A new article from eMarketer sheds light on how popular Social Employee Advocacy Programs are becoming. These are programs where employees are encouraged to promote their brand via social media. You can immediately see why it would be popular with many companies.
In crafting such programs, it is important for the company to also create guidelines for any employees that decide to participate. These include such things as letting the employee know what type of behavior/conduct is expected, identifying themselves as representatives/employees of the brand when they create content that promotes it, etc.
Also, such programs should be offered as an option, not as being mandatory. Just as you wouldn’t require every employee in your country to deal with customers directly in a retail setting, you shouldn’t ask all of them to do so online. The last thing you want to do is make employees feel obligated to engage in a task that they don’t want. Instead, you want to attract the employees that love your brand and who are already singing your praises online. Their voice is authentic and their ability to attract others to your brand is far greater than the employees that feel ‘forced’ to participate in a program that they feel isn’t worth their time.
Pic via Flickr user MSLGroupGlobal
Great share Mack. Thank you! And timely.
I was just speaking with a team about the value, trust and credibility employee advocates create when they lend their knowledge and expertise to a discussion and will share this with them.
I personally see more and more individuals creating brand bonds between group members on LinkedIn, for example.
I was curious (on LinkedIn) as to if they were encouraged and /or supported by their company and the answers are mixed: some take their own initiative to share and engage because the topic interests them and they see the value in personal branding AND additionally, it benefits the company and others were asked and supported by their company.
When asked if they had a policy in the place three out of five I asked who were asked by companies said no, which I found interesting. To clarify, these are people who were engaging in topic discussions because their company had asked them to as part of their discussion. In all cases, the company felt that because they were participating under their own name, the did not feel the need to put down guidelines because they assume that they will not engage in any discussion that would harm their own personal reputation.
At Paper.li I chose to reach out and engage under my own account instead of setting up a brand specific account and the company trusted me that the decisions I made would benefit both myself and Paper.li. I’m happy to see other companies placing trust in their team as well.
In my meeting today, one of the team members I was speaking with also mentioned that in his previous company management set aside xx amount of time for the consultants to spend writing and posting. That’s such a great approach and excellent investment in time.
It’s not a given that all team members will be comfortable sharing expertise on behalf of the company, or using their own accounts to do so. But when employees become a part of the message, it is so much more credible. I love that brands are being shaped by the voice of their communities – internal and external!
Hi Kelly, another great comment, thank you! It’s so true, we all find it easier to form bonds with our friends and peers than we do with brands. If we form connections with other people and those people happen to work for brands, that trust can transfer to a degree. In the past I have often bought from a brand and trusted it simply because I knew some of the people that worked there and trusted them.
Agree with your point on not everyone being willing to share, that’s a point I was trying to make. On the other hand, some employees are happy and willing to share, and these should be the employees you reach out to first for involvement in a social employee advocacy program.
You make a great point. Not everyone is willing to share. It will be interesting to see how traditional roles evolve to encourage sharing or being ‘socially forward’. At some point, social media will no longer be something only a certain role or position takes on. It will be integrated as simply another tool to help get your job ‘done’.
As always, thank you, Mack for all the time and love you put into keeping your community abreast of the latest and greatest. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say your effort is much appreciated. 🙂