We are excited to show off our new website creation for Nielsen Benefits Group! They are a trusted and innovative employee benefits consulting firm challenging the status quo of typical offerings.
Visit the website at nielsenbenefits.com to learn what they are all about! Explore their blog that we post for while you’re there as well!
Contact us to learn more about custom website design, SEO optimization, email marketing, and social media solutions!
Lately, there’s been a big focus on America’s opioid addiction in the news. Whether it’s news on the abuse of the drug or it’s information sharing on how the drug works, Americans are talking about this subject regularly. We want to help educate you on this hot topic.
Opioids are made from the opium poppy plant. Opium has been around since 3,400 BC and it was first referenced as being cultivated in Southwest Asia. The drug traveled the Silk Road from the Mediterranean to Asia to China. Since then, the drug has gained popularity for pain relief but it also has gained notoriety as an abused drug. Morphine, Codeine, and Heroin are all derived from the opium poppy and are all highly addictive drugs that are abused all around the world. As the demand for these drugs has increased, so has the production. From 2016 to 2017, the area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased by 63 percent. In 2016, it killed some 64,000 Americans, more than double the number in 2005.
We can see that the danger from this drug is growing rapidly. What can we do to recognize potential abuse problems and to get help? Here are some facts about opioid addiction:
Make sure you are educated about the dangers of opioid abuse. But, don’t be discouraged and think that the abuse is incurable! There are many resources that can be used to break the addiction cycle and can make real change in the lives of its victims. Ask for help and offer help.
At eTekhnos, we post for clients weekly to ensure traffic on their Social Media sites. Here is an example of our latest custom piece we have posted for our clients about Oral Health and how it impacts our overall health.
Have you heard the saying “the eyes are the window to your soul”? Well, did you know that your mouth is the window into what is going on with the rest of your body? Poor dental health contributes to major systemic health problems. Conversely, good dental hygiene can help improve your overall health. As a bonus, maintaining good oral health can even REDUCE your healthcare costs!
Researchers have shown us that there is a close-knit relationship between oral health and overall wellness. With over 500 types of bacteria in your mouth, it’s no surprise that when even one of those types of bacteria enter your bloodstream that a problem can arise in your body. Oral bacteria can contribute to:
The healthcare costs for the diseases and conditions, like the ones listed above, can be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Untreated oral diseases can result in the need for costly emergency room visits, hospital stays, and medications, not to mention loss of work time. The pain and discomfort from infected teeth and gums can lead to poor productivity in the workplace, and even loss of income. Children with poor oral health miss school, are more prone to illness, and may require a parent to stay home from work to care for them and take them to costly dental appointments.
So, how do you prevent this nightmare of pain, disease, and increased healthcare costs? It’s simple! By following through with your routine yearly dental check ups and daily preventative care you will give your body a big boost in its general health. Check out these tips for a healthy mouth:
There’s truth in the saying “take care of your teeth and they will take care of you”. By instilling some of the these tips for a healthier mouth, not only will your gums and teeth be thanking you, but you may just be adding years to your life.
At eTekhnos, we post for clients weekly to ensure traffic on their Social Media sites. Here is an example of our latest custom piece about Holiday Parties that our content writer on staff recently wrote and published for our clients.
The Perks of Holiday Parties: How They’re Still an Asset to Your Company
The end of the year is upon us and a majority of companies celebrate with an end-of-year/holiday party. Although the trend of holiday parties has diminished in recent years, it’s still a good idea to commemorate the year with an office perk like a fun, festive party.
BENEFITS OF A YEAR-END CELEBRATION
CREATING THE RIGHT FIT
Regardless of office size, if planned right, employers can make a holiday party pop, no matter your budget. Whether this is your first go at an end-of-year celebration for your employees, or you host one every year, keep a few things in mind:
TAKE AWAY TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL HOLIDAY PARTY
According to the Society of Human Resource Management, statistics show in recent years only 65% of employers have offered holiday parties—down from 72% five years ago. Consider the following tips when hosting your next year-end celebration.
Ultimately, holiday parties can still be a value-add for your employees if done the right way. Feel free to change it up from year to year so these parties don’t get stale and continue to fit to your company’s culture. Contemplate new venues, ideas and activities and change up your steering committee to keep these parties fresh. Employees are more likely to enjoy themselves at an event that fits with their lifestyle, so don’t be afraid to get creative!
Contact us about our custom content and article postings!
