Companies have discovered the untapped marketing value of their employees and how they can become assets in their efforts to raise awareness about the benefits of their products and services.
Social media advocacy is just the starting point in most cases, as employees can be turned into brand ambassadors by using every channel at their disposal to share news and insights about the company.
Even through the use of tools like email signature templates, they can effectively communicate the brand's core values and strengthen the firm's image in the eyes of clients, suppliers, and even the government.
The Evolution of Corporate Branding
Traditional corporate branding typically relies on channels like TV, digital media, and printed news to transmit carefully crafted advertisements that consumers often find impersonal.
However, now that social media platforms have become such powerful tools to disseminate ideas and showcase products and services—and their corresponding benefits—companies are rapidly understanding the power that their employees have to take advantage of their influence across these platforms to strengthen their marketing efforts.
Employees are now able to share their work experiences, company news, and professional insights with vast networks that extend far beyond official corporate channels. Smart companies are now seeing this as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Early adopters of employee advocacy programs include technology giants like IBM and Dell, who actively encourage employees to share the company's content and participate in industry conversations online.
The Power of Authenticity
What makes employee-driven branding so effective is its authenticity. Consumers have grown increasingly skeptical of traditional advertising and corporate messaging.
Business results can improve when this kind of authenticity is attached to a company's brand. Employees who share corporate content are seen as credible sources who genuinely believe in what they are saying.
Also, it adds a needed layer of humanity to the message as the recipient is getting the message from an actual person rather than a faceless entity.
The impact could be huge if, for example, a company with 1,000 employees manages to get a significant number of these individuals to share the content. At an average number of 100 connections each, 100 engaged employees could easily reach 10,000 people effectively.
Two Success Stories in Employee Advocacy
Microsoft offers a compelling case study of employee-driven branding success. The company managed to transform its image from a traditional software giant to a people-focused technology leader primarily through its employee advocacy program.
Their employees share company news about product launches and personal work experiences via their social media accounts and add a human side to what people perceive traditionally as an impersonal tech giant.
Meanwhile, Adobe launched a program called Social Shift that provides employees with content they can share. This more sophisticated and structured initiative helps people utilize pre-approved materials while giving them the freedom to share their insights and opinions on them.
Rewarding Brand Ambassadors Is Critical
The successful implementation of an employee advocacy program is not an easy task. Companies have to make sure that people within the organization are sharing healthy insights that actually benefit the brand and not the opposite.
Ideally, these programs should first communicate what their goal is and align employee's interests with those of the advocacy effort. In addition, they could include training and guidelines in regard to how to showcase certain aspects of the brand better, the tone that their messaging should carry, and how to address different types of comments.
The use of content libraries, suggestion tools, and easy-sharing mechanisms is often recommended by experts in this field. Moreover, active brand ambassadors should be rewarded for their efforts.
Small incentives for participating and engaging with these programs may include gift cards, public recognition, performance-based bonuses, and career development opportunities.
Contingency Plans Are Needed to Mitigate the Impact of a PR Crisis
Despite its benefits, employee-driven branding has a few risks that companies must acknowledge and tackle.
Messages and posts that are inconsistent with the brand's core values, the risk that a disgruntled employee could misuse the audience they have built through company content, and mistakenly sharing confidential information are some of the negative situations that employee advocacy programs may deal with along the way.
When hundreds of employees are sharing content about the company across their social media platforms, it may be hard to keep track of what they are doing. Hence, the most effective initiatives work on a small group of ambassadors rather who clearly understand the importance of their role in shaping the firm's image.
Moreover, viral posts are a concern, and companies must have a contingency plan in case an employee post suddenly becomes a PR crisis.
The Future of Employee-Driven Branding
The future of employee-driven branding will be shaped by new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Companies can tap on these tools to understand which type of content performs better and make the necessary adjustments based on their findings.
Personal and professional branding don't necessarily have to be separate from each other. They can complement their efforts by incorporating a human touch into corporate messaging and adverts.
Employees can benefit from gaining additional visibility in and out of the organization that could expand their career growth opportunities while companies can present themselves as friendlier and authentic organic entities rather than greedy and faceless money-making machines.
As this trend keeps growing, brands will likely use employee-driven marketing more as a reflection of the company's culture rather than a mere marketing tactic. A group of employees that make public how much they believe in their firm, its mission, core values, and other aspects will likely create an authentic brand image that could dramatically improve how the public perceives the business.
