The reach of your employees together can easily go beyond the reach of your brand and beyond the platforms you are currently on. While you focus on Facebook and Twitter, your employees may already be present on other social networks that you have not yet explored, such as Reddit, Tumblr, Path. The list goes on. Starting an employee advocacy program can feel like you`re venturing into uncharted territory. While all of this may seem a bit overwhelming, I promise there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Follow these basic rules and you will have a successful employee replacement program that will achieve results that you have never been able to achieve before. Ideally, high-level managers should be involved in your employee advocacy program, as well as employees in entry-level positions. You want to show everyone on the team that everyone is invited to participate. Everyone`s posts on social media are welcome, as any employee who decides to share something will help promote the company in a positive way. Keep in mind that every employee will have a different level of comfort with social media. Start by updating everyone on social media best practices in general, as well as company policies and policies.
This helps to create a level playing field. Using your branded content – like blogs, eBooks, webinars, etc. – is a good place to start. But to create a healthy mix of content for employee advocacy, here`s what you can do: Here are five things to do and not consider when creating your employee advocacy program: Employee advocacy is the next generation of B2B marketing that allows companies to increase their reach, humanize their voice and achieve meaningful business results. It has the power to reach thousands of new audiences and delight them with a personalized experience that uses nothing but organic content. Think about how you can continually expand your employee advocacy program. Plan when this growth will gain momentum and require a broader program. In addition, information shared by ordinary individuals receives much more attention than that of companies. The reason for this is that people perceive user-generated material as more authentic and relatable than branded content. According to statistics collected by LinkedIn, employee posts attract twice as much attention as information published by companies. Before you start your employee advocacy program, it`s important to establish clear guidelines for expectations. There are many things that can go wrong when you give employees the freedom to post unsupervised on behalf of the company.
Someone could post something inappropriate or controversial and it could do more harm than good. The best time to start a successful employee program is when you have something remarkable to discuss, such as a major event, award, or new development in your industry. Employees can discuss company news naturally on their social media accounts, making employee advocacy a part of their brand. Each person will have their own vision of the newsworthy things happening in your company, which means there are a lot of things employees can talk about online. Then, work with your advocacy leaders to identify potential beta testers. They can help guide your strategy and provide honest feedback. Finally, an employee advocacy program allows employees to develop thought leadership by becoming content creators. Users can submit messages they find on the Internet or write something from scratch. Content creation is a great way to showcase employees` personal ideas and encourage the company`s teams to get involved.
Writing brand new content isn`t for everyone and often comes to marketing departments or executives more naturally. However, on an employee advocacy platform, it can be open to everyone, while employees also have the opportunity to contribute in other ways. By uploading and commenting on content that exists elsewhere on the web, for example. Ask the employees themselves for their opinion. The Edelman Trust Barometer found that 73% of employees expect to be involved in planning. Early employee involvement helps promote membership. Once your SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-limited) are clear to you, you need to set the right KPIs to pursue those goals. However, keep in mind that your employees know your company inside out and can help shape your brand image in a unique way, even if you don`t have a formal advocacy program. The most important advice is to establish rules for social engagement and encourage employees to volunteer as advocates with recognition and incentives. Before we get into the details, here`s a quick note on reach and influence, two measures that play an important role in employee advocacy. Here are some examples of goals you can set for your employee advocacy program: But it`s not always clear what exactly the definition of employee representation is – let alone how to launch such an initiative. At Sociabble, we understand these questions and we have the answers.
We have worked with companies in more than 180 countries around the world to launch effective employee advocacy programs, including brands such as SNCF, Walt Disney, Coca-Cola, Renault Group and BNP. Knowing how uncertain there is about the term, we thought it might be helpful to create a concise guide to represent the interests of employees. In fact, we`ve updated our previous guide with our updated vision for the coming year.