Internal communicators, it’s time to share the mic with your employees
There are an estimated 50 million content creators worldwide. Alongside the A-listers and sports stars, there are lots of regular people posting videos, sharing stories, and creating content that connects.
The social media giants have tapped into something. They know that people don’t just want to consume content. They want to contribute. And in 2025, this creator mindset deserves a place within your employee communications strategy.
An internal creator culture allows employees to react, comment, and share their own stories — you turn spectators into storytellers. Give the green light to employee-generated content (EGC) and you give your entire workforce a voice while taking engagement on your internal communication channels through the roof.
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Want to drive this kind of mindset at your organization? Here, we look at the benefits, risks, and tips you need to know when building an internal creator culture.
Why internal communications needs creators, not just consumers
Your comms pros are great at what they do, right? So what does EGC have that traditional comms doesn’t?
#1. Authenticity
Trust in leadership teams is down. In fact, Gen Z and Millennial workers are some of the least trusting in the workplace.
Humanizing your executive communications helps. But when someone has their guard up, it’s tough to make a human connection.
Real stories from real employees hit different. Like Iman Pabani recently said in Fortune: “Credibility today isn’t about expertise but about who tells the most compelling story.”
It’s not always slick and polished. But EGC is genuine. It reflects the real experiences of your workforce. Unscripted moments stick in the mind and spark conversations.
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#2. Diversity
When your internal comms team creates every piece of content, it can start to sound…well, like internal comms. Perspective and tone become repetitive and employees start to switch off.
But hand the mic to your employees and you reflect your entire organization — not just the C-suite office.
You can create Insta-worthy internal comms that resonate with your digital natives. You can post frontline-focused and relevant content created by frontline employees. You can respond with agility to the latest events and trends.
EGC helps you showcase a more diverse range of voices and create a sense of community across your internal communications channels.
In a nutshell? By sharing diverse and authentic voices, EGC improves employee communications and employee engagement. It helps you build connection and trust across your organization — and develop a vibrant company culture.
Busting the myths about employee-generated content
Here at Blink, we’re big champions of EGC. But we know that not every organization approaches this topic with the same level of enthusiasm.
Large companies are often a little wary about opening up their comms channels to employees. But their concerns don’t always reflect how EGC works in practice.
So — in the hopes of settling a few nerves — here are some common EGC misconceptions and the reality behind them.
“It’s risky.”
Giving employees free rein to post on your internal communications platform can feel risky. But with the right guardrails in place, it’s empowering and effective.
Here are some ideas for managing the risks associated with EGC:
- Assign moderators to take down any content that fails to meet your creator guidelines
- Only allow content online once it’s been approved by your comms team
- Make an employee’s content visible to just their team — not the whole organization
- Do a trial run to see how EGC fits within your content ecosystem
With the right internal communication tools, there are lots of levers you can pull. You can fine-tune permissions and oversight to minimize the risks of EGC while maximizing the benefits.
“People won’t participate.”
Build it and they will come? But what if they don’t?
Many comms pros are worried that they’ll enable and encourage an internal creator culture only for there to be tumbleweed — they’ll find that their employees simply aren’t interested in posting to company channels.
If you have an organizational culture of open communication, this is unlikely to be the case. You’ve already created the psychologically safe conditions that make content-sharing feel normal and fun.
What’s more, remember that many of your employees are already creating content for their social media profiles. All it takes is a small shift in mindset and easy-to-use digital tools to harness their creative talent for your comms platform.
“It’s just fluff.”
Of course, your employees won’t be posting company news or financial forecasts. But their lighter style of content still brings a ton of value to your organization.
Birthday shoutouts make employees feel seen. A behind-the-scenes video instills pride and morale. That “meet my team” post builds bridges between departments.
With the help of EGC you can create a digital water cooler — a place where employees gather, connect, and find enjoyment in their work day. And its impact on your business shouldn’t be underestimated.
EGC boosts culture and engagement — and moves the dial on big business metrics like employee satisfaction and retention. It’s not about jumping onto the latest internal comms trends and it’s far from “just fluff.”
The building blocks of a creator culture
Convinced that a creator culture can benefit your business? Here are the four pillars you need to put in place to make it happen:
- Tools. The best workplace communication tools make life easy for employee content creators. They’re mobile-friendly, so creators can upload photo and video content straight from their smartphones. They provide in-built templates and AI support that guide employees to create the best possible posts. These comms tools also inspire interaction by giving your EGC audience a range of emojis, GIFs, and reactions to choose from.
- Permission. Beyond the permission settings on your employee communication platform, you should aim for a company culture of psychological safety, where employees know that showing up and sharing is celebrated. That means normalizing imperfect content — the kind filmed on a hand-held smartphone screen. And leading from the top by getting business leaders to post personal or informal content first.
- Inspiration. Kickstart creativity by showing employee content creators what’s possible on your internal comms platform. Showcase early EGC examples from real employees. Also, create content prompts, asking employees to share their content around a particular theme or hashtag. Give them inspiration and employees are much more likely to get involved.
- Feedback. Positive reinforcement fuels more great content. So like, comment, and repost EGC on your networks. Encourage employee feedback. Give kudos publicly, celebrating creators and maybe even crowning a Creator of the Month. Also, share content stats, telling employee creators which types of communication are resonating and why — so they can create more of the same.
How to start small and scale with EGC
Still unsure how to get your EGC initiative off the ground? Here are some ideas for getting started.
Start with a pilot
Before you go all in, test the waters. Start an EGC pilot with a small group — how about your frontline employees, remote workers, or a group of culture champions?
Give this group a clear brief. Allow them to post and view EGC. Then, after a month or so, dive into the top metrics to gauge effective communication.
How has this content performed in terms of likes, shares, and comments? Is this group logging onto the platform more often? Are employee engagement stats improving?
If your pilot is a success, you can roll out your EGC initiative to the wider organization.
Create a series
Get the ball rolling and content creation brains ticking by launching a series. How about one of these ideas:
- A day in the life (a behind-the-scenes look at employee workdays)
- My why (insight into the things employees love about their jobs)
- Work hacks (tips on how to bring your A-game and get the most from workplace tools)
- Weekly win (one thing that went really well this week)
Provide a few strong examples, regularly promote your series across employee communication channels, and keep the momentum going with reminders and reactions.
Offer incentives
When you’re just getting started with EGC, incentives can be useful.
Gamification works well. Features like leaderboards, badges, and points for content creation can awaken employees’ sense of competition. Which means lots of great EGC for your news feed.
Another idea? Offer tangible rewards, like gift cards, lunch vouchers, and professional opportunities. Perhaps a top content creator could represent their team in a leadership Q&A.
But you don’t need to overthink it. Sometimes a few words of appreciation do more than any points system. Thank employees for their content creation efforts and you’ll inspire them to do more.
Using EGC to elevate employee communications
Employee-generated content is a breath of fresh air for your employee communications. It adds authenticity, fosters two-way communication, and builds a real sense of community — all things traditional messaging can struggle to deliver.
Employees enjoy logging onto your comms platform to see what their peers have shared. And once they’re there, your core messages are more likely to cut through.
EGC also works wonders for company culture. A social feed full of real voices and relatable moments helps everyone feel seen, heard, and connected — which means a better employee experience and a workplace people genuinely want to be part of.
If you’re just getting started with EGC, it needn’t be a mountain to climb. Start small, share content inspiration, and give employees the essential tools they need to be the voice your comms has been missing.
Blink. And build an internal creator culture at your organization.
