{"id":439308,"date":"2022-08-30T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/?p=439308"},"modified":"2023-09-29T10:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T10:01:42","slug":"employee-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/employee-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Employee Advocacy: What it Is with Free Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Employee advocacy is one of the best ways to improve your public image and get your employees more involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Because your workers already talk about you on social media. Half of all employees share content from or about their workplace on social media, and 33% of all employees do this without being asked to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is great. But without a content plan to guide them, you don’t know what they’re posting or how well their efforts are paying off. With a formal employee advocacy program, you can improve your organic reach by 200% and make 23% more money, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engaging your employees as advocates for your brand provides several benefits to your company. Like Google, companies that care about their employees go to great lengths to attract (and retain) their talent. Companies can invest in their employees and keep them engaged by offering top-notch services and benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But another way to keep them engaged is to have them participate in a structured employee advocacy program.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out what employee advocacy is and the advantages of developing an employee promotion program in your company. This blog explains what employee advocacy is, its benefits, and how to implement it in your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Content Index<\/p>\n

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  1. What is employee advocacy?<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Types of employee advocacy<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Tips for creating an employee advocacy program<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Best places for employee advocacy programs<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Advantages of having an employee advocacy program<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Conclusion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    What is employee advocacy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Employee advocacy or employee defense are awareness programs designed to mobilize and empower employees to defend their company and their brands on social media and, in fact, to be true brand ambassadors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Employee promotion programs encourage them to participate in communication efforts and share valuable content from your company on their social networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Successful employee advocacy programs promote team morale, enhance employee productivity and workplace culture, assist firms in maintaining control over the brand message, position employees as thought leaders, make it simpler for HR to recruit and retain top talent, and generate revenue. The success and growth of a business depend heavily on employee advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Types of employee advocacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Employees can become employee advocates in a few different ways. Some don’t even need a written plan. Your company may already be doing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"types_of_employee_advocacy\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    1. Social media advocacy<\/h3>This involves workers sharing company content or their own thoughts and views on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      1. Referral programs
        <\/h3>In this type of advocacy, employees send their friends, family, and other acquaintances to their company to apply for jobs or buy goods or services from the company.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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        1. Thought leadership<\/h3>Employees who are experts in their area can share their knowledge and insights through blog posts, whitepapers, and other thought leadership content that helps their company and company culture become a thought leader in its industry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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          1. Community involvement<\/h3>Companies can encourage their workers to take part in local community events, like charity runs or food drives, to build relationships with local people and promote their brand.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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            1. Public relations<\/h3>Employees can share their company’s message and beliefs with the public by giving interviews to the media or speaking at events.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Employee advocacy can help spread the word about a brand, boost a company’s image, and grow sales and revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Tips for creating an employee advocacy program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

              Here are four tips to encourage your employees to become brand ambassadors<\/a> and talk about the company independently on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              1. Set up a simple plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

              Every business is unique. Putting together a simple plan covering the why and the what is a great way to start with employee support. This plan will not only help you get people on board with a program, but it will also help you choose the right partner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Most importantly, your plan should lay out your goals: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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              1. What does success look like, and why is that? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
              2. Do you want to reach more people with your business and lower the cost of paid spend on social media? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
              3. Do you want to give your salespeople more tools to help them increase their leads and shorten their sales cycles? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
              4. Do you want to keep more employees and find new ones? <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                We’re all for having an employee advocacy program just because, but the more you can tie your program to real, solid goals, the bigger effect you’ll have on the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                2. Secure the support of your executives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                Executive support is essential for the success of any initiative. Therefore, reach out to the CEO if possible. Is your CEO not social media-savvy? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                No problem\u2014find others in sales, marketing, communications, and HR. Most crucially, your boss or your boss’s boss\u2014the one who will approve the program and sign the check\u2014must be on board since they’ll sell it to the executive team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Executive support means what? Reach out to other departments and their teams! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Include CEOs in your first group of consumers, especially if they want to increase their public profiles (what executive doesn’t?). Answer: they all do) and you win because they can disseminate your program to their teams and lobby for greater resources. You should be able to recruit a few right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                3. Find your first customers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                Employee advocacy programs don’t go from having no users to having thousands of users on the first day. Some do, but it’s enough to say that those companies already know how to start a large-scale program and have the tools to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Most people should start with something on the smaller side. It’s important to show success at every step. An employee support program doesn’t have a set length of time, and if you start out too fast and fail, it will be hard to get back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Most employee advocacy events start out with a few hundred people on average. Who should then be those users? They should be employees who are already using social media, ideally in a professional capacity (which means they see the value in it). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Not only will you not have to train these people, but they will also be great role models for everyone else you ask after your initial launch. These early adopters are important because they will give you good feedback, make the program more known, help you find more users, etc. Start with a solid foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                4. Empower employees who are new to social media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                Some employees do it very well and know the codes of the different social networks. But this is not the case for everyone. Some are newbies and need help. Offer them a guide for proper social channels, and help them correctly use LinkedIn or Twitter, the two most professional social networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                You can also help them optimize their profile by updating their bio and experiences and making them participate in shooting for a suitable profile photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Lead by example by sharing content on your social accounts to encourage employees to become brand ambassadors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                5. Create content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                To be successful in your employee advocacy program, the company must, of course, create quality content. Otherwise, the employees will have nothing to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                The content must be attractive to your employees. Otherwise, they will not want to share it. Make content that creates value for your audience but also for your employees. They should be proud to stream this content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                6. Curate the content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                Also, think about curating external content by sharing it. Industry news, for example. Here are some curated tips for creating an employee advocacy program:<\/p>\n\n\n\n