How to harness employment advocacy in today's digital world

As I walked into the foyer of the agency I saw a host of young professionals, looking super confident and telling the receptionist they were just popping out to see a client, grabbing coffee or heading out for a through-the-line brainstorm. Little did I know at that time many of those I saw that first day would go on to be the future leaders of comms for well known brands such as Tesco and the like – bringing subjects like sustainability of products and services to the forefront of consumers’ minds, highlighting the impact and social value people need to have in their communities and their world and how we need to be more diverse and inclusive in our workplaces. All key themes that we now take as read and that are high on our comms agendas whether high street retailers, investment banks or construction companies.

I wanted in. I wanted to be part of this glamorous and professional clique. I wanted to be in their gang. It wasn’t called it then but what I experienced that day in my interview was Employee Advocacy. The team I met at that interview – from the receptionist who welcomed me to the company, to the Director who asked me my hopes and fears for a life in PR and comms, to the team members chatting around the foyer - were advocating the agency to me, influencing my opinion of it and making me want to be part of it.

Employee advocacy has come a long way since then. In marketing terms, it is recognised as one of the strongest vehicles for communication, that can work towards attracting and retaining talent as well as supporting work winning and new business development. Yet is still an area that is often uninvested in, not talked about, and left out as a core strand of corporate communication strategies.

So, what is the What, How and Why of employee advocacy?

Employee Advocacy is what it says on the tin – it is your teams advocating on behalf of a company. However, it is so much more than that too. True employee advocacy is a way of bringing out the voices you have in your organisation, their individual strengths, passions, and expertise and giving them a platform.

In the old days, companies paid for delegates to attend events (some still do and we have all breathed a sigh of relief to be back in real life), some individuals who went to those events sat on a panel, and others spoke at the event. This was a way of promoting themselves, their role within an organisation and their organisation.

With many events now hybrid and many organisations introducing agile and flexible working patterns, the opportunity to meet and chat face-to-face has dwindled. Your employees have less time to advocate for you in the real world and less opportunity to meet those you want to influence – be it clients, stakeholders, industry bodies or members of your own team.

This is where social selling, or social socialising, has become the norm, and more important than ever before. Having a say about the issues that you feel passionate about, commenting on other peoples’ posts and being part of the conversations that are happening around you are the way you show people who you are, what sort of company you work for, and what your personal and professional values are.

And this is where the new world of social advocacy kicks in. It allows key stakeholders in your company to share their views, their thoughts, their expertise in their own voice.

Let’s go back to the event scenario. Here’s how one of my colleagues describes the new world. For some, who might have gone to an event as a delegate and chatted to those they knew, got some new information and headed home, they might be the ones who check in on social media and comment occasionally on a colleague’s post but don’t engage any further. For those who might have sat in a keynote speaker session and then put their hand up to ask a question, they might be offering their opinions on others’ thought leadership pieces regularly, engaging in conversations daily, joining forums and other social groups. And then there might be those who are drafting and posting their own thoughts – the thought leaders – they might have been the ones sitting on a panel or undertaking the keynote themselves but instead are doing just this on a virtual platform.

That’s why we are on a mission to spread the word about employee advocacy. To support companies who know they have those thought leaders but needs some help in getting their voices out to their audiences. To help draft their thoughts and craft their opinions and advocate for your organisations.

If you are interested in finding out more about how we can help, get in touch – hayley.lee@antelopecomms.co.uk – as we are always happy to advocate about what we do here at Antelope.