Remember Creative

Employee Advocacy = Social Gold

Quiz: Employees of our company like working there because:
a) They are respected
b) They are doing fulfilling work
c) They are part of a great team
d) They are compensated fairly
e) They are afforded the opportunity to improve their skills
f) All of the above

If the answer is “f”, firstly, congratulations and secondly you could be sitting on more than just good workers.

Just a few short years ago employers tried to block employees from going on to social networks during work hours – internet monitoring, site blockers, firewalls, using Julie from accounts as a spy/mole, setting up elaborate false flag operations, propaganda… wait a sec… where was I… oh yes…
Hopefully you are hiring employees that are (a) autonomous enough that they can be trusted to do their jobs but (b), and more importantly, social media can be a friend in the employer/employee hand book.

Your team are proud to be part of your organisation and usually are willing participants in spreading the good word – which is the basis of an Employee Advocacy Program (EAP).

An EAP is an effective (and cheap) way to cast your net wider after you have went to the effort of creating content a bigger audience is always welcome.

It can be as simple as “Hey Jo, can you paste this article on the FaceBook for me?”*

*Pro tip: If you are using terms like paste and the FaceBook there is a good chance that Jo’s social reach is further than your own.

OR

like the rest of your marketing and sales strategy you can have a considered approach to employee advocacy and really engender ownership of the brand amongst employees.

I shouldn’t need to say this but do not enforce employee participation a) because you can’t and b) this process will hopefully lead to follow ups and that same disaffected employee will probably be the first point of contact for someone reacting to their share.

Have some guidelines
Didn’t he just say cast a wide net and now we have to have guidelines?
In the beginning have a mentor for the employees that want to help out can be a great benefit – train them in what is an appropriate tag to the share; your mentors should give pointers into where, when and how often as well.

Bonus
Your employees will want to give their networks special content as well, do not stifle it – whether it is a bespoke piece of content or a special offer – have at it.

Software
Proving ROI on an employee advocacy program can be hard but there are many programs that can make your life easier from the big boys to more niche products like, Trapit (formerly Addvocate) or Circulate.it for example.

Goals
So the above will help with proving the ROI but what are your goals for the program? Be sure to have a clear KPI and be ready to move the goal posts or content around as you learn to understand your new audiences – their likes and dislikes.

This should set you on the right track but if you need more guidance on this or other social marketing ideas drop us a line – info@remembercreative.com