Your own employees can be your brand's biggest cheerleaders! When they share good things about your company on their social media, it can really make a difference. People tend to trust what employees say more than what a company says about itself. In fact, according to a Edelman Barometer Trust Report, employees are considered more credible compared to their CEOs.
Plus, 46% of CMOs also think employee advocacy is the best way to use social media to help their brand grow, reach more people, and even keep their employees happy. So, if you're not already using employee advocacy, it might be time to start.
Let's talk about why this approach is so effective.
What Exactly Does Employee Advocacy Do?
First, it gives your customers a sneak peak into your company culture and shows them you have something truly valuable to offer. This is because today, customers want brands that care about more than just profits.
Second, it shows your employees what kind of company they work for. You want your employees to be happy, engaged, and passionate, and an employee advocacy program demonstrates that you value and trust them.
Plus, it helps attract top talent. Social hiring is huge today, and employee advocacy helps your company stand out on social media. Take Google for example. With over 100,000 employees globally, who better to share Google's story than the people who live it every day?
Google wants to be the top choice for everything, and that means hiring the best people. So, they rely on their employees to help recruit.
Their employee-run @LifeatGoogle page is all about real stories from real employees. It's the inside scoop that job seekers can use, and even a way to connect with current employees.
4 Ways Employee Advocacy Helps You Build Your Brand
It Positions Your Employees as a Thought Leader
When it comes to social media, being seen as a go-to expert is a big deal.
It's about building a reputation as a knowledgeable, helpful resource in your industry. Sharing quality content on your company channels is a good start, but your employees can amplify that even further.
When they share insightful stuff on their own pages, it puts your brand front and center, but always with something valuable attached.
KPMG's employee advocacy program is a great example of how a good advocacy program can make your employees thought leaders. After they started their program, here's what happened:
- Employees started talking more about the latest company news and industry trends.
- In less than a year, employees shared posts 1,740 times, which got over 12,900 clicks. These posts also got over 10,900 reactions on social media.
- Employees shared informative and interesting content regularly.
- Their employer brand got a big boost.
Just check out KPMG's Facebook page – you can see how active their employees are in sharing the company's content.
Employee Advocacy Expands Your Content's Reach and Impact
Posting regularly on your company's social media channels is super important. You need to keep it consistent and high quality to keep your followers interested.
But, focusing only on your own channels limits your reach. There's always going to be folks who miss your company page. That's where employee advocacy comes in.
When your employees share good content on their own pages, you're reaching a wider audience and getting in front of different (but still relevant) people. It's like expanding your reach and making sure your message isn't just heard by the same group over and over.
Reebok's approach to this is pretty inspiring. They encourage their team to create their own social media content and share company posts. Plus, when they're hiring, they look for people who love sports and are active on social media. That gives them a built-in crew of potential brand ambassadors, ready to go.
In their posts, you’ll often see employees sharing their own stuff while wearing Reebok gear. It's clear Reebok knows how to get their team on board with advocacy.
They even have a unique hashtag, #fitasscompany, and their posts always use relevant keywords like "running," "cycling," or "bodybuilding." It's a smart way to spread the word and get people excited about their brand.
However, content management is not easy, especially for brands and large organizations. To be at the top of your advocacy strategy, you need to create posts, come up with captions, find relevant hashtags, and publish them on different platforms. Highperformr is a complete social media management solution that makes all of this easy for you.
With Highperformr, you can generate or optimize social posts for regular posting, distribute branded, tailored content across teams, schedule posts, publish on different platforms at once, and do so much more. Highperformr comes with a complete employee advocacy suite aimed towards improving organic engagement with zero ad spends.
It Build Trust
Glassdoor found that when a company's rating goes up by one star, customer satisfaction goes up by over two points. Why? Because positive emotions are contagious! When employees are engaged and feeling good, it rubs off on customers. Those positive vibes don't just stay with the employees – they end up making customers see your company in a much better light.
You can post updates showing how happy your employees are, but it's way more impactful when your employees themselves are sharing their own stories and thoughts. If you've set up some guidelines for social media and have an approval process for content, you can build trust over time in a really authentic way.
Intel does this in a very simple way. Their social media guidelines show that they trust their employees and aren't trying to be the social media police.
Shows Your Team That You Value Them and Their Contributions
Employee disinterest is a big issue that companies have to deal with these days. It can cost a ton, make people leave, and even stall your business. When employees don't care, it's hard to build strong relationships within your team and with your customers.
So, what causes this disinterest? It often comes down to one thing: employees feeling like they're not valued by the company.
Employee advocacy provides a way to show your team that you value them. It means you see them as a key part of the team and culture, someone you're proud to have represented the company on social media. It's a way of saying, "We appreciate you and trust you.
Most of the companies do this by incentivizing them with perks or awards. For example, IBM's got a nice recognition program for employees who advocate for the company. They give out "advocacy badges," which are like digital awards that show the company values their knowledge and expertise.
With a shared and collaborative social platform like Highperformr, employees can become a part of the advocacy process. This also increases brand perception for your employees, and with multiple variations of posts like ones celebrating your team, you can rest assured that your desired content is reaching a wide audience.
Take your Business to New Heights with Employee Advocacy
Adding an employee advocacy program to your business is a huge win-win. While your company's social media accounts are definitely important, they can only do so much to build trust with potential customers. They show you're legit, but it's your employees who build that real trust and get people more engaged.
This isn't just good for the company, though. Your employees benefit too! Highperformr lends your employees the right tools to transform your workforce to brand ambassadors and build their reputations as experts in their fields.
