You're looking to improve your corporate communications strategy. How can employee advocacy platforms help?

Employees and clients/users are the best ambassadors companies may have. They know the backstage of the companies and the "behind the scenes" of products and services. Therefore, these platforms may bring contributions by the employees content about themes like the how the company's offers to the market are efficient, how the company follows ESG policies or is trying to do it, historical facts and internal environment. Also, this is a way to make employees part of the company's storytelling and external image construction.

Employees are the brand. They represent the organization and reflect its culture. And they increasingly do this online, on platforms like LinkedIn and websites like Glassdoor. Employees often want to share information about the organization they work for, and smart communicators will empower them to do this by providing content, be it words, images or videos. You can go one step further and use aggregator apps to push content to employees, so they can share online. You can gamify the experience and reward your best employee ambassadors (my favorite is Sprinklr). When done well, this can improve brand reputation, raise employee pride and even boost sales.

Employee advocacy platforms like Sprout Social are ideal for engaging employees to get them started as brand ambassadors as an echo effect for sharing everything you are doing as a company. Start small, roll it out to a few teams first, gain success, then roll it out to the entire company. Key is having senior leaders engaged and supportive as they walk the talk for all employees to be ambassadors for your company!

Just be careful that technology only is never the sole solution. Methodology, authenticity, working culture, trust,... are important factors to make it work

Employee Advocacy platforms can become powerful tool to improve Corporate Communication Strategy in many ways like amplifying the brand messages, boosting brand visibility which ultimately drives engagements as the employee becomes more of brand ambassadors and being vocal of company culture and values. For a brand such platforms provide an opportunity to get enhanced employer branding with Authentic storytelling with all brand guidelines being followed. On top of that Employee advocacy platforms are cost-effective, scalable, and measure compared to traditional channels. To get the full value out it requires careful planning and execution by the Corporate Communication team.

Your employees are your best advocates—make it easy for them to share your brand, culture, and products with the world. By creating content that’s easy for employees to share, you tap into a network of folks hearing from their peer about your company or products. They can choose what they share based on what’s most authentic to them—while still telling the brand story. A sea of brand ambassadors! Your employees content can reach the right folks to impact recruitment, by showcasing culture and benefits to working at your company. This might not be easily measurable but it’s often an apparent outcome when employee advocacy programs are done well. Your employees are your best brand ambassadors—help them help you!

Let's face it, today your company page isn't reaching your audience. Organic company page content represents a tiny proportion of the average feed and individual posts reach a tiny percentage of your audience. Your page might have a million followers but only reach a thousand of them - and many of those are going to be your own employees! You can use paid of course to get those volumes and drive awareness among specific segments, but you have to hit that same audience multiple times to gain any real traction. Meanwhile, you have employees who will have peers, influencers, and decision makers within their personal networks. If you're not enabling them to drive awareness of your brand, key messages, and offers, then you're out of your mind!

Observations suggest that employee advocacy platforms play a pivotal role in transforming corporate communication. Through these platforms, employees become active contributors to the company's narrative, sharing content that goes beyond official announcements. This decentralized expands the reach of messages and also lends authenticity to the communication, as it stems from the diverse voices within the organization. Employee advocacy also fosters a more human and relatable image for the company, as employees share insights into their work, achievements, and even the challenges they overcome. This personal connection resonates well with audiences and enhances the overall reputation of the organization.

Employee advocacy platforms bring you three core benefits. 1) Provide you with a structured way to assimilate the message to your brand ambassadors 2) Easy way for brand ambassadors to customize/push their message through their channels - all in one place 3) Measure the impact through analytics by identifying key influencers and helping them to enhance their content further and reach. Moreover, it also provides a great avenue for organs as well as individuals to get into a habit of building an authentic and content-driven brand.

Employee advocacy platforms put your best content at your entire workforce's fingertips. If you have a solid content marketing team and are creating content that's engaging and insightful, then deplying a good employee advocacy tool will help you get more mileage out of it. It'll broaden your brand's reach which leads to better brand awareness. People trust people more than they trust brands - let your brand's employees share the good things on its behalf. It's a win-win because it also gets your people more engaged and keeps them better informed.

By telling the story from their own experiences, employees are the best brand ambassadors to their organizations. An employee who is highly engaged can enhance your brand’s reputation from their own personal experiences and encourage others to join the organization resulting in the best recruiting tool to the HR department. Also, employees involved in Business Resources Groups sponsored by the enterprise are allowed to contribute in other areas aligned with their personal beliefs or mission, aside from their day-to-day responsibilities. On the contrary, an employee who is not motivated or recognized for their contributions can undermine your company's reputation.

