Regardless of your field of work, running a small business in a competitive market can require you to establish and maintain a regular web presence -- both on your own site and through social media networks. One of the quickest ways to send your website to the top of the results is to regularly report on or blog-trending news stories affecting your industry. For example, if you work in construction, you may want to make your consumers aware of a new roofing or flooring material on the market or even drum up support for pending state or federal legislation that could boost your business. However, as the owner of a business, you simply may not have the time to devote to maintaining a website yourself. Read on to learn more about encouraging your employees to remain up-to-date on industry happenings.

What are some ways your employees can use current events to market your business? 

Maintaining a blog about industry events and happenings can drive traffic to your website through search hits and allow your current customers to look to your website as a reliable source of news and helpful information. By simply setting up a keyword search that will generate a regular email newsletter of all relevant headlines, your employees can quickly skim to see whether any pressing topics are in the news. Your employees may also want to subscribe to industry newsletters and professional association publications to get a periodic rundown of current events. You may find that these simple steps can help your employees feel more engaged with the work they're doing.

How else can you keep your employees informed? 

Although allowing one person to maintain primary control of your blog, website, or regular newsletter is best from a quality control perspective, having multiple "voices" on your blog can increase engagement and broaden appeal. You may want to offer small bonuses (or even gift cards) for each approved blog post on a trending topic as a way to generate a steady stream of new posts without materially affecting your bottom line.

You may also want to hold regular brainstorming sessions on trending topics and areas of interest. By combining these verbal brainstorming sessions with some fun team-building activities on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon, you will be able to improve workplace camaraderie while generating important leads and helping employees feel like valued members of the business team.