame wins.
Or, whoever is able to bring the most visitors to the social media sites wins.
Make your employees feel like a welcome and integral part of the company and they, in turn, will represent the brand with pride and help the company to achieve its’ goals.
Learn more about ways to build your brand by contacting us today.
Originally posted at www.handshakin.com.
