We’ll say it. Social media is crowded! Every brand is fighting to get noticed. Employee advocacy allows businesses to leverage the power of their employees’ social media presence to amplify their message and stand out from the crowd. Stay tuned. This post will discuss why employee advocacy is the future of social media marketing.
5 Reasons Why Employee Advocacy Is The Future of Social Media Marketing Success
1. Higher Reach and Engagement
2. Cost-Effective Marketing
3. Humanizes the Brand
4. Creates a Positive Company Culture
5. Better Recruitment and New Business
Higher Reach and Engagement:
According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer report, employees are more trusted than executives and CEOs. When employees share a brand’s message, those posts are likely to be perceived as more trustworthy – earning higher engagement and reach because their content would come across as authentic and honest.
This leads to higher brand awareness and more positive social exposure, increasing the chance of gaining followers, likes, shares, and comments.
Cost-Effective Marketing
In the current market, advertising costs are skyrocketing, and businesses are struggling to stretch their marketing budgets. Employee advocacy provides a cost-effective solution to this problem.
By empowering employees to share brand messaging on social media, businesses get access to free marketing. Employees can share content and social media posts and promote products or services, significantly increasing the company’s online visibility, all without additional paid marketing dollars spent.
Humanizes the Brand
Social media users are used to seeing branded content on their newsfeeds. However, when employees share this content, it humanizes the brand. It gives the range a personal touch that doesn’t come across with corporate profiles.
As such, customers are more likely to connect with a brand’s message when they see content shared by real people, especially ones they trust. By enabling employees to voice their opinions and share their experiences, businesses can create a more authentic and trustworthy image, leading to a loyal customer base.
Creates a Positive Company Culture
When businesses empower their employees to share content and become brand advocates, they indirectly say that they trust their employees and value their opinions. This trust-building exercise can increase employee satisfaction and motivation, creating a more productive and cohesive work environment.
Alright, this may not have a direct impact on social media success. Still, a positive company culture brings a suite of intangible benefits (higher retention rate, increased productivity, etc.). Employee advocacy fosters a positive company culture that can improve employee morale, engagement, and retention.
Better Recruitment and New Business
Employee advocacy can act as the face of the brand from a recruitment perspective. By showcasing a healthy & positive work environment, employees can create a buzz around the brand & which can increase the chances of attracting valuable new hires. O
Over time, using employee advocacy strategies to increase awareness on social media can attract new & potential business by building trust with the audience.
How to Launch an Employee Advocacy Program in 5 Steps
Now that you understand the benefits of an employee advocacy program on a brand’s social media presence, the next question is, how do I start a program in my company?
Here are five initial steps to help you get started.
Step 1. Select the Right Technology Partner
Sure, it’s possible to run your employee advocacy program with a couple of manual Slack messages and a few spreadsheets. Still, this approach introduces much friction into your employee advocacy efforts. You need to leave more in the hands of individuals doing one-off manual tasks.
Instead, we recommend using a tool designed to support employee advocacy programs. SocialToaster is one of the top employee advocacy tools on the market. Its suite of features was designed specifically to improve the quality of life for employee advocacy participants and administrators.
These features include:
- Automatic notification through email, Slack, and Teams when new content is available for sharing.
- Easy-share functionality that presents employees with the copy, images, and links they need to quickly share company news.
- Automatic participation tracking that shows you which employees are participating so that you can incentivize and reward them properly.
- Real-time ROI calculations that show the earned media value of your employee advocacy efforts.
Learn more about SocialToaster by scheduling a demo today.
Step 2. Train Your Employees
No matter what tool you choose, you must train your employees on the fundamentals of employee advocacy – how sharing content can benefit them and the company, the importance of proper etiquette when engaging with customers and other brands online, etc.
Step 3. Get Executive Buy-In
If you want a successful employee advocacy program, you must involve your senior leaders. Executive-level support is critical for any employee program to gain traction and be successful. Employees won’t be as likely to participate in the program without it.
Step 4. Create an Incentive Plan
While an employee advocacy program isn’t about incentivizing employees to take action, there’s no harm in adding some rewards into the mix. A simple incentive plan can motivate your employees to participate and even gain momentum for the program.
Step 5. Measure Performance
Measuring performance is an essential step in any employee advocacy program. This will give you a better understanding of what’s working and what needs to be adjusted, as well as the ROI your program provides. It will also help you identify which employees are actively contributing to the program’s success – so you can reward them accordingly.
By following these five steps, your business will be on its way to launching an employee advocacy program that will provide your brand with the Social Media success it deserves.
Good luck and reach out to our team with any questions on how to get started!
