Mirko Vitali/employees using social media
By Krista Neher
CEO and Digital Marketing Expert, Boot Camp Digital
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Employee advocacy is a hot topic in digital marketing circles. Why not unlock the power of your employees to grow your brand, spread positive messages and elevate your sales and marketing efforts?
The Reasons Employees Make Powerful Advocates
Employees make powerful advocates because of their reach, their credibility, and the relevance of their audience.
Read More on Experts
Most of your employees can reach hundreds, if not thousands of people. On social networks, posts from companies often don't get as much visibility as posts from individuals. With one global law firm I worked with, posts from the business generated an average of 300 views and 10 likes. When attorney-posted content, they generated 2,000 views and 50 likes. The reach of employees at scale can be significant for most businesses.
Part of why these posts are valuable is because they also have built-in trust and authenticity. People know, like and trust the people they are friends with. Posts from people often have more credibility than posts from organizations.
Posts from employees are also powerful because social circles are comprised of people who are similar. For example, I'm interested in social media, as are many of my connections. A software engineer likely has many other software engineers in their personal and professional networks. The bottom line is that the people connected to your employees are usually highly relevant to your business.
Taking advantage of this opportunity requires a clear understanding of the benefits and a plan to build a program.
The Benefits of Employee Advocacy
The benefits of employee advocacy can be great for an organization. Specifically, employee advocacy can support organizations by:
• Branding the organization. Employees sharing organization messaging can help marketing and branding messages to get more reach. This results in powerful positive branding for an organization.
• Marketing and sales reach. Employees can also be strategically used to amplify sales and marketing efforts. They can drive sign-ups for webinars, draw attention to new product launches, share content, amplify employer posts and support any business messaging.
• Hiring and recruiting. Employees sharing what they like about the workplace, key achievements and company news can support employer branding and hiring efforts.
• Positive culture. Employees regularly sharing positive posts (that are genuine and authentic) can permeate the culture. While every workplace has positive and negative elements, seeing the positive on social media can lead to more positive energy.
• Retention of employees. Seeing positive posts from coworkers can lead to improved morale, a more positive culture and improved internal branding. This can lead to better employee retention and positivity around the organization.
• Support sales efforts. Advocacy can also support your sales efforts and client retention. Positive messages seen by clients, prospects and other stakeholders can support the branding and sales efforts of the company.
How to Build an Employee Advocacy Program
Many of the businesses I've worked with invest in software to support employee advocacy. Software can help, but the primary challenge in employee advocacy is to motivate, encourage and reward employees for sharing positive messages.
Many of the organizations I've seen get the best results haven't used software at all. They leveraged the organizational culture and appealed to their teams with impactful messages. Here are some tips you can use to get there, too.
1. Define your strategy. Set a clear purpose for your employee advocacy efforts and identify how it supports the organization. Defining the positive impact on the business is vital to securing resources and employee buy-in.
2. Determine your goals. Set clear, specific and measurable goals for the advocacy program. This allows you to set expectations and benchmarks as you go.
3. Evaluate your culture. Evaluate the existing culture at your organization to determine what you can amplify with employee advocacy.
4. Define message tracks. Determine the key types of messages employee advocates can share. This decision should be based on the strategic purpose defined in Step 1.
5. Have leaders set an example. In most organizations, seeing leaders set an example has a positive impact. Leaders should not only post themselves but also like, share or comment on posts from others to show the importance of their efforts.
6. Train employees. Employees should be trained on how to be powerful advocates for the organization. They need to understand not only the dos and don'ts but also how to make their voice powerful and increase their reach. Training is also a great way to reward participants and underscore the value of the program.
7. Recognize and reward. Recognize and reward employees — formally and informally. Engrain positive social sharing in your culture.
8. Evaluate and improve. Evaluate the impact and look for opportunities to improve. Look for positive examples to share and replicate to continuously drive a bigger impact.
Employee advocacy can be powerful in improving an organization's culture and result in real business benefits. A formal program or software investment isn't required.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines