10.11.2023 
With the right strategy and implementation, employee advocacy can be a powerful tool in the digital world.
Employee advocacy refers to the strategy of encouraging employees to show support and loyalty for their company on social media and online platforms in order to strengthen the company’s image in an authentic way. Brand ambassadors from within the company share content and success stories or explain complex issues in an understandable way – all on a voluntary basis, of course. The idea behind it: Who better to embody or explain a company than the people who work there?
Top 3: Credibility, reach and employer branding
Companies use employee advocacy for a variety of reasons. Firstly, personal recommendations offer greater credibility. A contribution from a real person is perceived as more credible than a pure advertising message. Secondly, these posts can significantly increase a company’s reach on social media. For example, if an employee who has 500 followers on Facebook shares a post about her work, this post will reach a much wider audience than an advert. And last but not least, employees as brand ambassadors contribute directly to employer branding – a key argument in times of a shortage of skilled labour.
Despite the many benefits, employee advocacy can also bring about challenges. Some employees may be hesitant to share details about their work on their personal social networks for fear of negative feedback. To overcome these concerns, it’s important to create an environment where employees feel supported and valued. Feedback and recognition are crucial. To successfully implement an employee advocacy strategy, it is therefore important to create a culture of trust and openness within the organisation. A reward system in which employees are compensated for their contributions can also significantly increase participation and commitment. In general, it is advisable to provide training to ensure that employees know what content they can and mustn’t share. A clear guideline can help to avoid potential problems in advance.
Employee engagement at Salesforce and AWS
One example of successful implementation is our customer Salesforce, who has established a value-orientated corporate culture. With the belief that all Salesforce employees are experts in their respective fields, the CRM market leader has encouraged its employees to share their experiences and stories. From broad messages to niche content for a specific industry or area, Salesforce has achieved measurably positive results with its Employee Advocacy Programme.
Our customer Amazon Web Services (AWS) is at the forefront of technological innovation. With a wide range of services and cloud solutions, it is crucial for the company to reach both tech-savvy and less tech-savvy target groups. Among other things, AWS relies on the voice of its employees. Employee advocacy programmes encourage them to publicly share their experiences, project successes and insights. This commitment helps make AWS’s often complex services more accessible and easier to understand. Through the stories and technical discussions of AWS employees, potential customers and partners can gain insights into the possibilities and innovations of AWS.
Foto von Joseph Mucira auf Pixabay
