While your marketing team is of course familiar with video marketing, Employee Generated Video may be a new concept…

This new form of content is a fresh and easy way to create videos for both internal communications and external marketing.

It’s easier than ever to record high-quality video on a SmartPhone and now, with the popularity of Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, and TikTok, the employees at your company are likely already comfortable shooting and sharing videos.

User-Generated Video is already on the rise but Employee Generated Video is a great way for brands to amp up engagement both internally and externally.

What is Employee Generated Video?

The concept is simple: Employee Generated Video is a form of content that incorporates video footage shot by employees at a company.

While CEOs may have commonly used video as a form of communication and marketing in the past, employee-generated video production happens via everyday employees.

Employees can shoot footage using their own smartphones or you can provide them with the necessary gear to record themselves.

Either way, the goal is to have video content that is shot by a brand’s own employees.

Beca showed off the grads in their Grad Programme by shooting employee-generated mobile video. What resulted was an honest, candid video that gave prospective applicants insight into what the grad programme is really like.

Why create employee-generated video content?

There is a level of knowledge and candid camaraderie between employees that is hard for a C-Suite team member to achieve because of the differences in roles.

Therefore, within the workplace, employee-generated videos can be used extremely effectively for things like:

• Training processes
• Experience sharing
• Tutorials on work projects
• Educating each other
• Building employee relationships

When average employees provide information and insight, other employees are more likely to pay attention and be able to truly relate to what they have to say.

Videos can be shared via internal communication platforms or even easily via email with links that direct to private videos on Vimeo or YouTube.

During Fonterra‘s internal accelerator program Disrupt, the Food Connects team documented their journey of leaving their day jobs to actively pursue an innovative business idea. EditMate edited the behind-the-scenes footage and Fonterra used this video to educate their 22,000 other employees about the accelerator program and what the Food Connects team has been up to.

How can a company use Employee-Generated Video Content in consumer marketing?

Employee-generated videos have the effect of humanizing a brand and can help build brand affinity.

Employee-generated videos read as more authentic than a professionally shot video so if one pops up in their social media news feed they’ll be more likely to pay attention and relate to the content in the video.

Since building a strong connection with consumers depends on building a sense of familiarity, utilizing employee-generated video in marketing strategies is always a good idea.

To reach consumers, the Indexed marketing team shot behind-the-scenes footage at a photoshoot to show off the newest products on their website. EditMate cut this video for Indexed to share with their followers on Instagram.

What is the best way to implement Employee Generated Video as part of your marketing plan?

Whether you want EGV as part of your internal communications strategy for team building/training or you want to use EGV as a way to connect with consumers, there are a few basic steps to follow:

1. Create a Goal

What is it you want to achieve with the video content?

From there, create a list of videos ideas that you think would make sense for your company to create to reach that goal.

Some of the best Employee Generated Videos we’ve worked on for brands include tutorials, event videos, behind-the-scenes looks, company announcements and videos that explain the perks of working at a particular company. 

2. Propose the Idea to the Employees

Find out how many would be willing to participate in producing a video.

You’ll be surprised how many people on your team have a personal interest in video or don’t mind being in front of the camera. 

3. Make it possible for employees to have the time to generate videos

Even though making a video may not be part of their normal role, this new task is work-related, so employees will need to be able to do this on the clock.

Make sure you make it possible for them to incorporate video recording into their normal work hours.

4. Provide the necessary tools and resources

Most people already have a SmartPhone they can use to film. And supplementing with a few inexpensive tools (like a tripod, stabilizer, or external mic) can greatly improve the quality of the video.

Additionally, using a video editing service like EditMate will ensure that the footage is professionally edited, polished, and worth sharing.

This also takes the pressure off employees of having to figure out the much more difficult (and time-consuming) task of how to edit a great video. Leave it to the pros!

The International Travel College of New Zealand captures footage of their own Marketing Manager Mel to give an authentic voice to their brand. This is one of the many videos ITC has created with EditMate to reach new students in Facebook ads.

With a little planning and employee participation, you can easily add employee-generated videos to your internal communications and marketing strategies.

Brainstorm a plan today and discover this brilliant, accessible form of content and communication.

Need help getting started?

Contact Us to learn how EditMate can help your company create employee-generated video content.