If companies want to be successful in navigating today’s corporate terrain, we need more from our employees. We need more imagination, more drive, more innovation. But how do we get employees, who are creating good work as it is, to do more and offer great work? How do we get more, without spending more? And then, how do we make sure our workers feel like their making a difference in the company mission? And how can employee advocacy tools help?
We engage our employees.
Employees who feel connected to their workplace are more innovative and productive. They want to do great work because they’re proud of what they do. And, they’re excited by who they’re doing it with. Business and engagement strategies should be intimately connected. The best companies build and sustain a culture of engagement. They’re led by CEOs who understand employee engagement isn’t just a “nice-to-have,” but instead is the foundation to success.
But technology has changed human behavior. Too many brands have written off employee engagement, leaving it for the social team to “manage.” Social teams have been built too much like the organizational charts that were created around the same time as the US railroad system and expected to operate all communication efforts for the brand in a decentralized modern 21st century culture.
It hasn’t worked.
Brands have pivoted into using these outreach channels as an extension of their advertising campaigns. It’s left these platforms riddled with ads and branded content. And it’s left little room for people to engage with other people – dehumanizing the essence of what connects people in a global manner in the mobile era we live in.
Because brands have abused the channels they’ve lived on, treating them like an ad network rather than a connection platform, companies have been left scratching their heads why they’re not seeing engagement.
Geoffrey Colon, who wrote Disruptive Marketing said, brand will continue to be ignored while the influencers you pay are starting to run into the same issues of all paid endorsements. It’s time to pay attention to your employees who can be the most transparent, authentic and trustworthy advocates for your brand.
Your employees have, on average, around 10 times more connections on social media than your brand has alone, according to a study from Social Chorus. That means your company of 500 employees on payroll can easily reach some 5,000 more people than your marketing department alone by creating engaged brand advocates.
If advocacy is part of your content strategy, here are five seriously helpful employee advocacy tools you may (or may not) know to get you started.
1. Oktopost
Our friends at Oktopost own the B2B social media management realm with lead scoring and nurturing programs, social data and marketing automation. And now they’ve added an employee advocacy arm. Teams that already run on Oktopost for social media marketing, adding in the advocacy piece is a cinch. And because the platform integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot and Marketing, they support closed-loop reporting.
In collaboration with other types of employee advocacy tools (ahem, like email signature marketing), social employee advocacy can boost your reach by 800 percent. Check out this 20-minute webinar we co-hosted with the group last month.
2. EveryoneSocial
The employee advocacy platform has been around since 2012 and has established itself as a leader in the space. Currently, the platform is being utilized by professionals in 100+ countries worldwide from some of the largest organizations in the world. And while EveryoneSocial’s employee advocacy platform empowers sales and marketing teams, other departments have caught on to the impact as well.
The platform has grown to help improve internal communications, employer branding and driving more employee engagement. Some of their customers have gone completely company-wide, giving everyone in the company a chance to get involved. Some of their top product features include group content organization, real-time discussions, numerous integrations, mobile apps, the built-in Salesforce app, and much more. If you are looking for a robust social employee advocacy program that drives ROI, EveryoneSocial might be right for your organization.
3. Structural
Using Structural, every employee can build and maintain a profile that details their professional accomplishments and personality. So, if you’re a kickass writer with several industry awards under your belt, but also hate being the center of attention, your coworkers (and superiors) can still see your accomplishments. While leaders can find and nurture talent within the organization to use your current systems to create new value.
And, the employee advocacy tools help companies get to know their people better, lets employees create deeper connections (read: loyalty) and maximize your team’s effectiveness. Coworkers can find common interests and feelings about the company and culture. And, managers can deliver questions to employees to get their feedback on the important issues that shape your foundation.
By creating a deeper connection with your employees, they’re more likely to pay attention to your content, sharing it with their network through email and social media. Building loyalty within your brand builds advocates, and advocates amplify.
4. Hootsuite Amplify
Data from the +10 million users on Hootsuite show an 8x jump on engagement when employees share social content and 24x more re-shares. Furthermore, some 92 percent of employees’ followers are new to your brand. Which means with every post they share, someone in their network discovers your brand. And employee advocacy tools and technology, like this one,
Hootsuite Amplify gives your employees options of content to share to their networks. And brands use the platform to optimize your content creation strategy because you can see which content is shared and engaged with most. You can also check out who’s sharing the most to track results, so recognizing high-achievers is easy.
5. Easy Advocacy
Easy Advocacy is one of the most user-friendly employee advocacy tools on the market. And it’s free! Although the tool is from Agorapulse, you don’t need an Agorapulse subscription. Simply log in with your LinkedIn profile and enter your distribution list. Then, create your campaign and send it on its way to your distribution list. As an admin, you’ll get stats on click-throughs and your most productive employees. It’s currently available in English and French. Double your advocacy pleasure!
