Creating employee advocates on social media

Studies show that 65% of customers are more likely to choose a company based on the recommendation of another customer or employee over a company ad or post. People trust people.

Therefore employees can often act as reliable advocates for a brand on social media. Employees have on average 10X more connections than a brand; for that reason content shared by employees often goes 561% further than the same message shared on a brand channel.

In order to educate employees and provide them with the confidence and support needed it is recommended to follow these four steps:

1. Train your team

Make sure that your employees are aware of what it is that they can (and can’t) do to help share brand-related content on social media. You may choose to categorise your employees into different groups to determine who can take action or even limit access to a particular group within your organisation. The most important thing is to be clear in your expectations and consistent in your message.

Depending on your goals, business size and available time and resource, you may wish to train your employees in several ways, whether that is in person, via a webinar or in an email. Do what suits you and your working environment.

2. Identify your advocates

Show by example and get your executive team to lead the way. Think about your most influential employees, starting with your CEO. This will show your employees that it is OK to share content on social media. If social media is valued by the executive team then it will be valued by your employees.

Identify engaged employees who have a strong network of followers and who are active on social media. Look at your brand channels to identify who is re-sharing and engaging with your content. If you work at a large organisation, ask managers to nominate their top performing staff.

3. Make it optional

Not everyone will want to be involved and that’s OK. Only select employees to become social media advocates if they’re comfortable in doing so. They should willingly choose to be apart of the programme and it should not be forced. Make it as easy as possible for employees to join and show how it can benefit them too.

4. Set clear expectations

Clear guidelines and best practice should be outlined for employees to follow. It is important to make this easy and simple for employees to do and it shouldn’t be seen as an additional hindrance.

Create a social media policy and make any additional resources easy to access. It is important to include information on how to use social media in the appropriate way but also protect the company and customer information. Emphasise the importance of being authentic and transparent and explain how you would like them to behave on social media when talking about your brand. Your ‘brand voice will be different when coming from your employees so think about how you would like them to interact with you. Give examples of good and bad practice.

If you want to learn more about why employee advocacy is so important and the benefits to your brand and your employees, you can view the DMA Social Media Councils Webinar here.

Written by Hannah Bland, member of the Social Media Council and Digital Marketing Executive at Aviva Investors