Empowering employees to share curated content, industry insights, and company updates across their networks, helps amplify the reach of brand messaging. This organic dissemination not only extends the brand's digital footprint but also fosters authenticity, as messages are shared through the trusted voices of employees. Employees who become brand ambassadors nurture a sense of pride and connection that resonates externally. Furthermore, employee advocacy platforms facilitate the seamless alignment of corporate messaging with individual expertise. Positioned as thought leaders in their respective domains, employees contribute to a dynamic and diversified narrative. This enhances a brand's credibility and positions it as an authority.

In my opinion, providing company professionals with corporate content significantly strengthens the positioning of key messages. Teams amplify reach and add credibility, becoming one of the most effective advocates for any brand strategy. Aligning the message is essential for it to resonate, and internal talent is undoubtedly the best channel to achieve this

As a useful rule of thumb, any corporate communication effort must seek to fine tune internal communication to earn the trust of the employees. The staff of the company must see themselves as key stakeholders hence, they willingly offer their loyalty. Being strategic about leveraging the internal arsenal as the vehicle that conveys the brand's image is a veritable tool for positive image. Indeed, employee advocacy platform has an overarching effect on the brand's communication success. However, the approach to getting the buy-in of the employee must be tacit and appealing to earn their genius, passion, loyalty and tenacious creativity which can only be gotten through volunteering.

If and when employees talk positively about the organization, people tend to believe this more than when the same messaging comes from brand. Here is my question: When is the last time you talked to a logo? You talk to people, they are your brand

Employee advocacy programs can transform the employees into brand advocates/influencers, thus helping the brand to increase organic reach and open up new avenues for engagement. A successful advocacy program encourages employees to voice their love and enthusiasm for the brand they work for, which in turn helps in attracting the right talents.

Employee advocacy programs give employees a voice and enable them to spread the word about your company on your behalf. Find those "eNPS Promoters" and engage them to promote the company, both internally and externally. It offers them the chance to take somewhat of a leadership and spokesperson position, even informally, and shows that employee engagement is organic and not just something corporately mandated -- these people really do enjoy working for your company, let them say why and start the momentum so others do too!

Think of employee advocacy platforms as the turbocharged boosters propelling your company's engagement rocket into the stratosphere! They're like the secret sauce that turns your team into a squad of engagement superheroes, spreading the word and igniting excitement across the entire organization. With these platforms, it's not just about communication—it's about creating a dynamic, buzzing community where every employee feels like a valued part of the action-packed adventure!

Authenticity amplifies your brands credibility. By empowering your team and transforming them into brand ambassadors, it will drive engagement, trust and eventual growth.

It's all about relatability. An employee celebrating a company's success for instance not only communicates that success (building brand awareness and reputation to new networks), but also the feeling that they contributed to that success. It personalizes the message, while also instilling a feeling of pride for the employee in the accomplishment. It also creates an opportunity for your people to build their personal brands, in relation to your business. An employee advocacy program provides benefits all around.

Employee advocacy is the most intimate digital channel there is, because it enables you to have a 1-1 conversation with your audience. You may not get the volume in terms of traffic etc that you can with paid, but the quality will be much higher. Give your advocates the skills and content support to grow their networks and build personal relationships with target decision makers and their influencers; help them establish authority and trust; and equip them to spot opportunities to land the right message at the right time. This is how to truly nurture an audience and ultimately build pipeline.

One thing I found interesting is that Employee advocacy platforms enable companies to leverage their employees' personal and professional networks to amplify brand reach, build credibility, and drive targeted marketing efforts. When employees have the tools and are motivated to easily share content and track engagement on these platforms, brand visibility and trust will increase, qualified leads will be attracted, and these will ultimately lead to higher sales conversions.

Employee advocacy platforms facilitate lead generation and sales by harnessing the power of employees' personal networks. When employees share content about your products or services, they reach a wider audience that includes their connections who may be interested in what your company offers. This word-of-mouth marketing approach not only increases brand visibility but also leverages the trust and credibility that employees have with their networks, resulting in more qualified leads and higher conversion rates.

