How do you keep up with the latest trends and best practices in employer branding and employee advocacy?

Determine goals and metrics for your employee advocacy program. Before I launch or improve my employee advocacy program, it's important that I first define a clear vision of what I want to achieve and the metrics that I can measure success. First I will Set a SMART goal. Specific:I will clearly define what I want to achieve right in this step. Instead of a vague goal like"increase brand awareness",aim for a more specific goal like "increase the number of followers for my company's linked in page to 1,000 within a month".Attainable;I will set goals that are realistic and achievable. Relevant:Make sure my goals align with my overall business goals and employer branding strategy. Time-bound:I have set a specific time frame to achieve the goal.

Engage in Continuous Learning: Attend industry conferences, webinars, and workshops to stay updated on trends. Network with Peers: Join employer branding and HR communities for insights and shared best practices. Follow Thought Leaders: Track reputable employer branding experts on social media and LinkedIn for real-time updates. Leverage Data & Analytics: Regularly review brand performance metrics to understand emerging trends. Experiment and Adapt: Test new strategies and adapt based on what resonates with your audience.

Know the vibe of the organization, design communication that you want the advocates to share on platforms, reward and recognise their contributions. Review them, see if that needs to be fine tuned. Monitor what strategies are successful in the market that attracts talent to see if that matches your company vibe, culture, values and employer brand strategy to implement them in your firm.

Before you arrive at the metrics, an important aspect to consider while designing an employee advocacy program is to answer the question, what's in it for them? How are we creating value for these employee advocates? The value needs to be not only incentives or goodies but also something that makes them a better version of themselves. Understand that each of your employee advocates has their brand personality; therefore, just considering them as broadcasters will do little to grow your advocacy program. It's a give and take and not share and broadcast only!

A clear vision and well-defined goals are essential. For instance, if your goal is to boost employer brand awareness, your program could focus on sharing behind-the-scenes content and employee testimonials. If your aim is to create a more inclusive brand experience, prioritize DEI initiatives, share stories of belonging and support. Metrics: followers diversity, engagement of underrepresented groups. To generate more applicants, encourage employees to share job postings, career growth stories. Metrics- referral rates So, before launching or refining your program, map out your destination with concrete examples and a clear path. It's a journey worth taking!

To ensure you choose the best fit for your program, consider these key features: Content Curation: Pre-approved content library, Social media aggregation, Content creation tools Gamification: Badges and leaderboards, Points and rewards, Challenges and campaigns Analytics: Campaign performance metrics, Employee engagement data, ROI measurement Integration: Seamless connection with your existing social media platforms and CRM, Data and analytics integration for holistic program evaluation. Security: Data encryption and user authentication to protect sensitive information Choosing the right tool: Budget, Program goals, Audience size and demographics, Corporate culture Don't forget: Free trials and demos, Employee feedback, Scalability

Para acompanhar tendências e melhores práticas em employer branding e defesa dos funcionários, siga líderes de pensamento e especialistas no LinkedIn, participe de conferências e webinars, e assine newsletters de RH. Engaje-se em comunidades online e fóruns, analise benchmarks de mercado e estude relatórios de tendências de consultorias renomadas. Cursos e workshops também ajudam a manter-se atualizado e inovador.

LinkedIn Elevate is no longer an advocacy tool (AI hasn't caught up yet!) but when selecting, consider: - Do you want employees to contribute content? (Not all tools allow for this capability) - Can you get beyond dashboard data? It's essential that you do to understand content performance - Is it easy to use? If not, your employees won't bother - user experience essential. Test, test, test.

Typically, platforms considered or utilized are those for posting or amplifying content externally or publicly. This leads you to miss out on potential to further foster true advocacy when internal platforms/opportunities are not explored for your employees to talk about/promote their positive experiences to fellow colleagues as well. Townhalls, team cadence, coffee chats, FB Workplace are some platforms that can be utilized to solidify internal employee advocacy and identify possible key brand/employee ambassadors for external campaigns.

Make sure you've considered all possibilities for your budget tools. Reviewing different platforms can reveal aspects you might have overlooked while preparing the EAP plan. The most important aspects to pay attention to are: - Ability to post your own content via the platform (not just sharing ready-made posts). - Ability to segment your participants. - Detailed analytics. - Gamification (a super cool motivational feature).

We created a 4 week LinkedIn challenge with my customer scale up. We created a LinkedIn roadmap with goals, content pillars, tone of voice and other important topics in the kick-off. Then, each week, us trainers gave them small to-dos as homework and new input to get started with LinkedIn. From profile optimization to networking and lastly, content creation. This worked really nicely because we could cheer each other on and always answer questions along the way.

Training your advocates is a must. At our company, we have introduced a thorough 6-month program with the goal of providing employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to represent our brand effectively. The program includes 6 training sessions that cover a wide range of topics, including our employer brand, EVP, USPs, personal branding, social media networking, post reach & optimization, chatbot usage, copywriting, taking pictures & videos and visual content creation. This program is designed to promote both personal and professional development, and to empower our employees to become effective brand ambassadors.

I think employee advocacy is the best way to go about propagating your employer brand. Identify your better performing employees. Educate them about your employer brand. Empower them with tools. Schedule periodic check-ins to gather feedback and improve the messaging.

