The most important resource in a company, is human. A company cannot operate without the people it employs to keep the wheel turning. Who knows your business and products? The people that work within your organization everyday. It’s important that these people are sold on your mission and vision. They are the best individuals to assist in projecting the company’s brand voice on social media. From my Hootsuite course, here are some very important aspects of Employee Advocacy for social media:
Mission
You need to define what you want to achieve using advocacy. Identify those goals to help set the foundation for planning the way forward. An example of a goal is creating brand awareness or increasing purchases. Include the benefits to your company and to its participating employees. In addition, confirm that your mission also aligns with the company’s objectives. Avoid losing sight of the bigger picture.
Use the Leadership Team
Using the Leadership team of an organization for its Employee Advocacy Program helps to increase buy-in from employees. Its leading by example. Encourage management to share brand content across their personal social media. Create a hashtag for the business that they can use to easily search and share content. Employees will not participate if the Leadership team is not on board. Most importantly, advise the team why it is in their best interest to start advocating the brand on social media.
Internal Influencers
I’m sure there are specific employees in your organization that you notice as influencers. They can carry a crowd, people listen to them and they are entertaining. Furthermore, they can make an impact. Start with these individuals in your program. Influencers should be briefed on the way the company’s content can be shared. Include any information on the brand’s social media policy that would manage their behaviour with the content. Offer an incentive, where need be, for advocacy. For instance, the company just launched a new product. Create a competition among influencers for most shares or sales etc.
It is in your employees’ best interest to get on board with advocating for the brand. In other words, its based on sales and income generation. The more they advocate, the more reach your brand gets which converts to more eyes on your business. Lastly, don’t force your employees to advocate, that will certainly turn into a mess and potential crisis. Be open to suggestions to encourage advocacy and be willing to offer incentives.