Social Media Advocacy How to Develop a Successful Program For Your Brand

Social Media Advocacy How to Develop a Successful Program For Your Brand Social media employee advocacy. It’s a buzzword that has been floating around marketing teams for the past couple of years. While these types programs can be dramatically effective for a plethora of different reasons, including†¦ Brand awareness Sales connections Building company trust teams are still hesitant to adapt them  because†¦ There is risk of posting inappropriate content They are afraid the team won’t want to participate They already have enough work on their plate Whether you’ve started a program with your team and it’s turned into a chaotic mess, or you’re simply not sure how to start, you’ll learn about the resources and tools you need to turn your own employees into your biggest brand advocates. How To Develop A Successful Social Media Advocacy Program That Will Increase Brand AwarenessFirst Things First: Get Your Free Social Media Employee Advocacy Startup Package Before we start, make sure you download our Social Media Employee Advocacy Startup Package. When you download it, you’ll get: An pre-set email template to help you ask your co-workers to join the program A PowerPoint deck to help introduce and train your new employee advocates A brainstorming worksheet that advocates can use to determine their online voice A worksheet that your employees can use to remind themselves of when they need to send social messages That’s right, we did all the work for you. You’re welcome. What Is Social Media Employee Advocacy? A social media employee advocacy program allows you to use your employee’s vast social networks to help promote your company or brand. These employees are called "social employees" or "employee advocates." There are a lot of definitions of social employees, but the definition  that captures it best is from The Social Employee  by Mark and Cheryl Burgess: â€Å"Social Employees can utilize social media tools to act as authentic brand ambassadors in order to cultivate unique relationships with individuals where the end goal isn’t simply a purchase action but a dynamic exchange of ideas.† It’s a long definition, I know. But, the definition above captures both what a social employee is, and their purpose within your organization. It’s also important to note before we continue that when we refer to social media employee advocacy platforms, we’re talking about Twitter and LinkedIn. Let’s continue, shall we? What is social media employee advocacy (and is it right for your brand)?10 Steps To Starting Your Own Employee Advocacy Program Now that you know what an employee advocacy program is we’re going to move on to how to start your own program. The following steps will walk you through how to convince your team to join you, and the process you need to follow in order to get your program off on the right foot. Step 1: Identify Strong Candidates for Your Employee Advocacy Program Whether you’ve started your program and it flopped, or you’re just trying to get your feet off the ground, having the right people on your team is crucial to the initial success of your program. Therefore, check off the following before you  start: Pick a group of 10 people who you think would be good initial adopters of the program Narrow that list down to five Send the introductory email to those five people Depending on the size of your organization, the number of your initial adoptors may vary. We would recommend starting off with five, and growing the program from there. Five may seem like a small number, but there’s a lot of work that goes into setting up this program. Start small, you can always grow. Not to mention, you could run into a too many cooks in the kitchen type of problem. Don’t create that problem for yourself, trust me on this one. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What qualities should I be looking for the initial adopters of my employee advocacy social media program? A potential employee advocate should check off at least three of the following: Eager to learn Social media savvy Passionate about their job Great writing skills Has a wide knowledge base about the company Is already active on LinkedIn, Twitter, or both Is actually excited about the program and the potential it can bring to their department These are just a few of the qualities you will want to look for in your new social media employee advocacy program participants. Remember, you want to narrow it down to the best of the best so your program has a great jumping off point. A quick warning before you start your list. Do not, under any circumstances, force an employee to be a part of your employee advocacy program. No one likes being forced to do anything. It's like forcing a 4 year old to eat anything that's green. It's not gonna happen. If you force your employees to become your brand advocates, your program becomes in-genuine, and your potential consumers will see that coming from a mile away. So how do you approach your employees so that’ll they come and hear you out? Grab your free email template that complements  this post to customize and send to potential employee advocates. Feel free to personalize it to each person you’re sending it too. It may take a bit more time, but the personal touch really helps. Or you could just copy and paste the email from the social media employee advocacy kit. To Do: Make a list ten employees who you believe would be a good fit for your program Narrow the list down to five Send initial introduction email (Grab it from the kit that complements this post) Step 2: Introduce The Employee Advocacy Program To Your Team Why do you need to introduce the program to your employees? Well, first of all, you need to ask them if they want to participate.  