Over the past 12-24 months we’ve seen more businesses realise that their employees are their greatest asset when it comes to social media

Social Media is something that the marketing department can direct and strategize and analyse, but social media is not exclusively the domain of the marketing department

Everyone across the business can be a shining ambassador for the greater good

But what we’re finding increasingly is Managing Directors, Marketing Directors and those in control don’t full understand what Employee Advocacy is

So in our latest blog we break it down so everybody fully understands it

WHAT YOUR BOSS THINKS EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY IS?
You’ve all been there

You’ve had the email from marketing or your boss that barks at you to share the LinkedIn Company Page updates or post the latest blog link on Twitter

And that’s the beginning and end of what your boss often sees as Employee Advocacy

An order barked as you with no explanation, no strategy and no measurement afterwards

Inevitably the boss keeps barking and the staff keep ignoring and within a few months even the boss has stopped barking

WHAT EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY ACTUALLY IS?
Employees sharing what they do within the company in a way that shows passion for their role and the company itself

When multiple people do this it builds the businesses brand as well as the individuals personal brand

It is not just clicking the share button on company updates

And this is how you enable this to happen

An Open Conversation
It all starts with a conversation

Not a lecture, but a conversation

Laying out the benefits of the social media for the individuals and what the company hopes to achieve, but also asking employees what they think of the companies social media and online content

You might have a team of 20 people who are passionate about social media, but of which 19 out of 20 feel the content the company shares really isn’t worth sharing

Equally you might have a team of 20 people who love what the company is sharing, but aren’t confident of their skill set on social media and would like support or training before they do something online they worry could look bad for themselves or the company

The problems with bosses not having a discussion with staff is it makes assumptions that the companies marketing is great and that everyone in the organisation knows how to use social media

Training
Once you’ve had that open conversation every person in the business should be trained up

The mechanics, the marketing message, time management and analytics

And how the individual profiles fit in the scheme of the companies output

Importantly don’t just leave the training to those self-proclaimed novices – include the self-proclaimed professionals as well

In my experience training across organisations those people that say they’ve been using XXXX for years aren’t anywhere near as well versed with the platforms as they think they are

Practice, Empowerment and Freedom
For some once they know how to use the platforms and the type of content that works on each platform they will get it straight away

They’ll have the confidence to post frequently and to make a real impact

They understand that it’s their personality that is key on social media, not just clicking share and they look for opportunities and ideas to post about like a journalist would

For others even though they know how to use the platforms it will be a slower process

They might need to practice, they might need a second opinion initially on posts and they might need that confidence boost from those around them

Rally behind these people – give them hints and really tell them when they’ve done well

When it’s outside your comfort zone a little encouragement goes a long way

Gamification
After everyone is up to speed it’s time to add a little gamification

A little competition each week as to who has done the best posts

And note it might not always be the post that reaches the most or gets the most comments

It might be the post that is the most creative

Analysis
Monthly analysis against the companies KPI’s

Every company will have different goals, and this is a blog in itself, but you might want to look at

– Web Traffic from Social
– Company Page Followers
– Number Of Posts
– Reach Of Posts
– Leads
– Sales

Feedback & More Conversations
In one sentence – Social Media becomes part of the weekly agenda in meetings

– Once a week write down a list of the positive social media highlights and share them across the organisation in weekly meetings

– Hero members of staff who have had their moment in the spotlight

– Acknowledge negatives – but only to accentuate how much of a positive the changes will make

– Show the impact of how social media impacts the organisation & ask members of staff how you would improve the social media for the business

Only when social media becomes part of the weekly meetings does it get thought of all the time

NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

We offer Social Media Training on
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Blogging

We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Skype

Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 500+ LinkedIn testimonials and is Ranked Number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.