WAYS TO ENCOURAGE SOCIAL EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY IN YOUR
BUSINESS
With the right tools, leadership and support,
employees can be one of the best sources of digital engagement. People want to
engage with other people online - while company profiles provide a
trustworthy aspect; community engagement is still more effective when it's P2P
(person to person).
1.
Embrace a Social Culture
While this
step sounds simple it's usually the most difficult hurdle many organizations
face. Embracing social media doesn't mean your business creates a corporate
account on various social networks and allows employees to manage those pages.
Social culture requires employee freedom to engage in digital conversations
outside of company pages - to create a digital personality of their own while
tapping into the organizational presence.
Instead
of blocking employee social media access, companies need to provide clear
guidelines, and encourage employees to participate in online conversations.
There
needs to be a clear, effective balance between wasting time online and
contributing to the overall brand image.
2.
Update Outdated Policies
Hands
up if you've come across this as an employee, or if as a business owner you've
limited access to Facebook, or any other social media networks. I bet the
amount of hands was much higher than expected.
While I
fully understand employers' need to limit
employee "slacking", or to avoid a PR crisis by having employees
engage with inappropriate content/comments, the benefits still outweigh the
negatives.
3.
Provide Necessary Tools
From
monitoring the right conversations, to providing timely response,
responding to customers, etc. - investing in tools such as Hoot-suite or Buffer can
be a huge time saver.
Both
solutions allow for teams to be setup (depending on the subscription level
your organization is willing to pay for) under one umbrella account. Social
media marketing tools also allow for feeds of particular accounts, hashtags and
other community-oriented monitoring to make participation less of a hassle.
Social
media is a time investment, regardless of the tools used, however certain apps
can help manage time and effort to improve efficiency.
Allow for
both natural interactions and social tools to help manage time spent on social
media.
4.
Lead by Example
There's
no better way to give confidence and provide a social foundation than for the
leadership team of the organization to have an engaging presence online.
Leadership
provides the direction in all areas, why not social? Organizations (and
leaders) need to dismiss the idea that social media is more suited to Millennial
or younger generations entering the workforce.
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