Youโre thinking about starting an employee advocacy program… Yay! ๐
But it looks like a lot of work. So you’re wondering – is it worth the effort? ๐ค
Why is employee advocacy important?
How does brand advocacy benefit my business?
Well, we’ve got the answers! ๐
You probably already know what employee advocacy is.
In case you’re not sure, let’s quickly break it down for you. ๐
What is Employee Advocacy?
In its simplest form, employee advocacy is when employees promote the company they work for. Like a spokesperson! ๐ฃ
This can be everything from word-of-mouth recommendations, to sharing brand posts on social media, to creating their own original content about the business.
For a more detailed explanation, be sure to read our ultimate guide to employee advocacy!
Now you know what it actually is, let’s talk about the why.
Why do you need employee advocacy? ๐ค
A successful employee advocacy program will help skyrocket your business. For real. ๐
Think about it for a sec.
If you’ve got a team of engaged employees actively using social media to build brand awareness, share-of-voice, and their own influence… the results can be tremendous. ๐
Why is Employee Advocacy Important for Businesses?
Reach
These days, organic reach on social can be pretty limited for brands. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn… they all want you to pay for ads and sponsored posts. ๐ฌ
As a marketing team, it can feel like we’re shouting into the abyss. We all have posts that end up with 100 impressions and hardly any likes – it happens to the best of us. ๐
But what if your employees use social media to engage with and share your posts? What if they create their own branded content? The sky’s the limit.
Fun fact: Gartner predicts that 90% of B2B marketing strategies will include employee advocacy programs by 2023. That’s right, an employee advocacy program is more important than ever – especially for B2B marketing.
Take a look at our report on Unicorn startups and how they use employee advocacy for success! ๐ฆ
Cost
Alright, so we’ve established that an employee advocacy strategy means you’ll be able to spending less (or maybe zero) on social media ads. ๐ธ
But what is the ROI on employee advocacy programs? Hint: it’s high. Especially if you’re using an advocacy platform to help employees create and share content.
We’ve got a mountain of data from our clients here at DSMN8, and we can reveal some statistics:
- Our advocacy platform has a $0.76 Average Comparative CPC – significantly lower than the $10-15 you’ll see on LinkedIn ads.
- One of our clients drove $100,000 in comparative media spend in just over a year… with less than 300 employees using the platform!
Authenticity
Another key factor to consider is authentic employer branding.
What do you want prospective customers, clients, or recruits to see on your socials? ๐
A) Nothing ๐จ
B) Corporate updates ๐ด
C) Genuine engagement from employees, insightful thought leadership, cool stuff your business is doing, behind-the-scenes at your office… ๐
If you answered C, you’re on the right track!
Employer branding goes beyond your official channels. You need to think about how employees use social media, how they’re representing your company.
Think about it in a similar way to dress codes: you might wear a suit to the office, or you might be super casual. It depends on what your business does, and your brand style.
Now think about social media: what tone of voice do you use? Is it professional and serious, or more chatty and upbeat? ๐ฃ
You want to establish a social media identity that represents your business, and teach your employees how to follow it. Provide guidelines, a social media policy, and educate employees on how to use social media effectively.
OK that’s a lot. You might be thinking “I don’t have enough time for this”, or “where do I even start?!” ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
Don’t panic! ๐
First of all, grab our free social media policy template. โ
Next, have a read of our ultimate guide to employee influencers. It’s jam-packed with info. โ
Finally, why not book a demo with DSMN8? Our intuitive platform makes employee advocacy a piece of cake. ๐ฐ
Oh, and if you need some inspiration for your company content, check out these 8 game-changing social media advocacy examples. ๐
Why Should Employees Use Social Media?
Why would I want my employees using social media at work?
Isn’t that just a waste of time? ๐ก
๐คฆ๐ฝโโ๏ธ
Absolutely not!
Employees are the best brand ambassadors.
They know why your company culture is great. ๐
They know all about what the business does, and many of them are experts! ๐ก
Your senior leadership may already be industry thought leaders, and lots of your colleagues probably have a social media presence. Some of them might even be micro influencers. ๐คฉ
Think about the potential! ๐
These days, people trust brands less and less. We’re constantly seeing adverts, especially online.
