At my previous company, I was told to connect my social media accounts to a "tool" and pump out all that lovely corporate content that was produced.
But actually that isn't employee advocacy, that is pumping out corporate content.
Employee advocacy is activating your employees to talk on social, importantly, in their own voice.
Scary I know, but that's where training is required so they understand what is good and bad behaviour. No different health and safety, diversity and inclusion or sexual harassment training. Companies have to invest in their people so that it eliminate "mishaps".
Our workplace has changed and we must invest in our employees so they are trained in this new way of working.
Why would you do this?
The modern buyer is bored of being told how great your company is. I have to admit that all your competitors say exactly the same. Corporate content is a 1:1 draw.
The modern buyer is looking for insight, they are looking to be educated, the are looking for a connection with a brand. Saying "buy today, 30% off" does not create an emotional connection. An article written by an employee, that offers insight does.
Note, I'm the CEO of a company and I'm writing, what I hope is a useful piece of advice for you.
I'm aware of a Managing Director of a car dealer that gets 25 leads a month through is activity on LinkedIn. He doesn't say how great the company is, he creates discussions. I've had a discussion with him on LinkedIn about Alloy wheels. Might not be your subject area, but this is just a metaphor for all business.
Now here's the thing. You employees ARE on social and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Maybe it's time to embrace this, before somebody makes a big mistake!
If you have an employee advocacy platform currently or are doing research on selecting one, you might have read the title of this post with a question mark in your mind. And while social sharing and leveraging employees social media accounts are core pillars of employee advocacy, the technology and the way it’s used is evolving. It’s time for organizations to see the numerous uses employee advocacy platforms have besides enabling employees to share content to their social networks. Below, I’m going to dive into some history of the employee advocacy platform and how this technology should be used for more than just sharing content.
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