A few months ago, I spent a morning at a client’s office training their junior team on leveraging social media in the workplace as a tool for expansion, active listening and learning about our audience’s needs and dreams, research, connection, engagement, education, communication and customer service.
Together we reviewed the benefits of using social media as an office tool to be integrated into their team as part of their plan to reach their goals, objectives and targets.
Employee advocacy is a strategy businesses employ to promote an organization via its workforce. From the beginning of time – there’s always been employee advocacy in some form. Our forefathers would share their hunting and foraging stories around the campfires – and these urban myths would become the basis of the clan’s heritage and traditions.
Today employee advocacy can take many forms – online and off; however, the standard and most effective channel these days is undoubtedly social media advocacy.
Social media advocacy is experienced when employees share your company’s content on their social media accounts. What do they share? Everything from recruitment posts, blog posts, white papers, special deals, events and videos produced by the team. Social media advocacy includes employees sharing your company’s content on their social media accounts. Everything from job postings (and other resources for job seekers), blog articles, and industry resources to new product launches
Employee advocacy is also content shared by happy, proud and passionate employees. Employees who are happy, love and trust their company will organically share moments at work that bring them joy or touch their soul – i.e. A free lunch laid on by the CEO. Motivational and inspirational conferences or events the team are invited to attend. Or perhaps it’s as mundane as a picture of the fresh flowers placed at the receptionist’s desk on a Monday morning.
All these activities will help to boost your brand’s reputation as a place to work and as a place to visit.
Why is employee advocacy important to your business?
- Provides organic brand exposure.
- Increases your reach by providing new eyes on your brand and its content.
- It offers shareability.
- It tells a brand and people story for your business.
- Provides a favourable perception and brand image to your audiences.
- Improves staff morale.
- Improves staff recruitment, retention and engagement.
- It builds a positive brand image and association and will aid in a PR crisis.
Growing your circle through trust
You could say that your staff’s followers are not your target audience; therefore, it’s a waste of time and effort to build staff advocacy.
That is not true – your staff member is already on social media. They are already sharing – ensure their environments offer them ‘sharable’ content. Their immediate families might not be your target audience – but their friends and associates certainly might be.
Trust is a beautiful thing, and your staff’s social media communities trust them – people buy from brands they trust, and if their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, aunties and uncles trust a brand and speak glowingly of their services and products – they will undoubtfully trust the brand that is being advocated.
How to build an employee social media program on social media.
Create a positive and engaging work environment.
- Caring environment
- Trusting environment
- Growth opportunities
- Inspirational and team-building moments
- Walk your talk.
- Deliver on promises.
- Mutual respect
- Reciprocity
Set up achievable goals and objectives for employee advocacy. Why should they be sharing about your business? What do you want to achieve?
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- Increased brand exposure
- Increased leads
- Improved public relations
- Increasing reach
- Talent hunt/recruitment
- All of the above can be measured via social media analytics – based on achievable goals fed into your marketing team’s strategy.
Select a few brand ambassadors in your business. What to look for in a brand ambassador?
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- Who is already developing their personal brand using social media?
- Who naturally shares industry content?
- Who is the public face of your company, either in their role (speaking engagements, PR, etc.) or some social media connections or who has a natural flare for public engagement?
- Who is enthusiastic about your industry, the company, and its people?
The bottom line is that there needs to be a strategy and a plan for activating an employee advocacy plan in your business, which needs to involve KPIs that are measured quarterly and reviewed for realignment and change.
The team needs to buy into this – without your team – there is no advocacy.
The key is to keep it simple, keep it fun, do what you say you’re going to do and be a shining light as a leader in your company so that the team are inspired to get involved and advocate for your business.
Note – employee advocacy is not to be part of a paid incentive or job function – it is best done honestly, openly and authentically.
There is more to be said on the subject, however to much to go be included into this blog, which has been keep short and sweet.
If you’d like to learn more about how to create an employee social media advocacy programme in your business – contact me – Robyn Lambrick – Word on the Street Media – 064 135 9719 or send me an email at robyn@wordonthestreetmedia.co.zai