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13 Ways You Can Encourage Employees To Advocate For Your Brand

Forbes Communications Council
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Forbes Communications Council

People get drawn to a brand after seeing other people engaging with its services. If they’re happy and they seem willing to tell other people about it, it’s a sign that the products being offered are worth investing in.

A lot of marketing efforts look toward clients, while employees are less-often tapped as advocates. But not only do they know how skilled your company is — after all, they help provide those services — they also intimately know the features and advantages of what’s being offered.

So how do you get your employees to authentically become brand advocates? Below, 13 communications executives from Forbes Communications Council share strategies, from providing a transparent platform to hosting memorable events in order to create strong and happy stories to share.

All photos courtesy of Forbes Councils members.

1. Encourage employees to share excitement.

Social media is the best tool for brand advocacy. Encourage employees to share links, such as job openings, by providing rewards, such as referral bonuses. Host something worth posting about — like a food truck — that boosts employee morale. Get excited, post on the business profile and encourage your employees to get excited, too. The more engaged employees are, the more they’ll engage with their networks. - Corey Quinn, Scorpion

2. Embrace open and transparent communication.

Maintaining open lines of communication with employees and remaining honest about company operations — in other words, being transparent — is positively correlated with higher employee morale and higher productivity. Happy and empowered employees are more likely to advocate for your brand, but you have to ask. Ask your employees to share exciting news in their own voice, and let them know why! - Kira Karapetian, Label Insight

3. Create a clear image in the minds of your employees.

Linking your company's name with what it does is a critical first step in marketing, especially when yours isn't a household name. And it takes consistency to make an impact. What would your employees say about what the company does? If the answer varies or is muddled, you need to help. Create that short, clear statement of what you do. Then share it with everyone repeatedly and consistently. - Erica Vener, RedSeal

4. Use tools to help sharing.

Implementing a social media advocacy tool that allows everyone to easily share content and see results has been a bit hit. The key is to make it simple for everyone to use and remind everyone, regardless of their title, that they are all on the marketing team when it comes to telling your company's story. - Charlie Riley, Lawley

5. Provide a platform for employees to tell their stories.

Give employees a platform to tell their stories about their relationships with your brand. Their voice is credible and concrete, providing examples that move your marketing and recruiting messages from mere expressions to actual experiences. Tell these stories internally and externally, using social and visual media. A side benefit: Promoting their stories can deepen their loyalty to your brand. - Eileen Canady, SYKES

6. Hold a Facebook Live Q&A.

Your most enthusiastic and knowledgeable employees are your best sales people. Let these employees relate to your loyal followers through a Facebook Live Q&A. Not only will your customers feel valued, your employees will feel more connected to your customers. Human connection is powerful, so use it! - Stacy Wakefield, Credit Sesame

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7. Run contests and offer rewards.

Run contests for employees, such as "make a video about the company and what you like most." Offer various rewards for participation and to the overall winners. Use employee input on company web pages and social apps, for instance. Solicit ideas regularly for content and blogs — again with recognition and reward — and keep employees engaged socially via Slack to gather collective input. - Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX Software

8. Create fun memories for employees to share.

We do a lot of team-building events, like lunch outings, barbecues and fitness challenges, as well as volunteering. We celebrate employee milestones with company-branded sneakers and bikes. For our four-year anniversary, we gave out vintage, athletic-style shirts and hats reflecting our brand. Our advocates wear the brand inside and out. Keep it fun and their memories will be the stories they share. - Deanna Salas, Banyan Hills Technologies

9. Empower thousands.

We recently went from sharing our best and most compelling work with only our social media champions to sharing with all employees. With this simple fix, we went from empowering a few hundred people to be brand advocates for the company to empowering thousands. Our leadership team has also stepped in and made a big impact by actively participating in online conversations. - Brandie Claborn, McAfee

10. Publish your experts.

You have experts across your company. Get their names out there by publishing their thoughts and opinions. If an article format works, great. If not, they can still publish answers on Quora, write updates on LinkedIn or provide a quote for a longer piece you're writing. The more you show that your company is full of experts who love what they do, the better customers will feel about working with you. - Holly Chessman, Glance Networks Inc.

11. Showcase internal talent to tell your story.

Bring life to the story behind your brand by showcasing internal talent. Identify people in every area of your company, ranging from department heads to summer interns. Ask a series of questions that will help employees reveal the passion and dedication behind your brand. Share captured stories on branded social media channels, your website and in email newsletters with eye-catching photos. - Alysia Gradney, Vision Source

12. Invite them to become ambassadors.

Your employees often do not even think to share your company news and thought leadership. Invite them to be ambassadors and make it easy for them to share your content. Give them turnkey copy to pass along or provide them with ideas. Be specific about where you would like them to share — such as on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook — and ensure they have the right insights and knowledge about the topic. - Kerry Rivera, Experian

13. Don’t forget to share their impact.

Even companies with well-defined and generously promoted employee advocacy programs forget to make the connection for team members about how their efforts impact the bottom line. Employee advocacy can influence everything from brand awareness to leads to social recruiting and more — so merchandise that back company-wide, tell it to your team specifically, and share numbers and metrics to prove it. - Andrew Caravella, Sprout Social