So how can marketers create a social presence with authenticity? Employee influencers.
Real people, talking about their work, sharing value with their audience, and building community.
What's In It For The Employees?
Now we’ve covered the basics and told you why employee advocacy is important…
You need to know why it’s great for employees too.
An employee advocate gets to:
- Improve their skillset – yes, social media is a valuable skill! ๐
- Build a personal brand, which could lead to incredible opportunities.
- Feel like their voice has value – because it does!
Why Use Employee Advocacy for Recruitment?
One of the top benefits of an effective employee advocacy program is how it levels up recruitment.
Candidates nowadays use Glassdoor and LinkedIn to check out a company before applying or interviewing for a job. ๐ฉโ๐ป
It’s more important than ever to build a positive online presence. No bad vibes here! ๐
Employee engagement on social media humanizes your brand, highlights your workplace culture, and it’s super convincing too.
If an employee shares a job opening and says ‘hey, I love working here because of x,y,z, come join us!’, it’s much more persuasive than a brand talking about their company culture.
Encourage employees to grow on LinkedIn, especially if they work in recruitment. Don’t forget that the employee advocacy from all employees will benefit recruitment and HR!
How Employee Advocacy Improves Sales
Salespeople benefit massively from employee advocacy. ๐ช
Especially if they’re pros at social selling!
Think about it…
If you’re using LinkedIn for social sales, sharing and creating brand content will:
- Amplify your audience.
- Increase conversations, opportunities and connections.
- More inbound leads.
There’s no better way to boost your online presence as a salesperson than by adding value. ๐
Why Use An Employee Advocacy Platform?
Now you know why employee advocacy is important for building brand awareness, recruitment, and engaging employees, it’s time to think about employee advocacy platforms. ๐
Managing an employee advocacy program can be time-consuming and confusing for employees. Especially if they’re not clued up on content creation!
Using a platform like DSMN8 streamlines the whole process.
We make it easy for employees to become influencers with features like automation, teams, and analytics.
Let’s break it down ๐
Content Curation โ๏ธ
Your marketing team put a lot of effort into content marketing, let’s make sure it gets seen. ๐
DSMN8 automatically pulls content from your sources (blog, social channels) into the platform, ready for colleagues to share. โ
That’s not all.
We also have a feature for content admins to add multiple titles, captions and images for each post. This makes sure that all your employees aren’t sharing the same thing at the same time. No one likes spam! โ
Automations keep everyone involved, even if they don’t have time for social media every day. Our platform uses Smart Scheduling to share posts at optimal times to boost impressions and engagement.ย โฐ
Teams ๐ซ
Segment your company content so your employee advocates don’t get overwhelmed! No one wants to see absolutely everything.
Our teams feature is ideal for large enterprises operating in many regions with different languages. ๐
We also have the ability to categorize content for departments, such as marketing, sales, or events.
This allows each employee to see the content relevant to them, and easily share it with their audience. ๐
All the Analytics โ
With DSMN8, you can keep an eye on all the data, from employee leaderboards to earned media value. ๐
Our analytics dashboard includes automatic UTM tracking, making it easy to see how everyone is doing.
The ability to monitor performance and growth is key, so you can figure out what’s working!
Gamification ๐ฎ
Use our gamification feature to encourage participation – keep the momentum going! ๐
DSMN8 leaderboards make it easy to see who in your team is smashing it on social. ๐
A great way to build support for your new advocacy strategy is by recognizing your top employee influencers – this could be anything from a thank-you to a prize. ๐
Ready to get started with employee advocacy?
But not sure if youโre ready for an employee advocacy platform?
Take our short quizย 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 callย with one of the team.
Emily Neal
SEO and Content Specialist at DSMN8. Emily has 10 years experience blogging, and is a pro at Pinterest Marketing, reaching 1 million monthly views. Sheโs all about empowering employees to grow their personal brands and become influencers.