The Why of Employee Advocacy
We have just finished business planning with quite a few of our clients. For us this means sitting down and plotting out different strands of content: who might want to talk about what and when and discussing how the employee advocacy programme aligns with the corporate communications strategy.
In one such meeting, there was particular discussion around one stakeholder who wasn’t as active as they could be and whether we should look at their role not as an advocator but more of a supporter of the programme - see our Social Tribes All Sorts blog explaining these roles. As we were running through the strategy, it made me realise how far we have come and how far we still have to go in terms of people understanding the role of employee advocacy.
Put simply, employee advocacy is the promotion of a business by those who work in it.
And one of the most important strands of an employee advocacy programme is content.
This part most people understand.
However, the disconnect often comes when a team member feels that content isn’t their thing, but is more the responsibility of their marketing team, or doesn’t have the ability, confidence, time or inclination to be involved - see our blog on Changing Behaviours and Challenges.
So, why bother?
A recent study by Hubspot found that getting your employees to advocate on your organisation’s behalf had three clear benefits:
- It positively impacts sales as raises brand awareness and favourable impressions of the organisation
- It supports recruitment and retention within an organisation
- It aids in PR crises and issues.
Here’s a few other stats to back up the case:
93% stated that they trusted a brand or service that they had heard of from a friend or family compared to just 38% via an advert
78% of respondents agreed that social media empowered them to reach prospective customers more effectively than other media
Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
Having worked with companies across the board, we know these stats back up the reality. Antidotal evidence from Antelope includes:
Being approached on behalf of clients for them to speak as an influencer on radio and at events following one of their articles being read online.
A potential customer that our client had been unable to engage with for months, reacted to a post one of our clients had written on their LinkedIn.
Over 8,500 views on one post on socials for one client - now we know not all of these will be potential customers, but some will, or could be influencers.
Employee advocacy and content marketing work hand-in-hand. They are part of the new arsenal of sales development working as an integral part of marcomms. They bring credibility to the individual and your brand, supporting your sales pipeline and possibly acting as a lead magnet to open a conversation with new clients and reinforcing existing clients why they should work with you.
And how amazing that many organisations will have access to not just one or two people who can help them with an employee advocacy programme, but many - from different seniority, job roles and regional offices. Capturing these enthusiasts, giving them a structure to their comms and complementing it with a corporate comms strategy can be the springboard to future success.