Turning Employees into Brand Ambassadors - Building A Work Environment the Engages Your Employees

Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective marketing approaches obtainable, and the fire has been fueled by the emergence of social media and other internet platforms. Companies are aware of this, and many collaborate with celebrities, athletes, and other high-profile people to represent their brand and promote their products or services.

But consider this: who knows your brand's values, goods, and services better than your own employees? In essence, they are already the face of your firm.

What is the role of an employee brand ambassador??

Every current or former employee who actively commits to distributing corporate-related material and promoting items to their network is considered an employee brand ambassador.

These acts might be spontaneous or part of a structured staff advocacy campaign. In any case, having workers serve as brand ambassadors typically result in increased social media reach and engagement, which eventually leads to a rise in brand recognition and business performance. According to one MSL research, it improves by a whopping 561 percent when workers share a brand message.

If your employees are already proud of their workplace, they are likely already taking measures to become brand ambassadors in their circles. They're bragging to their peers about their excellent job, passing out business cards at casual events, and even encouraging their friends to apply for new positions. They are the GUERILLA marketing squad you didn't know you needed.

To help nudge them to become even more aware advocates, here are a few simple methods to urge your staff to become brand ambassadors for you:

Prioritize Brand Awareness: Corporate Branding 101?

Gallup polled over 3,000 randomly chosen employees on their agreement with the statement, "I know what my company stands for and what differentiates our brand from our rivals."

Surprisingly, just 41% of employees strongly agreed with this assertion. According to this figure, more than half of the individuals questioned were unaware of their company's brand positioning and distinction. How can your staff execute on the brand identity promise if they don't know what it is? As a leader, you must educate and embody the brand so that your staff may learn from your example.

Establish an Internal Marketing Plan

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It is critical to understand what you want to achieve, how you plan to get there, and how to assess success. Consider this an internal marketing strategy. During the planning stages, you can solicit employee feedback and ideas. This is an excellent approach to make them feel valued and a part of the process right from the start.

Identify Workers Who Are Already Influencers

Employees and alumni who already know how to inspire and connect with people are ideal candidates to become brand ambassadors for your firm. Learn about your workers' interests and who has the most active influencer presence, either in person or on social media. At the very least, they are the people you may target to work on brand-building projects. Develop your brand ambassadors through a systematic program and provide lots of credit to the most significant influencers who support you by sharing content.

Create a Community?

It is critical to creating a solid corporate culture and a community where workers can join together for work and non-work-related activities in order to transform them into brand ambassadors. Feeling a part of something larger than oneself may enhance individual and group morale, resulting in high levels of engagement and retention. It will also most likely inspire people to contribute more frequently inside communal areas designed for teams, departments, and communities of interest.

Engaging the Disengaged Employees?

Employees that are disengaged have a far more significant negative impact than you would believe. Even actively engaged individuals can be adversely harmed by low morale within a team if other team members' levels of engagement fall - it's like a dark cloud looming over the team.

So, what's the solution? You may replace disengaged workers in the future with wiser recruitment tactics that place a greater emphasis on identifying better cultural fits.

"Employer turnover is costly. Hiring based on shared values and cultural beliefs leads to winning results." – Brent Gleeson, Contributor at Forbes.

Or, disengaged members can be turned to engaged employees by enhanced workforce rules and processes and more excellent knowledge of the requirements of the individuals. To increase levels of involvement, you may better distribute skills throughout the organization, and new flexible working arrangements can be used.

Encourage Advocacy on Social Media

In today's market, failing to take advantage of what social media offers is the equivalent of losing a game in which customer loyalty and spending are the rewards. Social media is the quickest method to contact your customers; having an active Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google +, or YouTube account is a requirement for any company to engage with its target audience.?

One account can only do so much for a corporation; imagine how much more powerful this impact would be if the brand messaging were funneled through tens or thousands of personal accounts of brand ambassadors.

Recognize and Reward Their Efforts and Accomplishments

Thirty-six percent of employees cite a lack of recognition as their primary reason for leaving. In contrast, the same factor is cited by 69 percent of American workers as a source of dissatisfaction. These statistics demonstrate the significance of informing your staff how much you appreciate their efforts and thanking them for their contributions. Always take advantage of opportunities to recognize staff accomplishments and victories publicly.

Gather Input from Workers and Members Regularly

"What gets measured, gets attention," as the old saying goes. If you want your workers to care about becoming a brand ambassador, you must sufficiently and effectively quantify it. This entails conducting yearly staff engagement surveys as well as frequent feedback studies with members via various channels.

Final Recommendations?

Not everyone is a networking or social media whiz; in fact, most employees may require some training to become better brand ambassadors. Support, nurture, and celebrate your workers with the same zeal that you do your brand - every small gesture of appreciation counts; inform them that they are all "faces" of your firm who reflect your brand. Give them the information, tools, and time they need to develop into the role of brand ambassador. Brand ambassadors are proud of their brand; provide your workers with something to be proud of.