We’re excited to show off our latest website redesign for Assured Partners Consulting, based in Reno, Nevada!
The site is mobile-responsive, clean and concise, and provides a one-stop resource for potential and current clients.
Visit the new APC website at assuredpc.com!
We’re excited to show off our latest website redesign for JRW Associates, based in Raleigh, North Carolina!
The site is mobile-responsive, clean and concise, and provides a one-stop resource for potential and current clients.
Visit the new JRW website at jrwassoc.com!
The home screen of your website is the first touch for most potential clients! It’s important to create a visually-appealing, easy-to-navigate site that tells your brand story and showcases your services. We’re excited about our latest website redesign for Byrne Byrne and Company, based in Chicago, which features a sweeping skyline backdrop.
The site is mobile-responsive, clean and concise, and provides a one-stop resource for potential and current clients.
Visit the new Byrne Byrne and Company website at byrnebyrne.com!
Byrne Byrne also utilizes our social media marketing solution which includes posting relevant blogs on industry topics, creating and managing social media company pages on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and publishing personalized content from company outreach initiatives!
There’s no doubt that original content boosts your search engine rankings, establishes credibility as an industry expert, and generates interest in your services. Yet many benefit agencies struggle to produce timely, quality content simply because they don’t have the bandwidth to get it done. At eTekhnos we offer customized social media marketing plans to fit your agency. Along with curated relevant content on compliance issues and top HR and benefit trends, we prioritize creating custom pieces on the latest hot topics! Here’s a sample blog article we recently produced for our clients on the rising 2017 benefit trend of paid parental leave:
How Paid Parental Leave is Changing the Benefits Landscape
When you hear the term “paid parental leave”, what do you think of? Here in the U.S., paid leave benefits are somewhat of a luxury. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has made it possible for parents working at companies with 50 or more employees to secure 12 weeks of unpaid leave, the U.S. is one of only three countries on a list of 185 that does not mandate a period of paid parental leave. This leaves the country ranked below Iran and Mexico, who both offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave. On the other end of the spectrum, employees in the UK benefit from up to 40 weeks of paid leave.
As a result of having no mandated paid parental leave policy, approximately a quarter of U.S. women who become pregnant while employed quit their jobs upon giving birth, one third of women are forced to borrow money or withdraw from savings to cover time off from work, and 15% utilize public assistance. The June 2015 Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was the first legislation to make a case for offering equal parental leave to mothers and fathers, setting a new precedent for the evolution of the paid leave benefit.
Why Should You Offer Paid Parental Leave to Employees?
The EY & Peterson Institute for International Economics recently released a study revealing that 38% of millennials would move to a new country if they would be afforded better paid parental leave benefits. Millennials now make up the largest demographic in the American workforce, and companies will need to increasingly take statistics like this into account when building benefit plans that will attract and retain top talent.
Aside from talent acquisition, the study goes on to show the positive impacts a paid parental leave benefit can have on keeping women in the C-Suite, as men who would usually be considered secondary caregivers take advantage of the time off and allow women to get back to work more quickly. In addition, change.org, who has implemented a generous paid parental leave policy, observed that dads who took leave in their company encouraged other new fathers to take advantage of the benefits as well, creating a culture of safety in which to utilize leave and invest more fully in their family life.
Ultimately, employees are happier and are empowered to do better work when they are allowed to honor their priorities. Whether this means a new mother is allowed to take stress-free, paid time off to bond with her child, or a father takes advantage of leave to be with his family or allow his partner to return to work, the ability to balance work and life is of the utmost importance to younger generations.
Case Studies – Top Companies Doing it Right
American Express
American Express recently announced that they were changing their paid parental leave policy from three months for primary caregivers and two weeks for secondary caregivers to five months of paid parental leave for all full-time and part-time employees.
All genders are eligible for the benefit, and employees may become parents via birth, adoption or surrogacy. In addition, American Express offers up to $35,000 for adoption or surrogacy fees with a limit of two events. A lifetime maximum of $35,000 is also allotted for fertility treatments.
The company also announced a unique supplemental benefit of 24-hour lactation consultants available to nursing mothers, and a breast milk shipment program available to mothers traveling for business who need to send milk home.
Bank of America
Bank of America offers 16 weeks of paid leave for biological and adoptive parents. A unique feature of their policy allows parents to take leave any time during the first year of the child’s life, enabling partners to take overlapping or subsequent time off, whichever best fits their family’s needs. The company values providing this option, as they see almost half of parents in today’s society raising their kids together at home while both holding jobs.
