As a business, you need to build and nurture a strong employee advocacy program to help with your brand awareness, customer experience, and brand amplification. This blog explains employee advocacy and what you can do to help build a strong employee advocacy program for your company.
What is employee advocacy?
Employee advocacy is the process in which employees share information about their employer’s services and goods to their friends and family using any available tool or channel of communication such as email, social networks, SMS (text messages), and even the telephone. The main purpose of employee advocacy is to create more leads and sales. This is a good way for employees to increase the brand awareness of the company they work for. It is also an opportunity for companies to reduce the cost of lead generation and support.
Why employee advocacy is important?
According to recent research, employee advocacy empowers businesses in three ways:
- Because of enhanced brand recognition and good opinions, it has a beneficial influence on growth and sales.
- It has a good effect on “human capital,” or your team, and boosts employee recruitment, retention, and engagement.
- It affects brand reputation and aids in problem resolution.
According to a survey, when an employee shares six pieces of content on LinkedIn, the employer sees big gains. More people trust a regular employee (54%) than a CEO (47%). When employees create a higher degree of brand trust, they create a more positive image for the company. This way, employees also enhance their credibility and position themselves as industry experts.
Essential tips to build an employee advocacy program on social media
1. Make your workplace a happy and engaging place to work.
The Edelman Trust Barometer found that 73 percent of employees expect employers to provide the opportunity to help shape the future of society. To meet employee expectations for social impact, you could – identify your company as an industry disruptor that inspires innovation. Target uses the tagline “work somewhere you love” in its recruiting materials. Develop a high-trust culture and make sure your employees love to come to work.
2. Set goals and KPIs for your employee advocacy program
An employee advocacy campaign should align with at least one of your company’s primary business goals. Don’t get so wrapped up in specific campaigns that you forget about day-to-day employee shares.
3. Identify employee advocacy leaders
The C-suite is frequently the most visible social media presence in multinational corporations. Involve those who are natural social media users in the development of your employee advocacy campaign. Engage people in the development and communication of campaigns and goals, as well as the creation of rewards. They will assist you in determining the types of tools and resources that employees are most likely to use.
4. Establish social media guidelines for employees
A social media strategy for employee advocacy and a style guide remove the guessing out of these questions. Guidelines also aid in the protection of your company’s reputation, as well as the avoidance of legal problems and security dangers.
Involve employees in the decision-making process. Keep in mind that each employee’s degree of comfort with social media will vary. Begin by bringing everyone up to speed on basic social media best practices, as well as corporate policies and procedures. This contributes to the creation of a fair playing field.
5. Create and share valuable resources for employees to post
Employees should be given all of the tools and resources they need to spread the word about your business. Create a broad content library of pre-approved items that your staff can easily distribute with a few clicks or taps.
How MarketBeam helps leverage employees network
Social media has changed the way people interact with businesses and one cannot ignore its power as a marketing channel. However, there are several challenges that come along with it. MarketBeam is a safe and compliant social media amplification platform that makes it easy for companies to grow their social reach by 10X, amplify engagement and accelerate organic leads.
It stands as the inaugural social media amplification platform that merges influencers and content creators with an AI-powered framework, enabling businesses to enhance their online presence by boosting engagement across various social networks.
