Earlier this week I was perusing my LinkedIn newsfeeds and clicked through to read a really nice story on a local company that was posted by one of my former co-workers. She was proud of the work her new employer was doing, and was genuine in sharing that pride with her contacts on LinkedIn.

As organizations, we spend a great deal of time encouraging and incenting our customers to help spread the word. There is even an organization, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, to guide companies in how to help customers create positive company buzz. But shouldn't we also be providing the same level of effort in empowering our employees to become active brand advocates? We'll explain in today's Promotional Consultant Today.

In a recent blog, Jorgen Sundberg, a former recruiter and owner of the digital agency, Link Humans, offered the following advice on creating employee advocates within businesses using social media.

  • Why You Need An Employee Advocacy Program. Getting brand reach on social media requires a breadth of social users talking about how the brand and employees can help increase that reach. But beyond the pure reach, employee advocacy can help reach more prospects and customers in a more relatable fashion and also can bring soft values such as showing the level trust between the company and its employees, that can't easily be done in other ways.

  • The Key Elements Of An Employee Advocacy Program. First, get the positioning right. Ensure buy-in by making the program one that benefits employees by helping them achieve their key performance indicators and not just the goals of the business. For example, those in sales can use the program content to help position themselves as thought leaders and drive leads. And, the company can provide recognition for advocacy efforts so employees get rewarded for their efforts. Second, start with a small initial group that is manageable and can get some early wins to serve as examples to the larger group. Finally, put a program manager in charge of the effort so there is someone responsible for the effort. After these are in place, you can roll it out to the larger organization.

  • How To Measure Your Return On The Program. One of the basic ways to measure the return on your program is to count how many clicks you get from employee posts and then compare that to the cost those clicks would have cost through Facebook or other social media advertising.

There are tools, such as HootSuite, that are easy to set up and use to track brand engagement online. Employee advocates are the best brand advocates, and the best way to start is where they like to be when they are off work— which is online.

Source: After seven years in tech recruiting, Jorgen Sundberg now runs Link Humans, a social and digital marketing agency in London.