The banking giant also tries to make life after baby easier for working parents by offering a more flexible work-from-home program and providing $240 in monthly childcare reimbursement for employees whose household income comes in under $100,000 annually.
Netflix
Netflix took the spotlight when it comes to paid parental leave benefits when they announced that the company would offer unlimited paid leave with no loss of benefits during the first year after a child’s arrival. Leave can be taken at any time during the year, and employees may choose to work part-time, or come back to work and then leave again if desired.
Netflix chief talent officer, Tawni Cranz, said of the monumental decision, “Experience shows people perform better at work when they’re not worrying about home.”
While Twitter offers 20 weeks of paid leave for mothers and 10 for fathers and adoptive parents, the most innovative benefits this company offers come through its pre and post-natal programs for parents. Twitter offers quarterly “New Moms and Moms-To-Be” roundtables, a Mommy Mentor Program, Working Mom lunches and most lately, “Dads on Leave” roundtables. In-house support for employees when it comes to family life provides a safe place to embrace new roles as parents while still progressing in their careers.
How Can You Adopt This Benefit?
Job participation by women in peak years is declining, and paid parental leave is a way to help remove barriers in the workplace that leave women in only 5% of CEO positions at Fortune 500 companies. Karyn Twaronite, EY global diversity and inclusiveness officer, said, “Companies that view parental leave as something solely for mothers are becoming extinct, as more modern and enlightened companies are realizing that many people, especially millennials, are even more interested in co-parenting given most are part of dual career couples.”
If your company is unable to keep up with the generous paid leave packages larger businesses can afford, consider taking a page out of Twitter’s book and offering mentoring programs and support groups for new parents. Budget for childcare reimbursement costs like Bank of America. Even smaller changes that are made thoughtfully, with the employee in mind, will increase the appeal of your benefits package.
As the benefits landscape changes with shifting demographics, consider carefully how offering paid parental leave could positively impact your employees, and ultimately, your bottom line as workers are motivated to work harder and smarter, knowing things are taken care of at home.
By Kate McGaughey – Social Media Director, eTekhnos
Why You Need Content Marketing
As social media marketing becomes more popular with companies whose clientele consists of other businesses, it’s important to understand how a quality content strategy can enhance your online brand. Creative content serves your business in two important ways.
First, content crafted to tell your company’s story in an interesting, innovative way helps your audience connect with your brand and better understand your product. This is vital for turning social media interactions into leads and customer action.
Second, the more relevant and valuable content you produce and publish, the higher you will be ranked in search engine result lists. If a potential client is Googling “2016 ACA compliance,” and you’ve published a recent blog on deadlines and reporting, your content will show up in search results, prompting the searcher to click through to your website. The more unique and niche content you produce on a topic, the more likely you are to show up high in Google results, and the more prospects you will drive to your website.
In the age of technology, the average person is bombarded with thousands of advertisements a day. Because of this, it is essential that companies are intentional and innovative with their content marketing. We’ve put together a list of some of the best ways to ensure you develop an effective strategy for your company.
The Content
In a study conducted by the Content Marketing Institute, creating engaging content ranked as a top priority at 72% for developing new material to post on your blog and social media. In the benefits industry, it is essential that you clearly convey how your company stands apart from other firms as the best option for crafting unique benefit packages, streamlining compliance and developing HR solutions. Focus on choosing relevant industry topics to present in an innovative way. To optimize your creative approach, try implementing the following best practices:
Visuals
Use pictures, infographics, and charts to inform your clients about your process and services visually. These mediums effectively grab clients’ attention and can help you convey information in a simple yet informative manner.
Long-Form Content
Be more analytic with lengthy and complex written content. Make sure to research thoroughly and back up your key points with real facts. Not only does long-form content give you room to explain fully to clients what needs your benefit agency meets, but also sets you up as a go-to industry source.
Specialized Experts
The benefit industry has a very specific target market, so to consistently create cutting edge content, an industry expert is an essential part of your marketing team. According to Curata, in 2017, 51% of companies will have an executive whose role is solely devoted to content marketing. Your company should employ or contract an industry expert (like eTekhnos!) to produce content and advise on how to best reach your preferred customers. Expert-informed content boosts your brand’s credibility and ensures that clients have somewhere reliable to turn to when they need help with difficult or complex benefit questions.
