Want an easy way to increase the number of people who read your social media content? You are already employing the answer. We’re not just talking about the employees in charge of marketing and running your social media accounts; we mean all of your employees. Your employees are already spending time on social media platforms every day. Nearly 70-percent of U.S. adults use Facebook, the most popular social media platform. Snapchat and Instagram have a particularly strong following among young adults. As Gen Z’ers continue to enter the workforce, this will represent a larger number of your employees as well. By helping your employees engage in social media the right way, you could have an exponential impact on the number of people who are viewing and engaging with your content.
Leadership Participation is Essential for Success
If you want your employee social media advocacy program to succeed, you have to lead by example. When we say leadership participation, we don’t just mean getting leadership to support having employees engage in social media; we mean having the leadership team serving as role models for social media advocacy. When your employees see company leaders who are fully on board, they will be more likely to join in.
Business owners and leaders need to need to see the importance of being where their customers are on social media. As an added bonus, elevating the company brand isn’t just good for business; it also raises the personal brand of business leaders.
Employee social media advocacy works best when it’s authentic. As more of the leadership team enthusiastically participate, more and more employees will join in, and your employee social media advocacy program will grow. This lead-by-example approach will have a greater impact than simply rolling out a new program and telling employees to jump on board.
Set Your Employees Up For Social Media Success
It’s easy to assume that your employees already know how to use social media and that an employee social media advocacy program should require very little work, but that would be a false assumption. Yes, your employees are most likely already using a variety of social media channels, but that doesn’t mean they are familiar with best practices or know how to optimize their engagement. You can help them by sharing some insights like the best days and times to post, how they can optimize their social media profiles, and the ideal mix of content types and topics they should share.
Keep everyone on the same page by staying focused on the company’s social media goals. Make sure employees understand the purpose behind social media initiatives and what the goal is. If employees understand what they are working towards, then they feel like part of the team. Update employees along the way, tracking your goals and sharing with them the results of their efforts.
Make sure employees know it’s okay to be social at work and encourage them to connect with each other as well. Empower them to feel free to share content and let them know that the company is behind their participation by engaging with their content. Encourage employees to share feedback that they are receiving on the content that they share.
Arm employees with a clear social media policy without making it complicated. Employees are busy with their main job, and in order for your employee social media advocacy program to be successful, it needs to feel as easy as possible. Adding too many rules and regulations will sound like too much additional work.
Motivate Employees to Share: Never Force it
Making employees engage in social media will only turn it into another item on their to-do list. More than that, when engagement is forced, it feels more robotic, less interesting, and is less engaging for their audience. Instead, encourage your employees to share content and remind them of the benefits for themselves.
Just as social media sharing can elevate the personal brand of your leadership team, your employee social media advocacy program also has benefits for the employees. When they share relevant or thought-provoking content with their social followers, they are building their personal brands and establishing themselves as thought leaders in their industry.
Don’t be afraid to make your employee social media advocacy program fun. Offer incentives as motivation to participate. You might track who shares the most content or who’s getting the most engagement. Provide rewards to employees who are participating in sharing company content on social media. Rewards can be as simple as recognition at a company meeting to a lunch paid for by the company, even extra time off.
Your company’s social accounts are important, but if you really want to amplify brand visibility, you need your employees. With leadership taking the lead, setting employees up for success, and motivation, you will see the impact an employee social media advocacy program can have on your business. At Safeguard, we’re here to bring you everything you need to be successful, both online and offline. Contact us today.
Key Takeaways
- Grow your social media engagement through an employee social media advocacy program.
- Leadership participation is essential for employee social media advocacy program success.
- Motivate employees to share on social media, but never force them.
- Don’t be afraid to make your employee social media advocacy program fun.
- Your Safeguard advisor has the expertise and service to bring you everything you need to be successful, both online and offline.