The channels we are using to convey content to employees are divided into 2 types: internal and external Internal:Viva engage, used to post internal events, internal knowledge, core values, company policies, or inspirational stories and achievements. of members of the company aimed at viewers who are employees in the company.In addition, we also use banners on the company campus to communicate more effectively. External:Facebook and Linked In for content about employee and company achievements, internal event images, and employee life at the company. When employees see these posts,they will unconsciously share these types of content, because this type of content gives them a sense of pride,or has their picture in the post the company posts

Let me share approach to visual content creation. First, start with the basics: share the brandbook and main guidelines with advocates. Create adaptable templates that include options for social media posts, stories, and carousel posts. Ensure these templates are customizable and align with the company’s identity. Next, conduct workshops to demonstrate how to use these materials effectively and present: - color palettes, fonts, and logos - templates for various content types - the specified tone and style for visuals - tips for taking on-brand photos (lighting, composition) - video formats and lengths ideal for different platforms - AI-powered tools to create on-brand color schemes or layouts - mobile apps for quick content creation

Content is crucial for an employee advocacy program. Start by understanding your employees and audience. Tailor your content strategy accordingly. Employee-generated content shows off your unique perspective and expertise. You can highlight your company's culture, values, and achievements. Don't underestimate the value of curated content. Sharing industry news, relevant articles, or insights from others can help position your employees as knowledgeable and well-rounded. Curating content around culture and EVP will ensure purposeful communication. Experiment with different content formats to keep things fresh and engaging for your audience. Authenticity is vital, so ensure your employees are proud to share the content for maximum impact

Understand the employees' interests, preferences, and the platforms they are active on. Tailor the content to resonate with them. Include a variety of content types to keep the employee advocacy program engaging. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, podcasts, industry news, case studies, customer testimonials, and more. Provide content that educates employees about industry trends, company updates, product/service features, and best practices. This empowers them to become knowledgeable advocates for your brand. Share relevant content from external sources such as industry blogs, news articles, or thought leaders. This demonstrates that your employees are knowledgeable about industry trends.

Keeping up with the latest trends and best practices in employer branding and employee advocacy is critical for every employer branding expert. The best way to go about this is to identify the pulse of the organisation, then develop simple and consistent communication that you want your employees to share on various channels & platforms, be it social media, online PR, etc. Formulate a rewarding advocacy program to reward and recognise contributions. Monitor what methods are popular in the market and evaluate if they align with your company's vibe, culture, values, and employer brand strategy. Encourage and incorporate feedback received.

Any program is successful by implementing right recognition and rewarding systems. It encourages and motivates employees to do more. One of the best practices I have experienced in my previous companies are sharing the success, achievements and contributions as how they made a difference and how they stand out of the crowd is through providing badges on their company website profile internally also giving shout-outs on social platforms. It is also incentivised as someone who has received consistent badges for 3 quarters. This was it helps employees to keep them motivated, involved and engaged.

There are two ways to motivate your employees: a) tangible benefits and b) intangible benefits. Some of the examples of tangible benefits are small gifts – movie tickets, dinner coupons, or company’s merch. Experimenting with such tools can be worth it, but they will only work if people willing to engage in communicating on social media are motivated internally, too. When it comes to intangible benefits, employees can be motivated with opportunities to learn during the advocacy programmes (e.g., training), encouragement from management, and later – mentioning successful examples during company meetings. Finally and most importantly, employees should understand that their contribution helps to strengthen their own personal brands, too.

Your best advocates are rarely motivated by prizes and rewards. Consider those priceless experiences that go a long way to reinforcing loyalty: - Time with exec teams - Shout-outs on town hall calls - Engagement from executives on social - Opportunities to share and encourage others - Content creation support to build their influence

Social media spotlights: Feature top advocates on your company's social media channels, highlighting their contributions and success stories. Internal newsletters and publications: Showcase top performers in company newsletters or internal publications, recognizing their achievements and inspiring others. Team meetings and recognition programs: During team meetings or company-wide events, publicly applaud your advocates and their impactful contributions

Use your chosen metrics: Remember those SMART goals and chosen metrics? They become your performance dashboard. Track website traffic, social media engagement, leads generated, employee participation, etc. Analyze the data to understand what's driving results and where there's room for improvement.

Regularly review the performance of your employer branding and employee advocacy initiatives. Analyze the data, gather feedback, and make adjustments as needed to improve effectiveness and achieve your goals.

Analyzing data and metrics from your employee advocacy program is indeed a crucial way to stay on top of trends and improve your current initiatives. Key metrics to track: - Participation rate: the percentage of employees actively involved in the program. - Content engagement: the number of likes, shares, and comments on employee-shared content. - Reach: the total audience size reached through employees’ networks. - Sentiment analysis: surveys measuring program satisfaction and perceived impact. Content performance: - identify which types of content generate the most engagement. - analyze performance by topics, formats (video, text, images), or posts timing. Don’t forget to track trends over time to spot growth or areas for improvement.

Keeping Up with Trends in Employer Branding and Employee Advocacy 1. Follow Industry Leaders Subscribe to influencers on LinkedIn and Twitter for insights. 2. Join Professional Associations Engage with organizations like SHRM for resources and networking. 3. Attend Conferences and Webinars Participate in events to learn from experts and network. 4. Read Industry Publications Stay informed through blogs and articles from sources like Harvard Business Review. 5. Engage in Online Communities Join forums or groups to discuss trends and share experiences. 6. Conduct Regular Surveys Gather feedback from employees and candidates about your brand. 7. Experiment and Analyze Test new strategies, analyze results, and adjust based on insights.

Treat your employee advocacy program like a garden that needs regular tending. Utilize a 'Feedback Loop Greenhouse' where input from your advocates and audience can grow into actionable insights. Employ a mix of analytics and personal stories to measure the health of your program—like monitoring both the sunlight and the soil. Celebrate the wins in a 'Success Showcase', spotlighting standout advocates and their stories, fertilizing your program with positive recognition. Periodically, host 'Program Hackathons' inviting advocates to brainstorm innovations, ensuring your advocacy efforts remain vibrant, fruitful, and aligned with both employee passions and business goals.