Your Best Employees Will Quit! Here's How They Become Evangelists Instead

[ short answer ]

How do you turn employees into brand advocates?

Value them and give them a platform. Feature employees as experts in your content, give them the tools to share company news with their own networks, and invest in their growth through training, flexible work and support for outside projects. Feeling unappreciated is a top reason people quit (79%, Forbes 2018). Engaged employees stay and attract more great hires.

That’s me in the picture above giving my 5 min Ted talk on how Employee Engagement = Content Marketing at Woman and Color. Then I made it into an article because I am a writer, first and furthermore, SEO but at some point, this will be a reference guide for companies who have learned to market smarter —not harder. ​​Keep reading…

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We’ve all had at least one or two jobs we’ve absolutely loved.

Like the crush, you’ve been crushing on for so long — now is crushing on you — and you don’t know where it will lead — but you’re completely on board — and your confidence is through the roof — type of love.

Don’t you just love that reciprocal type of love?!

Fortunately for me, I’ve had 2 and more jobs I’ve loved and they reciprocated the same. Only this type of love also came with a paycheck.

One, in particular — matched my expertise, allowed autonomy in my role (after I passed the 3-month probationary period of course) and they hooked me up with my very own Mac computer.

For my design/techie nerds — you know the level of importance of having premium tools to execute your job to its highest standard. Now any place I apply to I request a Mac computer…most will probably deny it, and I’ll deal, but it would be a bonus. *Employers are you writing this down?*

As a result, in the first 3–6 months, I brought in noteworthy wins. I increased client numbers and engagement exponentially, marketed and promoted two sold-out events then slam-dunked the organization into a major publication feature.

I was on fire.

The team and I were jellying.

In a nutshell, I was in my element and becoming a significant asset to the company. However, something was still off.

Uh-oh, the honeymoon phase was fizzling out.

I didn’t feel my efforts were valued. No matter how much I was helping to raise the organization’s profile, my manager, still made me feel disposable.

Instead of allowing my feelings to decrease my productivity, I arranged a meeting to address my concerns.

Let’s PAUSE here.

You’re the employer, and you have a high-performing player, like myself *pops collar*.

Do you:

A) Pile on the responsibility

B) Carry on business as usual

C) Provide professional development opportunities

In the world of high employee engagement C) Provide professional development opportunities is always the answer.

However, it’s not the case in most workplaces.

Let’s hit PLAY on my little story.

I entered the meeting feeling confident that my work ethic and the results I was bringing to the boardroom would make it a smooth conversation.

Sorta like this: “How can we best support you?” “What do you need to keep performing at this level?” “Do you need another Mac computer?.”

What happened next — I was not expecting.

Instead, I was met with disappointment.

More responsibilities were dumped in my lap (along with a few of my colleague’s tasks), my requests were blocked as well as my professional development and business — it carried on as usual.

A couple of months later, when I was offered to extend on my contract — it was a no brainer for me to decline. Especially with no plans on my employer’s end to bend in our stalemate negotiation.

In most cases, employees in my position would not quit — they’d tough it out and hope it got better. They’d tried their darndest not to harbour resentment or worst become disgruntled.

We know how this story goes though, employees who are not heard usually become bitter and the workplace slowly becomes toxic. And toxicity can become cancerous to an organization’s growth.

Employees are the Biggest Asset to a Company’s Brand.

Global studies reveal that 79 percent of people who quit their jobs cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as their reason for leaving. (FORBES. 2018)

Now, here’s how they become evangelists instead.

MAKE THEM YOUR THOUGHT-LEADERS AND IT WILL BOOST YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION

Every single employee that walks through the door is an expert.

By creating content that pulls from the vast experience and expertise of the team — it builds a rock-solid online presence.

By getting employees involved with what they’d like to see the company highlight, it unleashes their professional knowledge to produce whitepapers, articles (like this), infographics, video series, case studies, interviews, checklist etc.

The content ideas are endless, and this ensures a positive online reputation.

MAKE THEM YOUR BIGGEST BADDEST ADVOCATES AND YOU’LL RECRUIT IN OLYMPIC-RECORD TIME

When companies provide the social tools & resources employees need to do their job well, it cuts down on inefficiency costs and recruiting new hires isn’t a chore.

Being able to tap into an employees’ social media network is invaluable. On average, employee networks have 10 times as many connections as a company’s Profile Page of followers. (LINKEDIN. 2017)

It’s no longer a faceless organizational logo promoting initiatives, events or job openings on Twitter. The team now becomes an army, and the know-like-trust factor of the brand explodes.