Check out that email template from above to help get your started. Secondly, think about their schedule. They’re probably already swamped with a giant list of things to do. Imagine if your boss came to you and said, "Hey, I need you to spend about 3 hours a week tweeting about our company." You’d probably say no. Who wants extra work? No one. Being an employee advocate is not an easy task. It’s one that requires dedication and time. Most importantly, it’s a task that needs to be taken on voluntarily. So how do you convince your employees to take on extra work? Incentivize it. How do you convince your employees to take on extra work? Incentive it.I'm gonna get personal here for a second. When someone puts a competitive twist on things I’m immediately hooked. I have to win. I want to come out on top. Obviously, I'm pretty competitive person. Maybe your employees are the same way, and if so you can capitalize on that. Whether it’s a bonus, fun retreats, or even company swag, having a way for your employees to get rewarded will help them be more open to the possibility of participating in the program. So you've got everyone in the room. Now what? A presentation, maybe? You don't have time to create that. Don’t worry, we did that for you. Download it here. To Do: Download the PowerPoint slide deck from the social media employee advocacy starter kit Brainstorm ways to incentivize your employee advocacy program Get clearance from upper management for those incentives Schedule a meeting with your select five employees to go through presentation Step 3: Determine The Voice Of The Employees Who Will Be Participating In The Program If your employee advocates sound like a corporate robot, that’s what your consumer/customer fan base is going to think of them as. That’s not a good thing. Your employees need to bring their unique voice and perspective in order to breathe fresh life into your content. So how do you do this? Bring your employees to the  table. Schedule a short meeting, 15 minutes maximum to brainstorm and finalize an employee voice. You could even just swing by their desk when they have a minute or two to spare. Remember you want these meetings to be effortless and easy. The less this program interferes with their daily schedule the better. Once you’re in your meeting ask the following two questions and have them record their answers on the one-pager that is in the attached kit. What are five personality traits that make you great at your job? What are five personality traits that are not you? Once they have those written down have them pick their top three. Those become the voice of the employee online. An example is below. For a sales manager (let’s call him Bill), his list could look like: Confident but not arrogant Silly but not unprofessional Informative but not pushy Here's how to help your team develop their social media voice:Still stuck? Let me use myself as an example. I created my professional Twitter profile during my senior year of college because I wanted my potential new employers to know that: I was knowledgeable about social media and knew how to use it. I wanted to stand out among other applicants and find additional ways to showcase my personality. So when it came to creating my voice I had to answer the following three questions: Who am I and what is my personality like? Am I passive in my opinions or unafraid to state them clearly? If a potential employer or professional took thirty seconds to look at my profile what would they think about me? Have your employees try and think along the same mindset. Remember, don’t give them the answers. This is all about them. Have them fill out the worksheet in the kit that complements this blog post, and attach it to a desk, cubicle wall, or wherever they will see it often. This will act as a gentle reminder in case they get stuck on what to post. To Do: Print out voice brainstorming worksheet from kit Schedule a short meeting with participating employees or drop by there desk Brainstorm what their voice will be Finalize voice structure and record on worksheet Step 4: Create A Username  Convention When most companies start their social media employee advocacy program, they’ll usually identify their employees with a naming convention. Usually this means incorporating the company name into the Twitter handle somehow. It is important to note that once you pick a naming convention,  you stick with it. Once you pick a company-wide social media naming convention, stick with it.For example, our friends at Onsharp, a digital marketing and website development company in our home state of North Dakota, has an active social employee program. The handles for each of their employees is @Onsharpname. They cover a wide variety of topics, and are also able to show off their company culture. This not only helps increase their overall credibility,  but if you have a potential employee looking into the company, they have a chance to see genuine interactions that happen within the team. But it’s not just small businesses using username conventions. Discovery  Benefits is making a huge mark on the insurance industry. We recently interviewed their marketing manager,  Abby Boggs-Johnson,  for our Actionable  Marketing Podcast. In it,  Abby mentions how her sales team has started a series of social media employee advocacy profiles that are helping them connect to their customer base. By creating these unique connections between the sales team and their customers, Discovery Benefits is able to showcase genuine interactions which can allow people to build trust  in the company. Like Onsharp, Discovery Benefits has a naming convention @DBIname. It would be easy to say, â€Å"Well, these are smaller companies.†Ã‚  What about big Fortune 500s? Have they tried a social media employee advocacy program? Actually, some Fortune 500s were a few of the earliest adopters. One of them was Adobe. Adobe’s program still exists but unlike Discovery Benefits and Onsharp, Adobe doesn’t have a naming convention. Most of their employees have the @Adobe programming they work for listed in their handle. Why would Adobe forgo a naming convention? The company is huge,  and because there are so many different official Adobe product accounts, it would be impossible to keep one single convention among  all the different products. So if you’re a smaller company with one main Twitter account,  you should have a naming convention.  