Source: Online Marketing Blog - TopRank® When it comes to building out your brand’s social media marketing strategy, one of your primary objectives
When it comes to building out your brand’s social media marketing strategy, one of your primary objectives is crafting a multi-channel amplification plan for sharing content that raises awareness, fosters engagement, and ultimately helps drive new leads. For many, this means mapping tactics and time to specific brand-owned social channels.
But there may be one tactic and channel that’s missing from your mix: your employees and their respective social networks. Or to attach a marketing buzzword to this—employee advocacy.
Your employees are one of your most powerful social media marketing tools. They’re the people behind your brand, working hard to support your company’s mission and help achieve your business goals. They’re the people who have first-hand insights into your company’s culture, and the quality of your products or services. They’re the people who can lend some real credibility and authenticity to your marketing efforts.
The best part? Technically speaking, including employees in your marketing efforts doesn’t cost you a thing, but can yield big rewards. In fact, brand messages are re-shared 24 times more frequently when distributed by employees versus the brand, according to an MLS Group infographic. In addition, employee advocacy on social media can help generate more leads, close sales more quickly, and help retain customers.
Now that we have that out of the way, you’re probably wondering how you get your employees on board or how to start an employee advocacy program. At TopRank Marketing, employee advocacy is a part of our own social strategy. Below I share some helpful tips to get your efforts rolling.
#1 – Get buy-in from top leadership.
Getting your company’s top executives and department leaders to support your employee advocacy efforts is a critical first step. Not only will their social activity help spread your message throughout their social network, but also lend credibility that will trickle down throughout the rest of the company ranks.
Get them on board by illustrating the business value their efforts can bring to the company. LinkedIn’s SlideShare is bursting with presentations featuring employee advocacy insights, case studies and statistics that you can use to craft a short, sweet and data-filled pitch. Here are a couple I’d recommend checking out for ideas:
#2 – Activate employee brand ambassadors.
It’s no secret that social media has become part of the fabric of our daily lives. And let’s face it, your employees are probably engaging on their respective platforms while at work every day—and they may already be sharing content about your brand. So why not leverage that?
Consider creating an employee brand ambassador committee where participants can work with your marketing team to…
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