5.07 billion. That's the amount of people who use social media.
With such an enormous user base, using social media as a medium to market your brand is only natural.
Now, you might already have a team focused on social media strategy and content management.
However, for truly impactful marketing, you need to involve your employees in your marketing efforts.
But why?
84% of people are more inclined to purchase your product if it's recommended by a family member, a friend or a colleague. Additionally, leads found through employee social marketing are seven times more likely to become customers.
These facts are testimony to the power of employee advocacy in truly growing your brand.
But how do you drive employee advocacy on social media? What do you need to know? Let's find out.
How to Drive Employee Advocacy on Social Media
Here's what you need to do to get started:
Have a social media policy in place
Before involving employees as brand advocates, ensure a clear, readily available social media policy is in place.
A social media policy is essentially a company rulebook for how employees should use social media, both professionally or personally, especially when talking about your organization. It's there to make sure everyone's on the same page, protecting the company's reputation, and avoiding any legal headaches.
While a policy that’s too stringent may hinder employee participation in your social media efforts, having a clear set of guidelines on what employees shouldn’t post about, ensures employees share only “safe” content when marketing your products.
A good idea is to circulate your social media policy across the organization.
Just like how Starbucks did here:
An online document allows for easy updates, unlike printed materials that quickly become outdated.
Once you have a set of guidelines in place, you can encourage employees to post content that adheres with them. But how do you provide that encouragement and support? Through perks, rewards, and letting employees know how they can benefit so hugely from social media advocacy themselves.
Pro Tip: If you’re too concerned about what your employees share or if your organization is part of a sensitive/high-risk industry, it could be a good idea to give employees ready-made, pre-approved posts/ideas they might want to share. Tools like Highperformr let you do just that. Highperformr is a complete social media management tool with native Social AI that helps you create posts on a wide range of suggested topics, keeping your brand voice and preferences in mind. With Highperformr, you allow only certain employees to create employee advocacy posts, and then share them with others in your organization. You can also require employees to get their posts approved before they post anything with Highperformr.
Get everyone on board with your social media mission
Your employees should know your company's goals and mission. If your leadership isn't clear on why social media matters, or what you're trying to achieve, why would your employees get excited about it?
Transparency builds trust and fuels participation. When your team knows the "why" behind your social media efforts, they're more likely to contribute to the effort.
Don't keep the results a secret, either! Share monthly reports highlighting everyone's social media wins.
See how Okta, an identity management service, did this.
They announced their Q1 financial results online and thanked their employees, customers, and partners. This data-driven approach shows your team that their efforts matter and motivates those who might be hesitant to join the party.
Get leadership buy-in
Get your leadership team on board. Paint a clear picture of how your company will benefit from this program. Remember, every company has different goals, so tailor your pitch accordingly. Start small and set achievable goals to build momentum and show results.
To really impress your decision-makers, highlight the unique features of your advocacy platform. For example, showcasing how the platform can track ambassador activity and measure click-through rates can demonstrate the potential cost savings on ad spend.
There are other initial goals you can set as well, like increasing trust in your messaging or improving social media exposure. Once you understand how to measure your program's performance, you can aim for bigger goals like increasing shares, clicks, and reach.
Set achievable key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can gradually make more ambitious over time. This allows your company to adapt to the platform and see tangible results before focusing on more significant outcomes.
Highperformr can help you analyze the right social media KPIs and track them across multiple platforms. Highperformr provides detailed analytics for you to track like competitor watchlist, top posts, media engagement data and more.
Don't force employee participation
Don't force employee advocacy; encourage it. If social media feels like another dreaded task on their to-do list, your team will go through the motions. You want enthusiastic, engaged employees who genuinely want to share your brand's story, not robots posting out of obligation. Highperformr’s employee advocacy suite to make this entire process a lot easier – you can simply provide your employees ready-to-post content that they can simply schedule and publish rather than learning social media deeply.
When new hires come on board, make sure they know the social media ropes from day one. Let them know where to find your policies and that you value their participation. Offer training sessions for those who are interested, and if your company's massive, consider hosting webinars or regular training opportunities.
Most importantly, show your team how getting involved on social media benefits both them and the company. Talk about how it can boost their professional growth, establish them as thought leaders, and open doors for new opportunities. When they see the value for themselves, they'll be eager to jump in.
Create content that resonates
Once you have all the guidelines in place and your employees are made aware of employee advocacy, you need to create attention-grabbing content tailored for social media. Ideally, the content must not only promote your brand but also establish your employees as experts in their field. Research from LinkedIn suggests that sharing such content can significantly increase profile views by 600% and network growth.
To achieve this, involve employees in content creation by gathering insights from their customer interactions. Frontline employees, who interact with customers regularly, can provide valuable feedback on topics that resonate with your target audience. You can also create a content library that is easily accessible and updated regularly to ensure employees have the resources they need.
For this purpose, Highperformr comes in handy. Highperformr’s Social AI, for instance, monitors the internet to track trending topics and suggest ideas for engaging, creative posts that resonate with your target audience. Highperformr’s can then transform these ideas into posts that match your brand voice.
Make content easy to share
To maintain consistent employee engagement in your advocacy program, it's crucial to provide them with regular, interesting content that is easy to share. This content can include press releases, employee spotlights, and company announcements.
Cisco, for example, encourages its employees to share their insights through a dedicated platform for employee-generated content. This platform gives a variety of formats, such as articles, blogs, and thought leadership pieces.
Highperformr’s Social AI copilot visibly improves content distribution and reachability throughout all social media channels. Social AI turns marketing collaterals like blogs and case studies into social posts your employees can easily share. Plus with the ability to repurpose posts, employees can only share content relevant to their field of work.
Drive Brand Awareness and Improve Employee Advocacy with Highperformr
When employees become advocates, they not only promote your company; they shape its reputation and drive its success. A planned employee advocacy program allows you and your employees to tap into the power of social media platforms and enhance your marketing with zero ad spend.
Highperformr unlocks the hidden potential of employee advocacy. Our platform makes brand ambassadors out of your employees. We amplify your vision, build trust, and drive real business results. Get started with Highperformr today.
