Employee-Generated Content: Creating a Video First Strategy 🙋🏻‍♂️🎥

Let’s be honest—your employees are already making videos at work… they’re just usually of the office dog, the coffee machine, or Karen’s birthday cake 🎂📹. So why not harness that energy and turn it into content that actually grows your business?

This month, we’re diving into Employee-Generated Content and how a video-first strategy can transform everyday moments into marketing gold.

Ready to get started with employee-generated content with Cheeky Monkey 🙉? LETS GOOO 👇🏻

#1: Planning Your Employee-Generated Content Program

The planning phase lays the groundwork for successful employee-generated content. Without proper planning, you risk getting content that doesn't align with your brand or strategic objectives.

Define Pillar Themes

I suggest focusing on these entry-level content themes to get you started:

• Showcase the personalities and daily experiences of your team members and company culture.

• Spotlight industry trends and analysis, product or service tutorials and explanations, and how-to content related to your field.

• Share case studies of successful projects, insights into your winning strategies, and your work process.

Create Content Guidelines

You don't need a twelve-page document. Instead, develop simple brand guidelines for employee-generated videos that give your internal creators some creative latitude. I know Cheeky Monkey is AMAZING at this kinda thing!

Cover basics like guidance on text styling. For example, do you want a consistent black-and-white style, or are you comfortable with employees using more colourful and diverse text treatments?

Be sure to include acceptable and unacceptable Practices. For example, specify areas in the office that are off-limits for filming, set guidelines around language (e.g., no swearing), and outline any sensitive topics to avoid.

Set Up a Submission System

Establish a clear process for employees to submit their videos. 

To standardise this process, use a project management platform to set up a specialised dashboard where your staff can upload videos. Then, you have a dedicated place to give direct feedback, request changes, and approve content for publishing. You can also have a section for setting captions and hashtags.

#2: Producing Employee-Generated Content

The production phase is where your planning transforms into actual content and is often the most substantial part of implementing an employee-generated content program.

Many people assume that because everyone has a camera on their phone, they already know how to create videos. However, filming for social media requires skills that most employees don't naturally possess.

You need to set your team up for success by dedicating at least a full day to training your team on video creation. This training should cover:

• Content Theme Education: Explain the pillar content themes you've established and why they matter. Then, let employees decide which themes they might be most comfortable with and allow them to focus on those areas.

• Elements of Engaging Videos: Train your team on what makes videos perform well, such as first-frame optimisation, pacing and delivery, and pattern interruption. 

• Script Development: Give employees a video template that breaks down the essential elements of a video: a compelling hook, 1 to 3 main content points, and a call to action when appropriate. Then, guide them in creating one or two simple scripts for their videos.

• Practical Experience: During the training session, have each participant create at least one or two training videos. This hands-on practice builds confidence and provides immediate feedback opportunities.

Choose a Video Editing Approach

Depending on your team's skills and your desired workflow, I can outline two approaches to video editing:

• Clean Version Submission: Have employees perform basic editing (trimming beginnings and endings, removing obvious mistakes) but submit a clean version without text overlays or effects. Your content team can then add branding elements, captions, and any necessary polish.

• Complete Video Submission: Employees with more advanced editing skills can create fully edited videos with text overlays, captions, and effects. However, this approach may require more revisions on your side.

#3: Promoting Employee-Generated Content

The final phase focuses on getting your employee-generated content in front of your audience and maximising its impact.

A common misconception about employee-generated content is that employees must post videos on their personal profiles. I can clarify that publishing this content on your company's official channels is the most effective approach. This approach gives you editorial control over what represents your brand while still showcasing authentic employee voices.

To maximise your investment in employee-generated content, I’d recommend putting a small advertising budget behind your videos to improve visibility while providing valuable data on performance.

Pro Tip: Rather than requiring employees to share company videos on their personal profiles or tagging them from your company channel, focus on spotlighting their contributions through internal channels.

Top Tips From Cheeky Monkey 🙉

Here’s how to make it video-first:

🎥 Encourage Micro-Videos: Quick clips of “day in the life,” behind-the-scenes, or product demos. Raw beats polished.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Show Faces, Not Logos: People connect with people. Audiences are more likely to trust what an employee says vs. what the brand account posts.

📱 Make It Easy: Set up shared folders, templates, or prompts so employees can contribute with minimal friction.

🏆 Incentivise Participation: Celebrate the best clips, feature them on your main channels, and give recognition internally.

A video-first EGC strategy = more authentic stories, more trust, more reach.

So, the next time your team is sneaking a TikTok in the break room, just imagine if that energy was working for your brand instead of against your Wi-Fi speed. 🚀 Ready to turn everyday office moments into marketing magic? Hit reply—we’ll show you how to make employee-generated video your secret weapon…

Q&A

• So, are you ready to harness the power of using employee-generated video for your business?

• Do you have any pain points I can help you with smoothing out regarding employee-generated video?

• Need us to create employee-generated video for you?

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Book a {10 MINUTE} Business Power Call with me, to arrange working together to make your social media videos stand out online as I tweak your approach, and analyse how to improve your current video, business strategy or marketing.

2. Don’t have time to create great content or marketing yourself? Focus on your business, whilst we focus on creating the content and marketing that you’ve always dreamed of. Get in touch to find out more.

Until next Friday, love to you all!

My Partner Services
Sky Adsmart  | Cheeky Monkey 🙉 |

Fire an email back to me at [email protected] and let’s keep the chat going 👌🏻