But if you’re marketing for a major corporation with multiple official Twitter accounts,  use your bio to identify which major company profile you are associated with. But Breonna, how do I create my naming convention? Don’t worry, I have you covered. Here's how to create a naming convention for your social media employee advocacy program:Below is a list of ten naming conventions. Pick one that you think will work best for your company. Some names will be too long. Remember, Twitter has a character limit for it’s usernames, so don’t be afraid if you have to use initials or abbreviations. @CompanyName @Company_Name @CompanyAcroynmName @CompanyInitialsName @Name_CompanyName @NameCompanyName @NameAtCompany @NameFromCompany @NameFrom_Company Company handle in bio To Do: Go through naming convention list Choose a convention and make sure it fits under Twitter’s 15 character handles Step 5: Create Consistent  Profile and Cover Photo Images One of the great ways that you can help distinguish your social media employee advocates is to have a matching profile style image and cover photo. Not only does this help distinguish your actual social employees online, it gives it a nice, clean, polished and professional look to your social accounts. Profile images should be: Headshot style- shoulders and above Contain the same background Any editing style applied to the headshot photo should be the same throughout Here are a couple examples from our team. This is Chris St. Amant, UI/UX Desginer: And Tyler Brazier, Software Engineer: Like the profile images, cover photos should be: Clean and informative Inviting The same throughout all profiles They should look like this: Or this: Everything is clean and consistent. Just the way we like it. It’s important to note that once the standard is set for the profiles, it needs to be followed throughout every single one of them. Why is this consistency  important? It helps users and your customers find your profiles. It also acts as a minor defense system against people who may try to impersonate the account. Once you’ve got your headshots and cover images created,  you can move on to account set up. To Do: Meet with graphic designer and document headshot and cover photo requirements Schedule time for employees to have headshots taken Review headshots and cover photos for final approval Step 6: Set Up Your Social Accounts Now that you’ve got your team on board and their voice has been determined, you’re ready for the fun part. Setting up your profiles. Whether your team is working with Twitter, LinkedIn or both, how you set up the accounts is incredibly important. For some people, this will be the first interaction they ever have with one of your employees. You want your bios to be short and sweet, as well as original. Everyone talks about how they love coffee and traveling. Challenge your employee advocates to think outside the box with another brainstorm session. Have them write down or think about the following: What does their online voice sound like? How can their bio reflect that? They may love coffee and traveling but what is something unique about them? What position do they hold within the company? Do they have a hobby, favorite book series etc, that they will sometimes tweet about? Have them think about some of these questions so they can incorporate them to make a unique bio for their profiles. For example, my professional Twitter bio looks like this: In it, I talk about my field of experience, my passion for theatre, my current position, my alma mater and for good measure I throw in a bit about my Harry Potter obsession. This simple bio does a few things: It establishes my area of expertise and the repertoire I tweet about. It adds personality. Not only do you know that I’m a Content Writer for , you also know that I love theatre and Harry Potter, among other things. This can help establish a connection to a potential client or customer. It makes me approachable. You know,  without a doubt, there is a real human behind that profile. This can make approaching me with a question about our product easier than approaching a company account. Some of you may have noticed there’s something missing in my bio. Can you see it yet? I don’t have a disclaimer in my online bio. Many people will tell you that your professional social accounts need a disclaimer that runs something along the lines of: Opinions are my own Retweet does not = endorsement Many people will add these disclaimers to their social bios in order to protect themselves and the company they work for. It seemed like a simple solution that would protect the employee in case they tweeted something that their employer disagreed with. It’s also thought that adding this disclaimer would protect the employer from public backlash if an employee tweeted something inappropriate. I’m sorry to say that these phrases will rarely protect either the employee or their employer  from backlash if something inappropriate is posted on social media. What can protect me, you might be thinking to yourself? Honestly, nothing but solid common sense. And on that happy note, we’ll continue into step 7. To Do: Brainstorm traits for your employee bios Edit and finalize bios. Add to social profile Step 7: Determine Your Posting Rules If I had to tell you to take away one vitally important piece of information away from this blog  post,  it would be that if you decide to develop your own social media employee advocacy program, determine your posting rules before you start. It may seem like a nonsense task. Why would I have the team take time to write everything down? Because, while great, social media can turn on you within seconds if you or a team member sends the wrong tweet  or message. It doesn’t take much to remember some of the biggest blunders that a company has made on social media. United, Cracker Barrel,  or Pepsi  ringing a bell at all? The internet can be a merciless place, and will never forget anything you posted. Yes, even if you delete it. Social media can turn on you in seconds if you send the wrong tweet or message.Having established rules in place can help you avoid those costly mishaps and give you the peace of mind that content being sent by your team is appropriate, timely and most importantly, connects with your customer base in ways your normal advertising won’t. With that in mind here is an example list of posting do’s that your team can start with and expand on: Post about company milestones Post/Retweet great reviews from other customers Have a blog? Have your employees tweet links back to new content Hosting an event? Have your advocates help promote it? The same goes when you’re attending an event or conference. Make your presence known by tweeting about it If you have fun office traditions, like our #BratwurstBlowout, tweet about it to show off your culture Hiring? Having your advocates post about new positions is a great way to help recruit people to your team Launching a new product or have some big news coming out? Extend the reach of your launch by having employees tweet to If your company is industry specific, have employees share new news or industry trends This is just a starting list. As your program continues to grow, your list will change and grow as your employees find their niche.