Employee Advocacy

Employee Advocacy

Posted on in Small Business Tips, SME Marketing, Social Media

Employee advocacy and social media sharing starts at home. There’s no need to blow your own trumpet when your employees can do it for you!

There are so many ways to promote your brand or business nowadays – but one that you may not have thought about is right on your doorstep.

Employee advocacy is when your staff use their own social media accounts to expose your brand or business to their contacts, and it is already proving to have noticeable effect.

After all, employees are the experts when it comes to your products or services – and it is in their own interests to ensure their company has the best exposure.

One big name that is encouraging the practice is tech giant Hewett Packard, which encourages its staff to share thoughts around computing – the leverage for them is the fact that their employees have a vast technical knowledge.

What’s in it for me?

So how can you encourage this practice among your own staff? Well, like most of us, they’re going to ask what’s in it for them?

First, it can be great for their career. Thanks to the professional viability of being within your organisation and its specialities, they can begin to be seen as an industry expert. It also raises their profile within your company.

Being part of a bigger ‘team’ of advocates will also act as is an incentive. People like to feel part of something bigger – and this group could be seen as employees who are particularly passionate about their company’s message.

You also need to ensure that those who share content are thanked for their actions – and that you demonstrate to them what impact they are having on the company’s exposure and even profits. Remember to keep track of how the advocacy programme is working, be ready to make changes – and always share results back into the team.

Rewards could include bonuses, the chance to take part in team challenges, and leaderboards showing who is sharing the most content. A bit of competition always livens things up – and who doesn’t love being a winner!

It’s not for me

Why wouldn’t they want to do it? Well, companies have strict guidelines – rightly so – about the use of social media, so many employees may be wary of sharing company information or even mentioning a company name. Ensure that they are comfortable with the advocacy guidelines and social media policy – and be ready to help them if they are unsure if they are operating within those guidelines.

To ensure a decent mix of shared content, consider a rule on subject matter – for instance 20% product level messaging – about product launches, campaigns and so on; 30% culture level messaging – the organisation’s philosophy, its commitment to flexible working and so on; and 50% market leading messaging – thoughts about the industry itself, and where its future lies.

Don’t overdo it

One word of warning though. Be careful not to overdo this kind of exposure – nobody wants to see the same things retweeted over and over again – and make sure that what they share is worth reading and/or looking at (remember rich content). Get your employees sharing a few unhelpful, dull or dodgy posts and their contacts will just stop looking….

If you would like to have a chat about your marketing requirements, please call Alison Page on tel: 07963 002065 or email: hello@alisonpagemarketing.co.uk. You can of course browse our website to see what our existing clients have to say about our work.