Turning Employees Into Brand Ambassadors
6 Tips for Utilizing Your Brand's Greatest Assets Online.
Imagine that you had, sitting on your team right now, three to five of the very best brand ambassadors any C-suite executive could ever wish for. I mean real Rockstar unicorns, the kind no one believes exist, with great networks and influence within them. The kind of employees with the ability to increase your brand reputation, invite inquiry from potential customers, and actually produce revenue growth.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Now for a reality check:
If you had those unicorns, would you know how to utilize them to their fullest potential?
What? Not the reality check you were expecting?
Did you think we were going to say those unicorns don’t exist?
We’re asking a lot of questions on this one, huh?
Here’s the thing: in the world of brands and engagement, unicorns are real. And some of them are living on your team right at this moment. But finding them, and utilizing them as your greatest brand ambassadors, is a process just like everything else.
Let’s walk through it.
Unicorns Are Real
Employees are one of the earliest and primary differentiators of any business. They drive invention and help reimagine what a product or service could be. And they deliver the craftsmanship and the customer service that make not only the product memorable but the brand as well.
When it comes to awareness and engagement online, there’s no question that employees often have much larger influence than the brand itself. Some telling numbers on that fact:
73% of salespeople using social selling as part of their sales process outperformed their sales peers and exceeded quota 23 percent more often. (Aberdeen Group)
Peer-to-peer marketing is the leading driver behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. (McKinsey)
Brand messages are re-shared 24 times more frequently when distributed by employees through employee advocacy vs the brand (Business2Community)
A recommendation from a friend or family member makes 83% of Americans more likely to purchase that product or service. (Convince & Convert)
Earned media (press, word-of-mouth, peer-to-peer referrals) drives 4x the brand lift as paid media. (Bazaar Voice)
These stats tell us one thing: the voice of your employees (the unicorns) – especially online – is king.
If you’re looking for ways to engage your online audience, there are few better places to start than by empowering employees to be brand ambassadors.
But again, do you know how best to encourage and utilize them? If not, here are a few tips on how to do just that.
6 Tips For Helping Employees Become Better Brand Ambassadors
Assuming you’ve got a good culture and a good brand in place (if you’re not sure that you do, we’ve got some good ideas on creating that) here are 6 tips:
1. No One’s Left Off the Guest List: When it comes to knowing and understanding your brand’s values and goals, no one in your company should be left out. From the C-Suite on down, there should be alignment and clarity. Make sure your employees are in the loop about what the values and Champagne Outcomes are.
2. Work In Public: Especially on professional platforms like LinkedIn, encourage employees to share what they’re working on, what they’re finding inspiring, what their creative roadblocks are, progress, and more. This is not a chance to complain about customers. It’s an opportunity to humanize your employees, and by proxy your brand and its work.
3. Don’t Just Like, Comment: On any platform, engagement trumps all. Likes, comments, shares – all are positive. When it comes to LinkedIn, encourage your employees to like (but especially comment – 7 words or more) on one another’s posts. Comments carry far more weight in the algorithm than likes on LinkedIn. Conversation always wins.
4. Find the Voice Overlap: Sometimes employees are hesitant to write about their brands because they’re concerned that they don’t carry the expertise of the brand’s voice. In these cases we like to encourage employees to write down 3 characteristics that define the brand’s voice (i.e. Authoritative, Conversational, Technical). Then choose the characteristic that resonates most with their own voice, and practice writing specifically in that voice and about the topics that voice speaks to.
5. Ask the Question: Maybe your brand is making content that you want your employees to share, like, and comment on. But employees, just like anyone else, will only share and invest in what they find worthwhile and valuable. So ask the question: “Is the content our brand is creating actually worth sharing to you?” Listen and implement the answers.
6. The C-Suite Sets The Pace: If you want your employees to become great brand ambassadors, they will need an example to follow. Whose example? Yours. The C-Suite should model for everyone else how employees should engage with the brand’s audience, as well as their own network of contacts.
Calling All Unicorns
One last thing to consider: we’re not saying every employee you have is a prodigious brand ambassador disguised as an HR manager. It would be unfair to expect all your employees to amass a five thousand-strong LinkedIn following and lead them straight to your brand’s door.
This isn’t a fairy tale.
But what we are saying is that many employees are critically under-utilized as brand ambassadors. And the only way to know if the potential exists for one of these unicorns to really shine, is with the guidance, encouragement, and space to thrive given to them by their leaders and company culture.
So, a few steps to follow:
Set a meeting for all your employees.
Explain your brand’s position on working in public, and the value they as employees can bring to your brand’s reputation and discussion in the public forum.
Give them examples of what kinds of posts to make, how to comment on each other’s posts, and how to grow their own networks.
Ask for questions.
Hold a short meeting each week to: A) answer any questions or concerns that come up related to social media posting. B) Give your team talking points or things of interest that your brand will be working on or publishing in public that can serve as posting material or conversation starters. C) Celebrate noteworthy posts from your staff and encourage the team as a whole.
Following the 6 tips we listed, as well as the process steps above, will help you implement a brand ambassador program that any employee can participate and thrive in.
And yes, you’ll be seeing unicorns in no time. We even made a sticker for you to give to them when you find them.
Need a social media strategy or brand overhaul to get your team moving?