2023 – The Year of the “Employee Influencer”

Last week, LinkedIn released a list of the “20 Big Ideas that will shape 2023 ”.

My big idea or prediction, if you like, is that 2023 will be the year of the “employee influencer”.

What is an employee influencer?

Simply this (my definition):

An employee influencer is an employee who intentionally builds their personal brand, outside of their day job, and leverages this brand to influence and increase the impact of their work in their employment.

There are three key words in this definition.

The employee influencer must be:

1. Intentional about building their personal brand - this won’t happen by accident. It is a goal that they intentionally pursue.
2. Externally focused - they love their job, yes, but they recognise that the vision/cause they're championing is greater than their day job. It relates to the wider world at large.
3. Able to leverage their brand - this is where the value comes in for both the influencer and the organisation they work for. The influencer is able to leverage the personal brand they've built to produce direct business results for the organisation they work for.

An employee influencer is a slight departure from the more familiar term of "employee advocate".

Whilst the employee advocate serves primarily to promote and support their company brand, an employee influencer seeks to contribute to the wider topic their role represents, rather than just the job itself.

In 2023, employees will wake up to the power of their personal brand and use this to create more influence, income and impact in their jobs and beyond.

It will no longer be uncommon to see employee influencers creating content and building large followings on platforms like LinkedIn.

So, how do you get in on the act as an employee?

3 top tips to become an employee influencer

1) Own your personal brand

Recognise that your personal brand belongs to you, not your employer. Treasure it like the virtual real estate that it is and invest time and knowledge to build and grow it.

2) Embrace your authentic voice

The best influencers have their own voice. Find yours, use yours. That's what will make you stand out and build an audience of your own to influence.

3) Show up consistently

Influencing isn’t a one and done affair. If you want to become an employee influencer, you need to commit to the process and carve out the time to show up consistently on social media with your own original content.

On the other side of the coin, if you're an organisation looking to develop employee influencers from within, here's how to make it happen.

3 top tips to encourage your employees to become influencers

1) Model it in your senior leadership

It's not enough to just encourage staff to be visible on platforms like LinkedIn, you have to model it by getting senior leaders involved in leading the way. This provides a much better green light signal to the rest of the organisation than any colourful brochure your Communications department can produce. This will give your employee influencers the permission they need to do what they already want to do.

On that note...

2) De-regulate the corporate brand from the Communications team

I'm not saying fire your Comms team (my background is Comms so these are my people!), but what I am saying is that building the corporate brand on LinkedIn and beyond should not be seen as a “Comms activity”. The whole organisation must buy into it in order for it to work. Your employee influencers can lead the way in this process.

3) Openly recognise and celebrate influencers

You get more of the behaviour you celebrate, so if more employee influencers is what you want, openly celebrate those team members who are already active on platforms like LinkedIn. Value your existing employee influencers and it’ll be easier to create more of them.

2023 will be the year of employee influencers, whether the workplace is ready for it or not.

Companies that recognise the need to “free” their employees to become employee influencers will benefit from the associated increase in brand recognition and trust.

Companies that refuse to get on board will lose their influential employees to more forward-thinking competitors.

Which side will you find yourself on?

Share your thoughts in the comments...

About the Author

Mildred Talabi is a Personal Branding Coach, Speaker and Trainer who specialises in helping female leaders and women in business to increase their influence, income and impact through being visible on LinkedIn.

As an accomplished entrepreneur with a background in Journalism, PR and Communications, Mildred draws on her combined career and life experience to provide women leaders with the confidence, tools and opportunity to be visible on LinkedIn and beyond, allowing them to excel in their professional and personal lives.

Mildred has authored four books to date, including her popular LinkedIn playbook, Start Being Visible . Outside of work, she lives in Kent (UK) with her husband and two young daughters, and loves to binge on books, podcasts and movies in her spare time.?

For booking enquiries, send Mildred a DM via LinkedIn, or contact her via her website .?

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