Boost Audience Trust with these Employee Advocacy Strategies that Complement Your Marketing Strategy
Audience trust in brands is declining for a variety of reasons. That means employee advocacy is more important than ever. But how does it work and what are some strategies that actually work? We’ll look at everything you need to know in order to develop a winning employee advocacy strategy that actually boosts audience trust in your brand.
What is Employee Advocacy and How Does It Work?
Employee advocacy is simply the act of your team sharing company content or messages on their personal social media. With declining trust in brands, employee advocacy is more powerful than ever. Why? It lets employees tell the story in a way that brings authenticity and reach in a way that no ad can buy.
Employee advocacy works by turning your people into trusted voices for your brand. Think of them as a type of “brand ambassador.” This type of sharing generally happens on platforms such as LinkedIn, but it has been expanding to other platforms, like TikTok, X, and even Slack communities.
It can be as simple as an employee resharing company content, like social posts, product updates, or a blog. But it can also be more involved, such as creating their own posts that showcase your brand’s culture and values.
How is This Different from Influencer Marketing and Brand Advocacy?
Influencer marketing is about working with people outside of your company to talk about your brand. With employee advocacy, you are empowering your own team to tell that story themselves. While one is paid reach (whether that is monetary or free product), the other is a genuine belief in what they do.
Brand advocacy is when customers share about a product or service of yours that they love. While this is powerful, employee advocacy gives you more consistency and control.
And this is what makes employee advocacy so authentic and powerful.
What are the Benefits of Employee Advocacy?
There are four main benefits of utilizing employee advocacy to help your organization and brand grow.
First is that it increases brand visibility and reach as employee-shared content gets in front of new audiences. Second is that it builds trust; your brand is being backed by real people, making it feel more human and credible. Third, it can attract and retain talent as your own employees give job seekers an authentic look at your culture while also keeping your current employees engaged. Lastly, it helps to strengthen your company culture as it brings people together, builds belonging, and turns employees into culture ambassadors.
Why Employees Build More Trust than Branded Accounts
Let’s delve into the audience trust benefit a bit more. Why does employee advocacy build more trust than branded accounts? It’s because your employees are showing up as real people, not marketing messages. When an employee shares something genuinely insightful or relatable, it doesn’t sound like corporate messaging or feel like corporate marketing.
Instead, it comes across as a real conversation.
How to Craft a Winning Employee Advocacy Program
But how can you help employees be better advocates for your brand? Do you create content for them to share? And what types of content work best for employee advocacy? Let’s dive into the strategy behind crafting a winning employee advocacy program.
Let’s start with some FAQs.
Q: What types of content and platform works best?
A: Lean toward content that feels real and personal and let employees choose the platform they feel comfortable using.
This means content that allows your employees to share real experiences and expert insights. By allowing your employees the freedom to share what is meaningful to them and on a platform they are comfortable using, you’ll have the confidence that their posts will feel more engaging and authentic.
Q: Should employees share brand content or create their own?
A: Both strategies work, but employee advocacy is most effective with employees putting their own spin on brand content.
We recommend starting with ready-to-share posts from your brand, then give employees room to make them personal. To make it more personal, write copy in first person, give team members opportunities to customize their posts, and avoid overly rigid branding or logo-heavy visuals. Once an employee feels more confident in sharing, continue to encourage them to add deeper personalization in their content.
Q: Can employees share external or third-party content?
A: Absolutely!
Sharing industry news and insights can position your people as thought leaders with trusted voices, not just brand messengers. Plus, it keeps their content balanced.
Now, let’s take a look at how you can launch an effective employee advocacy program.
Starting an effective employee advocacy program comes down to setting clear goals, making it easy for employees to participate, and creating share-worthy content.
- Set Goals: Decide what you want to get out of your employee advocacy. Is it to expand brand reach, attract new talent, boost engagement, or all of the above? Make sure the goals you set are measurable, so you know what’s working.
- Identify Your Brand Champions: Employee advocacy works best when people want to be a part of it. Look for your natural champions (people who already post on social media and bring good online energy); start small then expand. When people see peers leading the way, they are more likely to jump in as well.
- Curate Content: You want to curate content that your employees actually want to share. Avoid overly-polished corporate posts that use buzzwords. Instead, think about what your employees would be proud to tell a story about, such as posts that spotlight your team, celebrate wins, and show behind-the-scenes moments.
- Make Sharing Easy: The simpler it is to share, the more likely your team will join in. This could be as simple as starting a Google Worksheet with a link to the post employees can share with some suggested copy to help them get started in crafting their message. They should not copy and paste this word for word, but make it their own!
- Set some Clear Guidelines: To keep it authentic, employees should disclose their role with the company and keep things positive and aligned with company values.
- Measure and Grow: Track participation and performance to see what resonates most, then keep fine tuning your approach. Some third party platform schedulers can help you measure this. Look at these metrics: participation, engagement, recruitment, and culture.
Final Thoughts
Employee advocacy is meant to complement your existing social marketing strategy by adding a layer of authenticity that you can’t get from brand and paid channels alone. Together, you can create a balanced strategy that reaches more people and earns their trust.
Need assistance in creating a winning employee advocacy program? Tintero Creative can help you create marketing and social media strategies that tell your brand’s story in a way that works with your industry, digital trends, and marketing best practices. Connect with us today to learn more about how we can help you grow your brand online.