Social media is a part of our everyday lives. Over 5 billion people are on social media platforms every day; almost 65% of our world’s total population. In the United States alone, 70% of people are actively engaged with social media channels and YouTube and Facebook top the charts as the platforms that are most widely used.
With so many on these types of platforms, it is understandable that businesses see a huge opportunity to market via social. But people today only follow brands that are tied to their interests and needs. So how do you make sure that your brand peaks your consumer’s interest? Creating the buzz is half the battle. But leveraging your team to work as “influencers” of your brand can help build trust and credibility as well as broaden your reach. But what does “employee influencers” actually mean?
Why Employee Influencers Are a Game-Changer for Modern Brands
Modern brands understand that in order to grow your business and reach new audiences, you have to consider where those audiences are turning to for content. More people today receive content via social and video platforms and follow individuals within a community that they can connect with and relate to. Influencers help to bridge that gap and create the community with a level of trust that businesses don’t always speak to.
Smart businesses also realize the power of authenticity and tap into what makes their brand unique and credible by showcasing that to their consumers. Employees are one of the best ways to deliver that message. Who better to share your vision and values as a brand than the people that represent those values each and every day. Employees are the face of the brand and a source of trustworthy information that people can truly relate to. And the fact is that people will be able to emotionally connect with a brand if there is a real human attached to the content that the brand is putting out.
Almost 90% of the network of your employee base is new to your brand. This allows for a new audience to get tapped into and allows you an opportunity to familiarize them with your business. In addition, user-generated content is huge, and 79% of people say that user-generated content impacts their decisions when making a purchase.
How to Build a Winning Employee Influencer Program
In order to bulld a strong employee influencer program, you must first identify your true brand ambassadors. You want people who will come off as authentic and not forced and who genuinely want to share news about your brand’s products and/or services.
Once you have determined the employee voices, provide them with any guidelines for branding and content creation. Their content should align with your brand’s values and goals so make sure that they understand anything that is not allowed or any restrictions to posts.
Encourage your team to put out genuine content that tells a story and that their audience could possibly engage with. Informing your team of best practices as well as any challenges that they may face will help to level set the expectations of all parties involved.
Measuring Success: Evaluating the Impact of Employee Advocacy
It can be hard to measure success from any influencer campaign, so it can be that much more challenging to measure your employee influencers. Make sure that you are reviewing their engagement rate on the posts about the brand, as well as any brand mentions. There are tracking tools that if agreed upon can be leveraged to measure and monitor campaign performance from any employee-generated content.
In order to avoid burnout and any change of tone and authentic content, set clear expectations from the beginning around the quantity of content they will create and promote on their social platforms. Allow them some creative freedom to post with their own style as long as it meets brand guidelines, and celebrate any success to maintain employee enthusiasm and keep the program moving forward. There is a long-term value to fostering brand loyalty amongst your employee network, and you want to make sure that once your employees are recognized as faces of your brand that they are happy and connected to the organization.
Leverage Your Team as Content Creators
With the rising trend of influencer marketing and it’s ability to drive results, turning your employees into influencers is a win-win. Employee influencers can help your brand to save on expensive marketing costs. They can also help align your audience with members of your brand that share your organization’s values. Start leveraging your workforce today and strengthen your brand with employee influencers.
For more on influencer marketing services and how it can positively impact your business and performance, call our team at HardPart Media today!
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