By Ed Terpening, with Charlene Li and Aubrey Littleton
The use of employees to advocate on behalf of their brand is nothing new, but a combination of market forces and growing comfort with social business has created a tipping point for the growth of formalized Employee Advocacy programs. In this report, we surveyed brands to understand their motivations for investing in them; employees to understand what motivates them to share information about work; and finally, consumers, to learn how shared content resonates with them and how it effects their actions and impressions.
Brand leaders are looking at their workforce as an underutilized asset at a time when consumers rely on their social network of trusted friends for information and brand preference. The growth of these programs represents a significant shift in mind-set from thinking of social as a department-level tool to one that engages the entire workforce in achieving business objectives. Reaching this level of scale introduces new challenges: building employee comfort and skills in social media; managing the risk inherent in scale; the availability of content as fuel; metrics that prove value; and seeking ongoing alignment between brand goals, employees and consumers.
Based on our research findings, this report offers recommendations for brands that seek to adopt formalized employee advocacy programs.