Talent and HR News Weekly Update: Employees as Brand Ambassadors

When it comes to amplifying your organization's employer brand, your messengers are often times just as important as the message itself. Below are five recent articles to help you think through your approach to employee advocacy and brand ambassador programs. Enjoy! 

1) Big Brands Are Enlisting Employees to Create an Army of Social Media Mavens from AdWeek

If you are a marketing chief, one of the best return-on-investment channels may actually include your colleagues. Increasingly, marketers are turning their employees into social media mavens, encouraging them to promote positive, intriguing or helpful stories that are on-brand.

This past summer, MasterCard quietly launched an ambassador program that had employees share brand-minded news and other content across their personal social channels. The endeavor already has attracted 400 of its staffers, who use a company intranet that lets them post text, images and videos to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

2) Turning Employee Advocacy On Its Head from Business2Community

For businesses stepping into employee advocacy for the first time, the temptation to command and control the content will be irresistible. After years of telling employees to steer clear of social media at work, letting them share content not authorised by the brand may feel one step too far, too soon.

However, no matter how engaged your employees are, few will want to become “brand broadcasters” unless there’s something in it for them. Too often, employee advocacy programs are managed top down. Works fine for a while but active employees will want to carve their own individual identity on social media. That’s the point where employees will start to aggregate content off your employee advocacy platform if the functionality isn’t there to keep them engaged.

3) Bad recruitment experiences cost brands millions in lost customers from Marketing Week

Interviewees may feel like they are in the spotlight during the recruitment process but the brands conducting the interview are under just as much scrutiny, as new research suggests a poor recruitment experience could turn candidates off that brand for life.

The report by employer branding agency Ph.Attraction reveals that one in four British job seekers have either entirely stopped purchasing (12%) or purchased less (11.5%) from a brand because of a negative candidate experience.

4) How to Win Support for Employee-Generated Content from Business2Community

If you’re a marketing manager, chances are that you’re already sold on the benefits of employee-generated content. It’s a potent sales tool when used correctly.

The problem is, getting your fellow employees to actually create content is hard. They’re busy with their own work, stressed, and… wait, isn’t that your job anyway?

Moreover, even when an employee says yes, you still have to stay on top of them. Talk is cheap, and good intentions alone aren’t enough. Riding a colleague from another department is an uncomfortable slog.

So how do you win support for employee-generated content? Before we get into that, let’s get clear on the “why.” There are three good reasons why you want employees outside of your fiefdom (the marketing department) generating content.

5) Employees as Brand Ambassadors on the New LinkedIn Company Pages from Blogging4Jobs

Today’s candidates are looking for the right culture fit. A significant element of that culture includes the current company employees and the team that the candidate will be joining. Candidates care who they work with and for.

LinkedIn’s new Company Pages show employees and connections more prominently than before. Expect your prospective candidates to look at employee and leader profiles before or during the applicant journey with your company. The candidate’s connections are prominently featured as well as business leaders.

Do you have buzzworthy news in the world of employer brand, talent or culture? Want us to include it in our weekly update? Contact us below.  

Shannon Smedstad (@shannonsmedstad) is a Lead Consultant & Project Manager for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about our employer brand innovation, workforce research and recruiting strategy offerings.

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