Employees are Your Best Social Media Advocates

As more companies recognise the potential of social media for communicating, they need to place faith in their employees and invest in them as social capital.  This is not something organisations have done well to date being fearful of the technology and its potential risks.  Some executives are still not even convinced that social media holds any value or benefit.

One of the major mistakes most organisations make is seeing social media as predominately a technology tool when in actual fact social media is a cultural and communication phenomenon.

Genuine advocacy comes from culture not from technology or advertising.  Employees who are satisfied with their job, enjoy it and are immersed in the organisational cultural make the best ‘brand ambassadors’ because they believe in the company.  So instead of banning employees from social media organisations need to be encouraging them to be active.  Here are 5 reasons why:

People buy from people not brands

Social media is more social than commercial.  Individuals tolerate brands on social media and would not be disappointed if they simply disappeared from the space.  Social media success increasingly relies on engagement and you can only engage with people not brands.

People trust information from their networks

Social media has almost become more powerful than Google in terms of a ‘search engine’.  People don’t search Google anymore to see if a brand is authentic, they ask their friends on Facebook.  This is because they trust their opinions and recommendations.

It’s Cost effective

Employees will need to be educated and trained on how to structure stories to the company’s advantage.  However, once this is achieved employees have access to large and diverse communities because they are already active on social media.

Employees understand the business and culture

Brands don’t become stronger just by being a brand.  It is a number of individuals sharing their experiences about the same brand which strengthen it.  The right employees can spruik on the company’s behalf as they can articulate and humanise the brand.

Transparency is important

The way we conduct business is important to a great number of people.  They want the best price but they also want to know where the product is coming from.  This transparency can only come from individuals not from marketers.  Employees can connect and show the human side of business.

Social media is a different way of communicating so encourage your employees (once they have been trained) to engage and share company content.  It is important for executives and leaders to appreciate that people don’t trust brands, they trust people.  So putting a face to the brand and trusting your employees is filled with endless possibilities.

Thanks for reading!

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Tags: brand awareness on social media • Building Relationships on Social Media • Employees as brand advocates • Social Collaboration