MAKE THEM HAPPY AND THEY’LL STAY

When employees are valued and appreciated, they put a ring on it and are committed.

Companies should not hesitate to provide professional development opportunities, offer flex work environments or encourage external endeavours and advancement in their careers.

That includes outside passions and side-hustles. 

An engaged employee is a high-performing one, and that only attracts more high-performing players to the team.

Companies like Hootsuite, Google and LinkedIn, put employee engagement as a top priority —by featuring them in their online publications and supporting their employees’ creative and innovative pursuits.

Something any true diverse and inclusive organization should aspire to attain.

In the end, you get to decide how your brand shows up online — but more importantly, you get to have a reciprocal type of love.

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*Interested in a communications consultant that can train the team and help you form the social media policy at your organization? Download the free report and let’s see how I can help!

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How to Reclaim Your Time & Money Invested on Your Website

Let's cut to the chase.

Like Queen Maxine Waters, "Reclaiming my time." Should become your new mantra. Just like, investing time and money into a website only for it to sit and take up internet space --should give you better ROI. If you're not getting the traction you're looking for yet, you'll be interested to know there is something we can do.

Also, if your website doesn't convert visits into subscribers you're probably not doing a lot of things but showing up in Google results is your first basic step.

A website without these 3 things is like having a brick & mortar located in a dark alley. No traffic...or just creepy randoms soliciting your service.

It comes down to these 3 things: SEO, link-building, and content marketing.

I'm sure, you heard of at least one of the three mentioned but these 3 done in combination are powerful. How long each one of these methods take before results show up on Google just the way you like --varies. 

 

💡related: A Double Dare to Hold Your Customer's Attention Hostage by Personalizing These 5 Generic Things on Your Website

 

Let's get straight to the answers.

SEO: 

Search Engine Optimization helps your website through the use of strong keywords. It helps your brand to show up higher in Google results AND dominate the first page. 

Ensure these things are keyword rich:

• Site Titles
• Headline
• Site description
• Meta data (blog tags, titles, descriptions, urls)
• Alt text (i.e. image descriptions)
• Media content (like video)

 

💡Related: The Future Of SEO + Google + Viral Content (yup and an infographic)

Length of Time: minimum 6 months

 

Link Building: 

Being featured on other websites allows your business to rank higher as well. This third-party endorsement adds to your authority. (i.e. guest posting, HARO)

💡Related: Guest Posting On Large Publications In 3 Painless Steps

Length of Time: usually immediately. Sourcing a publication and writing an article takes up the majority of the time.

Content Marketing: 

Valuable content produced on a consistent basis on your website aids in relevancy. (i.e. a blog, newsletter) 

💡Related: How Automating This Can Stop You From Losing Customers (The Adele Version)

Length of Time: Publishing through Google speeds up the time factor but consistent content over a course of years is what adds the most credibility and authority. 

It compounds.

 

Let's wrap it up.

Google is about authority and that happens through keyword-rich & valuable content on a credible website. Easier said, I know.  I can help you reclaim your time back.

ReTweet all this goodness

(summarized in a Twitter thread): 

If you don't like how your business is showing up in Google results: how's your Website SEO, linking-building & content marketing?

— She Is Epic, Inc (@TennileCooper) July 30, 2017

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The Future Of SEO + Google + Viral Content (yup and an infographic)

Google is cracking down on pesky pop-ups, unfriending non-responsive websites, and disruptive right-side ads --be gone!

It's cleaning house this year to make the user experience superior. This is fantastic news for the regular-shmegular Googler. But what about...for your business? Your visibility? And your profit goals? Moz Co-founder and former CEO Rand Fishkin, alongside Sophia Bernazzani at Hubspot.com weigh in.

Get the full rundown here: 4 Smart Ways to Keep Up With Google in 2017

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The Single Worst Piece of Marketing Advice

  EPIC READ Hand-picked articles found on the web, highlighting & adding heart to your biz.

Editor's notes: This article gives great insight on solidifying your brand message by the type of content you create & market...GOLD!

Preview...

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to go somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! --The Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass

If someone advised you to run as fast as you can just to stay in the same place, you'd think it was utter nonsense. And yet that's what so-called experts are telling us to do with our marketing, especially marketing with content.

"Write longer posts--they get more views and engagement."

"Publish content every day to get more traffic."

"Use richer media, and they better be slick, or nobody will pay attention."

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