3 Steps to Power your Brand with Engaged Employees
In making a decision on a product or service to buy, would you trust a celebrity endorsement or employee or friend more? Nielsen’s trust in advertising survey touts that 92% of consumers are more inclined to trust brand information when its ‘earned media’ and comes from a peer or employee.
Most businesses do not think about their employees as a source for marketing their company. Yet, who understands your firm and how your service operates best? Your employees know exactly what goes into achieving client satisfaction. They know how to make your applicants, employees and clients happy. They know how your firm stands out in your industry and against all of your competitors.
Create your own employee ambassador program in three steps. It doesn’t have to be over complicated. Design, educate and measure.
Research best practices for a brand ambassador program in the staffing industry. Look at programs for different firms that work and don’t work. Create some content to share weekly to make it easy for employees that can include videos, memes, company statistics, goals reached, and relative news. Establish a unique program where followers are interested to review and post their experience.
Let interested and engaged employees know the benefits to being a brand ambassador and the impact they can have on the company. Employees can ‘become a respected brand expert and enrich their career history.’ Train interested employees on basic guidelines and make it more interesting with employee competitions, engaging videos, company swag and posters.
Before starting your employee brand ambassador program, ensure you measure your current audience reach and engagement to compare before and after the program begins. You can monitor what employees are saying by having the same hashtag used and can also reward the most persuasive and consistent employees in this manner. Decide on your measurement intervals based on your company and goals. Every few months for a year or two is a good example, as your program needs time to prove its value.
Social media posts by your employees can garner eight times more engagement than if the same post was shared through your company brand post. And, most employees’ social media networks are at least ten times larger than their company brand handle.
by Lynn Connor, COATS Staffing Software