Employee advocacy platforms are instrumental in generating more leads and sales by leveraging the power of trusted internal voices to expand the brand's reach and influence. These platforms enable employees to share compelling content, product updates, and customer success stories with their personal networks, effectively tapping into a broader audience base. By harnessing the authenticity and credibility of employee endorsements, organizations can enhance brand visibility, attract qualified leads, and nurture relationships with potential customers. Additionally, employee advocacy fosters a culture of engagement and collaboration, encouraging employees to actively participate in the sales process by providing referrals and insights.

Ao alinhar estrategicamente as práticas de defesa dos funcionários com as estratégias de marketing e vendas, as empresas podem criar uma narrativa poderosa e autêntica que ressoa com os consumidores, resultando em leads mais qualificados e impulsionando as vendas.

By taking a digital audit of all systems and channels utilized by employees, organizations can determine behavioral-based insights for best employee engagement, including: when (days/times) team members are most engaged, what channels their team is most likely to utilize for communication, and the easiest tools for the best employee experience. Remember, engagement tools and functions don't have to be expensive, they just have to be smart.

At the end of the day, it's about its usability - it needs to be easy and appealing to end users. Sure, we all want fancy features, integration with other systems and advanced analytics, but ultimately, our success will depend on whether or not the platform is actually being used. Used repeatedly and used often. So when choosing the right platform for your business, make sure your end users are involved and on board with your choice.

Start by clearly defining your objectives, whether it's boosting brand awareness, driving engagement, or achieving specific marketing outcomes. Prioritize scalability, compatibility with existing systems, and a user-friendly interface to ensure seamless integration and optimal employee participation. Look for platforms that offer robust content management and approval processes, analytics for performance tracking, compliance features, and security measures to protect sensitive information. Consider the availability of training resources and ongoing support, and explore platforms with gamification elements to enhance employee engagement.

1.User-Friendly Interface: Opt for a platform with an intuitive interface to ensure easy adoption 2.Integration Capabilities:Ensure the platform integrates seamlessly with your existing tools customization to align with your company's brand and messaging. 3.Analytics and Reporting: Choose a platform with robust analytics to track employee engagement,and the impact of shared content 4.Compliance and Security: Prioritize platforms that adhere to data privacy regulations and offer security features to protect sensitive information. 5.Mobile Accessibility:Confirm that the platform is accessible via mobile devices 6.Scalability:Consider the scalability of the platform to accommodate the growth of your employee

La plate-forme à utiliser est d'une importance capitale car donner l'information à une cible qui ne se soucis pas des entreprises ne servirait pas à grand chose. De même que donner la parole à des profanes sur certains sujets pourrait avoir des retombées négatives

Employee advocacy platforms can enhance corporate communications by: Amplifying Reach: Employees share company messages, increasing brand visibility and engagement. Authenticity: Employee advocacy adds a human touch, fostering trust and authenticity in corporate communication. Content Distribution: Facilitates easy sharing of official content, ensuring consistent messaging across various channels. Employee Engagement: Involving employees in sharing company updates fosters a sense of belonging and engagement. Social Media Presence: Boosts company's social media presence through the collective reach of employees' networks. Thought Leadership: Positions employees as industry thought leaders, enhancing the company's reputation.

Things to consider when using employees as your influencers Content - different employees have a huge following for different content. You need to align with them to ensure the content you post and what they post resonate with their audience. Strategy - Your social media strategy should be flexible enough to enable them to push the message. If an employee strategy is to use stories and your strategy does not use that path, then the employee audience may not relate to the company message. Learn - allow your employees to tweak your messages in a way followers will understand. They can pass the same message as you differently and theirs gets more traction with a simple magic. Be willing to learn from your potential influencers.

If you want this sort of thing to work, remember that trust is essential. Without psychological safety, there is no trust, and without trust, there is no sharing that is genuine. It's that simple. Create that trust if you want people to share honestly. And remember - if you're the boss, there's NEVER as much psychological safety as you think there is. Sure, there can be a lot, but it'll never be as good as you think it is. The numbers are clear on that. But it's still worth doing your best to foster that trust anyway - even if it'll never be perfect!

One effective method for harnessing employees as 'amplifiers' is to establish a reward mechanism for social media champions within the organization. This approach recognizes that, beyond loyalty, the employees choose to leverage their personal social media platforms for the benefit of the organization.

Mais importante que a escolha da plataforma, é a defini??o dos objetivos do programa de Employee Advocacy da sua empresa. Com os objetivos definidos, é hora de implantar e divulgar o programa para o público interno.