Question: what do all marketers have in common?
Their jobs have gotten much harder over the past five or so years.
The culprit?
Data protection.
Now, let’s get this clear right out of the gate.
Everybody has the right to control how their data is used.
Data protection is ESSENTIAL.
And we are very much PRO data protection.
However, marketing is a data-dependent profession.
Meaning the less access you have to data…
…the more difficult it becomes to target your audience.
As a result, data-compliant marketing has become a minefield.
(boo-hoo, right?)
“Damn marketers, they won’t leave me alone.”
I know, I know.
I’m not about to suggest ways to bypass data protection laws, don’t worry.
Instead, I want to draw your attention to a marketing strategy that’s not only the most effective in terms of impact and cost but also 100% data-compliant and the PREFERRED form of communication for consumers.
But first…
(skip this section if you’re likely to get triggered by memories of GDPR and iOS 14.5) 😬
Jump to:
How Data Protection Affects Marketing
Now, if you do work in marketing, what I’m about to say will come as no surprise: organic reach on social media sites has been declining for years. As a result, getting through to even your earned audiences can be difficult. It’s starting to feel like the only way to reach them is by paying, and then you have to pay EVEN more to reach them a second time as prices go up the more specific you get. It’s a vicious cycle!
Then, in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced. GDPR intends to better protect the data of EU citizens, and breaches of GDPR can cost companies up to €20 million. As a result, companies quickly began to take notice.
GDPR didn’t just mean that legal teams had to introduce new processes; it meant that paying to target your audiences became much more challenging as access to information became scarce.
While GDPR only applied to EU citizens, the icing on the cake for ALL marketers came in the form of Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which gave Apple’s users better control over how apps used their data. The App Tracking Transparency Tool forces apps to ask permission to track user data.
Moreover, app-blocking technologies are both on the rise in terms of the number of vendors and people using them. So much so that 37.5% of internet users block advertisements with ad blocking software.
Will it ever end?
(mid-point repeat of the disclaimer: we are PRO data protection… just anti-aggro and pro empathy for our fellow marketers!) 😉
The Preferred Form of Communication for Consumers
You don’t need a marketer to tell you this because we are all consumers in some form or another, but nevertheless: people don’t want to be sold to.
The numerous breaches of data privacy, the endless targeting, the ever-increasing number of ads in your social media feeds… it’s all contributed to a wave of “anti-marketing”, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
In the age of automation, people want to hear from people. People crave trust and authenticity from companies, and they want a human approach that’s been neglected by organizations for decades.
People want better CEO visibility, for example, and they want to feel like they know the names behind the company name and the faces behind the logo.
AdWeek found that 76% of individuals surveyed say that they’re more likely to trust content shared by individuals over content shared by brands. Neal Schaffer’s study showed that 84% of consumers value recommendations from friends and family above traditional advertising.
Employee Advocacy = Data-Compliant Marketing & YOUR Secret Weapon
Unsurprisingly, employee advocacy has been on the rise as a marketing tactic over the past five years. While this was largely due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic as marketers were forced to identify the most cost-effective and impactful marketing methods, the primary reason has been a response to consumer demands.
People want to hear from people, and as an organization, you’re probably sitting on a large and untapped marketing resource that comes readily equipped with an audience of its own – YOUR people.
Employee advocacy is a no-brainer for data-compliance laws. While things like GDPR remove your ability to communicate with someone unless they’ve opted-in, employees sharing content with their network as part of an employee advocacy program won’t be subject to the same restrictions.
The reality is that with the constant introduction of new data protection laws, social media is reverting to its original purpose – people connecting with other people.
Employee advocacy works because it’s H2H (human to human) and allows your content and brand messaging to be communicated by the people who are already connected with and trusted by your key audiences.
Ready to get started with employee advocacy?
But not sure if you’re ready for an employee advocacy platform?
Take our short quiz to see if you have the foundations in place!
Prefer to cut to the chase and speak with a member of our team?
Roger that!
Schedule a call with one of the team.
People Also Ask:
"Can employee advocacy work in regulated industries?"
We understand the concern here. In regulated industries, handing the reigns of social media over to your employees might sound daunting. After all, the impact of them saying the wrong thing could be detrimental to the brand.
The reality is that with the right tools in place, an employee advocacy program can work for ANY organization, no matter their industry. A platform like DSMN8 offers a range of features that allow you to control the messaging and have complete autonomy over the content that’s available for sharing.
Learn more about how to make employee advocacy work in regulated industries.
"Is an employee advocacy platform data compliant?"
We believe in sharing content, insight and knowledge, but only when it complies with the highest data protection and privacy standards. The DSMN8 platform and our company have worked hard to ensure our users’ constant security and data protection. DSMN8 recently earned the ISO 27001 security certificate, and we’re the trusted vendor of Global companies like Snap, Inc, McKinsey & Company and Shopify.
More employee advocacy-wisdom you might enjoy!
Lewis Gray
Senior Marketing Manager and Employee Advocacy Program Manager at DSMN8. Lewis specialises in content strategy, growing brand visibility and generating inbound leads. His background in Sales lends itself well to demand generation in the B2B niche.
