This blog post is part of the new Blog.LogMyCalls.com series called The Friday Marketing RANT. The idea is simple: we're going to rant about something marketing related every Friday morning. To receive this post in your inbox every Friday morning, please subscribe in the top right hand corner of the blog.

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The SEO benefits of social media sharing are well-documented. A recent study from Moz indicates a direct correlation between Google + Shares, +1s, and Google ranking. Research from SEO expert Michael Fleischner shows a similar correlation between Facebook Shares and ranking.

Sharing matters. And naturally companies are relying on their most engaged audience for social sharing. Who is that audience?

Employees.

Companies like Domo demand that every employee embrace social media. Other organizations mobilize employees, and volunteers to generate social media sharing on a mass scale.

Long story short: companies are relying on employees to share content, build an audience, and improve SEO.

Social sharing benefits SEO. Employees have social media accounts. Employees presumably care about the success of the company that employs them. So, why is it so hard to get employees to share content via social media?

Hey Dummy...Why Won't You Share Company Stuff on Social Media Pages?

First of all, let's be clear, we're not talking about sharing 3 blog posts a day on your personal Facebook page. We're talking about sharing an occasional blog post on Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Maybe sharing something once every two weeks.

Is this unreasonable? Will it ruin your life? Will your friends unfriend you en masse?

We, along with most other companies, ask our employees to share company content on their personal social media platforms. For example, we have asked employees to share blog posts published on Blog.LogMyCalls.com on their personal Facebook pages once every few weeks and on their LinkedIn profiles more often. We've also asked them to build personal Google+ pages.

Our CEO has requested this. Our VP of Marketing has requested it.

And yet, as the content and lead gen guy, I still received the following email: (Note: the employee who wrote this email these no longer works here).

"I have a major problem being required to share company content on my personal Facebook page. I think it crosses a line of something the company shouldn't ask me to do. I also think asking me to create a Google+ page is ridiculous."

These is a real email. (Again, this employee no longer works here).

And we're not alone. MANY companies say they struggle to get their employees to share content via social media.

What's up with that?

Why wouldn't employees that work for a company, who presumably have some level of committment to said company, and have some stake in the company's success or failure, balk at such a simple task....particularly when the simple task can result in such massive SEO benefits?

Personal Profile Obsession

Some people, evidently, treat their Facebook profile as a sacrosanct part of themselves. Thus, asking them to share something on their profile page is like asking them to get a tattoo on their lower back. They feel like it's a violation of privacy.

Here's a newsflash: NO ONE CARES!

Unless you're a politician, an executive, or a celebrity, NO ONE CARES what is on your Facebook page...and ABSOLUTELY no one cares what you put on your other social media pages. When someone scrolls through their Newsfeed they are going to pause and look at things that appear interesting. They're going to forget everything else. I can promise you that NO ONE will care that you post a great article about your company every two weeks.

If you think that you are SO important that posting something company related to your Facebook page will offend the masses, you have an inflated sense of yourself.

No one will unfriend you. No one cares.

Relax.

If a company is paying you money to work for them, and you care about the success of that company, why wouldn't you do everything in your power to see that company succeed? Maybe I'm old-school. Maybe I would have been one of those people that opposed labor laws in the 1920s, I don't know. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect employees at any business to occasionally share company content on their social media platforms.

It also isn't unreasonable to ask them to build out their LinkedIn profile, their Twitter account, and even create a Google+ profile.

Now, do you as an employee have the right to refuse to post something on your social media platform? Yes, of course.

But why?

As long as you're not being asked to post something that is offensive, or to post something every single day, what's the big deal? Aren't your glorious Facebook friends going to be interested in where you work? Isn't your company content good enough to share? Don't you want your company to succeed? Don't you want your company's online presence to grow? Don't you want more web traffic, more customers, and more money?

What am I missing?

You work for this company. They pay your bills. They feed your kids. They might even pay for your health insurance. You spend more time with your co-workers than you do with your own family. Why won't you share one article every two weeks on your Facebook page? What's the big deal?

(And believe me, we're not the only company that has asked employees to share company content on social media platforms. Remember, Domo requires employees to be active on social media, to build out profiles, and spend time each week reaching out to people via social media. That's all in additon to sharing content on personal social media pages.)

Rant crux: employees of companies everywhere, SHARE CONTENT!

by McKay Allen, Inbound Marketing Manager