Stay Up-To-Date and Be One Step Ahead
As you create your own company-specific content calendar, it is equally important to stay up-to-date on what your competitors are talking about on their blogs and social media. Reading blogs, posts and articles that discuss how to create optimal content can help foster new ideas and also reveal what’s trending in employee benefits and human resources. Content marketing is always changing and evolving at a fast pace, and staying current on best practices and hot topics gives you a crucial advantage.
Implement these best practices, and contact us today for help developing a custom content marketing strategy!
By Nicole Federico and Kate McGaughey
Almost every business today is on social media. Whether you’ve opted for a Facebook or LinkedIn company page, are active on Twitter or even post videos on YouTube, you’ve most likely bought into the need to have an online presence.
But have you considered how a social media strategy that includes online employee advocacy can drastically impact your brand?
Research shows that employees are the most powerful advocates a company has, and should be invited into the process of raising brand awareness. Let’s look at L’Oreal as a recent case study. Their digital marketing team implemented the use of the hashtag #LifeatLoreal in an effort to familiarize corporate with local level employees by documenting interesting or humorous happenings at the office.
The benefits went beyond expectation – employees generated interest among their personal networks in employment with the company and along with another similar hashtag campaign, it increased L’Oreal’s unique Instagram impressions to 200,000.
Other examples of companies doing social media employee advocacy programs well are Starbucks, who brought in $180,000 in direct sales in less than a month with their Tweet-a-Coffee campaign, and Zappos, who offer special social media training to their employees and have a leaderboard to show which employees have the most followers.
Think about it this way, when your social media manager shares content on your company channels, your reach (how many people see your post) is limited to your followers. When your employees start to actively share, your reach is then increased to their networks as well. This can quickly add up to more impressions and ultimately – conversions.
In fact, leads generated through employee advocacy on social media convert seven times more frequently than any other leads.
Convinced yet? Here’s where to start.
Create an Engaging Company Culture
Employees need to believe in what they’re selling. Social media advocacy programs should be voluntary, and to attract the most possible employee brand ambassadors, you need to create a culture of trust and authenticity. Be real with your employees about why you need them and how their advocacy makes an impact on achieving important sales or marketing objectives. If employees enjoy where they work, feel appreciated and understand their value, they will willingly share your content with their personal following.
Develop a Social Media Policy and Explain How It Works
Too often companies resort to the negative when implementing social media policies at work. Instead of focusing so much on what can’t be said on social media, highlight the positive ways sharing appropriate content can have an invaluable impact on growing and engaging new audiences. Help employees who aren’t tech-saavy by outlining liking, sharing and commenting etiquette and if necessary, provide periodic, pre-drafted copy for them to include when sharing. Of course the best shares are organic as employees get excited about a new service, special campaign or company outreach event. Give them the freedom to share their own content as well as what you make available.
Start Small With Sharing
Implementing a social media advocacy program doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small with your initiatives. If you already post regular content on your blog and to your company social media channels, ask employees to share these on their personal accounts. For special campaigns, consider creating some extra Tweet copy and emailing these to your staff as options for sharing. Make it fun! Send email reminders when new blogs are posted and or create a hashtag specifically for your next company event or retreat that employees can use when they share photos.
Set Goals and Track Your Results
As an employer or manager, you need to know what’s working and what isn’t. Set reasonable goals. What do you want to get out of an employee advocacy initiative? Do you want to promote a certain product or service? Are you looking to expand brand awareness and turn leads into new clients from a previously untapped audience? Understand what you want employees to share about first. Then, identify key metrics that you will use to track the results. Examples of top metrics to follow are traffic driven to the website from social media, increased post reach, increase in sales, employee conversions from passive to brand advocate, a change in your customer base’s perception of your brand and any demographic change in customers.
Share Your Success
Finally, share your success with the people who made it happen! Did you meet a sales goal because of increased employee advocacy? Did you hit record high website traffic? Tell your employees. It’s important that employees see the impact of their advocacy, understand their role and contribution to the brand and that they also understand what works and what doesn’t. Top influencers should also be rewarded. Always recognize the people who are doing an awesome job at representing your company in front of their peers. Not only does this inspire further action, it brings you full circle by contributing to an engaging company culture.
Want to learn more about engaging your employees as social media advocates? Set up a call with our team!
By Kate McGaughey