In recent years, social media has gone from an interesting idea to an absolute must-do for marketers. Of all the ways you can market your brand, social leads the pack in terms of garnering attention, awareness, and engagement. There’s a lot to be said for a great social media strategy. But there’s even more to be said when a company can manage to get buy-in and interactions from its existing employees. When that happens, the organization automatically shows it has a strong reputation and is an authority in its industry.
However, getting employees to engage with their employers’ social media channels isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sure, these people are likely hanging out on social media (maybe even when they’re at work), but do they really want to be associated with their companies in their off-hours? The thing is, there are ways to get the employees of your company to share your social content on their own social media channels. It just takes a little work – and motivation.
Why Is It Important to Have Your Employees Advocate for Your Social Strategies?
When prospective clients or customers are on social media, it says a lot when they stumble upon a brand that’s endorsed by the people who work there. Getting employee buy-in is a critical component of a comprehensive social media strategy. By achieving this, you’ll benefit from increased brand awareness, engagement, and even conversions.
Having employees advocate for your company’s social strategies is a key component of any successful digital marketing plan. Not only do employees offer a sense of authenticity to your message, but they can also provide a larger reach than the company’s official accounts can alone. This can be especially useful for launching new products, building excitement around promotions, and increasing brand visibility. With the right motivation and incentives, your employees can become a powerful marketing asset for your company and can help your social strategies succeed. Remember, people trust people over brands, so when you’re able to have your own employees endorse your messaging, your strategies will go much farther in the social sphere.
Steps to Creating an Employee-Backed Social Strategy
Like any strategy, you have to put a little planning into it before you’re ready to go live. Don’t worry – we’re here to help you out!
Step #1: Set Program Goals and Strategize Your Content
You’ll ultimately be able to determine if your efforts are working by setting program goals and strategizing your content.
Put separate goal types in place for different purposes. For instance, you might have one set of goals for sales and another for recruitment. Create content that’s specific for each of these goal types.
Step #2: Select Your Employee Pool
Before you roll this notion out to everybody, start with a small group of employees until the program is perfected. Who are your most engaged workers? Who’s super active on social media? Who can you trust to represent your brand publicly to their own followers?
Narrow your pool by talking to department managers to get their feel as to who might be a good fit for a quiet rollout and work from there.
Step #3: Demonstrate its Value to Employees
People want to know what’s in it for them, so you should really be prepared with an answer. Can you offer incentives such as Bonusly, company gear, or a gift card if a certain number of engagements and actions occur? If you’re not able to offer anything monetary, can people earn PTO hours for accumulating a certain number of likes and shares? Different people value different things, so giving them a gift list they can choose from if they’re willing to help you with your efforts could be enticing to them.
Step #4: Launch the Program!
We recommend investing in a platform so people can see the leaderboard. The right platform will also help you share content easily with your employees. This will help keep them engaged and the motivation flowing.
Step #5: Measure Results
How is everything going? Did you put metrics in place and goals to measure from the outset of your project? If you did, you should be ready to start measuring that data and seeing where your project is in terms of what you hoped to achieve.
The Dos and Don’ts of Employee-Backed Social Advocacy
Now that you know a little more about what an employee-backed social strategy is and how to get it up and running, let’s talk about what you should — and shouldn’t — do as you dive into this endeavor.
Do:
- Train employees on best practices, brand guidelines, and how-tos. Not everyone knows how to use social media optimally (or sometimes at all).
- Create ready-to-use content that is also easily customizable so your employees can write in their own voices.
- Help elevate your employees’ presence with relevant content that’s not just about the brand so you can help position them as key thought leaders.
- Incentivize and recognize those who participate.
Don’t:
- Share only branded content.
- Be strict on the brand voice. Your employees will be talking to their friends and family about your brand, and you want this to be organic and natural.
- Force your employees to do this.
Let ZGM Help With Your Social Media Strategy!
Need help getting your employees to buy in on your social strategy? We can assist! Touch base with our team so we can get you moving on the right path.
