Employee advocacy is one of the most effective ways to boost your public image and employee engagement.
Why? Because your employees are already posting about you. Half of all employees share content from or about their employer on social media, and 33% of all employees do so without any prompting.
Sounds great. But without a content strategy to guide them, you have no idea what they’re posting or the ROI of those efforts. With a formal employee advocacy program, you can expand your organic reach by 200% and increase profitability by 23%, among many other benefits.
Keep reading to learn how to build an employee advocacy program that your team will love, and that will contribute to your business results.
Define Employee Advocacy
Employee advocacy is the promotion of an organization by its workforce. Employee advocacy can take many forms, both online and off. But the most common and effective channel is social media advocacy.
Social media advocacy comes down to employees sharing your company’s content on their personal social media accounts. Everything from job postings (and other resources for job seekers), blog articles, and industry resources, to new product launches.
However, employee advocacy can also be original content that offers a glimpse into your company culture. Maybe it’s an Instagram post showing the free lunch spread you brought in last Friday, a special event, or a moment from an average workday.
All these activities can help boost your brand reputation with both customers and potential new recruits.
The Importance Of Employee Advocacy
A recent study found that employee advocacy benefits companies in three key ways:
- It positively impacts sales due to increased brand awareness and favorable perceptions (“brand sentiment”).
- It improves staff recruitment, retention, and engagement.
- It aids in PR crises and issues management.