An organisation’s employees are its best ambassadors. They are the reflection of the working environment and the living walking personification of your brand.
Investing in your employees will always pay back in the long run. That’s why it is so important to transform them into powerful brand advocates.
Getting the word out about your brand is a key part of the marketing process and your staff if the perfect advocate. This leads us to the question. What is the best way to encourage your employees to talk about your company & brand?
Employee Advocacy in Social Media
A great deal of advocacy, today, takes place online. The professional world has moved its communication and networking on different social platforms due to its convenience. This is why your employee’s social presence is such a factor in your brand’s reputation. Around 50% of employees share something in social media about their employer.
The internet has given people another vessel to share their life, including their professional one. Employees who love their jobs are more eager to post about them on social media. This is why management style is deeply connected to employee advocacy.
The majority of recruiting is done on the internet. When you build a good reputation on the web, especially if your company is related to technology, that industry’s professionals will form a good impression of your brand. A good name in the industry you operate helps you recruit the best professionals amongst many other things.
The Benefits of Cultivating Employee Advocates
Amplified Reach
Your employees drive your brand awareness. The amount of people your brand reaches is directly ties with the other benefits of brand advocacy. One might say that reach is the first step to milking away the benefits of brand awareness.
A study conducted by Hinge Marketing and Social Media Today found that 80% of people who use social media for professional reasons reported increased visibility and 65% reported increased brand recognition. That is why empowering your employees through a strategic advocacy plan results in great reach of the brand.
Sales Boost
Profit is a business’s main goal and sales are what brings the profit. Without it, a company and brand seize to exist. A study shows that 90% of customers trust product and brand recommendations from people they know rather than the brand themselves.
When your own employees talk about your brand, they are more likely to attract people they know to buy your products or services. By doing so, they contribute directly to boosting sales, which is one of the many benefits of employee brand advocacy.
More cost-effective
Brands today are investing more than ever in social media ads. A study by Statista shows us that advertising budgets are doubling each year. Considering the investments we would think the same thing about the engagement and conversions.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Most businesses invest in social media ads and see no real results in conversions. An overlooked, more cost-effective alternative would be investing in employee advocacy plans.
Simple Tips on Transforming Employees Into Powerful Brand Advocates
Create a culture
A supportive and motivating culture is one of the first steps to turning your employees into brand advocates. This way, when they talk about the brand and what it stands for, they will really be connected with it
Invest in branded apparel
Brand apparel might seem something symbolic and small but is definitely something that people will take interest in. Not only will it draw attention to your name and brand, but it will also create a positive thought around it, and finally increase revenue.
Brands still invest in billboards but what better way to advertise your brand than in a walking breathing billboard. Your employees will appreciate the free clothes and you will appreciate the value they bring.
Set aside team-building time and activities
Team-building is one key element to healthy and productive company culture. Team building activities help, not only motivate and organise your employees, but they also help shape the company culture and brand.
A two-day trip or a game night will encourage your employees to post about it on social media and tell others about the great experiences they get to have while working there.
Image: Unsplash
Encourage Personal Branding
Making your employees part of the brand is a great way to turn them into brand advocates. That will encourage them to build their own brand which will serve as an extension of your brand.
That way people outside the company will be able to identify the key elements of our brand, what you stand for, and what you believe in.
Identify Key Social Champions
Every company has at least a handful of employees who proactively promote their organisation. Find out those few individuals in your organisation and assign them the task of encouraging others to follow suit.
Enable employees to view social media brand advocacy as a fun and impactful activity that helps boost brand equity and personal branding.
Lead by example
Setting an example is always the best way to push someone to do something. As a supervisor, your employees look up to you. Most of the will follow your lead if you are the one the are advocating for your brand.
Don’t be afraid of sounding like you are bragging. After all, if you are not passionate about your own brand don’t expect your employees to be.
Just like we mentioned in the beginning, your online presence has a huge role in your brand’s awareness. If you lead by promoting it in your social platforms, you will set a good example, and your peers will follow.
Start by posting on a more professional platform like LinkedIn, but don’t shy away from Twitter and Instagram, and don’t forget to tag your employees. The online world is a great opportunity for brand advocacy.
In Summary
Employee advocacy is a very important part of brand awareness and companies are taking it into consideration more and more. It is more than obvious that there are plenty of ways it can help a brand and business in general, from an increase in sales to recruiting better employees.
The rise of social media and the wise use of the internet have made this process easier than ever. Companies now can help themselves by simply intensifying their online presence and influencing their employees to do the same in regards to the brand.
Considering the powerful voice employees have regarding your brand they make the best asset when it comes to promoting. Even though their influence on other people might seem minimal, the outcome is actually very satisfying.
Since everyday customers seem to believe someone they know and trust more than an ad for a brand, their influence is huge. Investing in transforming your employees into brand advocates is the right step towards success.
About the Author
Ujëbardha Bekolli is passionate about lifelong learning and self-development. She writes for Kiwi, which is a restaurant LMS that aims to help restaurant owners train their staff in an easier and more effective way. Moreover, they offer online training courses for different Restaurant services.
