Consumers love recommendations and endorsements. This was clear even in the pre-internet days when marketers would include some sort of testimonial in their mail order campaigns.
Now although a happy customer would appear to be the best bet at advocating and influencing others in your brand’s favor, this might not necessarily be true.
We covered how employee advocacy can elevate your brand to new heights, and with the success of influencer marketing so prominent, who’s to say that your employees aren’t your best bet?
In essence, a brand ambassador is someone who positively advocates your brand thereby influencing the purchase decision of consumers in your favor.
It doesn’t matter if your employees aren’t an exact match to your target audience. What matters is that they still make excellent advocates through their social networks. With the number of people each employee is connected to on social media, there’s sure to be a list of people who are interested in your product or service, if not re-share it with someone who will find it interesting.
Here are 4 reasons why employees trump paid influencers and loyal customers as brand advocates. Every time.
- They know your company’s products and services better than anyone else.
- They’re genuinely recommending these products, and not just in for a payout.
- They’ll usually accurately represent the interests of the company (work culture, recruitment needs, and the likes).
- They create positive chatter for the brand.
They know your company’s products and services better than anyone else.
When you’re developing a new product or service, your employees have your back. When marketing said product, they’re there again. Costing and finances – yup, they’re there too.
No matter what facet or aspect of the product or service, your employees know it best. Do you really think you’re going to find someone better to advocate the brand?
When it comes to spreading the message of the company, describing the features and benefits of the product, your employees can provide you with fresh new insights, and people will sit up and take notice.
They’re genuinely recommending these products, and not just looking for a payout.
The great thing about utilizing employees in an advocacy program is the fact that it’s a lot more economical than a paid influencer campaign.
Another plus is that since it’s the passion your employees have for the company that fuels their sharing the brand message, it more often than not is the real deal.
This works doubly well for firms whose services and products are targeted to people of similar backgrounds as their employees. In such scenarios, you have the added benefit of knowing that your employees’ social network is more likely to match your key audience.
They’ll usually accurately represent the interests of the company (work culture, recruitment needs, and the likes).
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – employee advocacy starts with work culture. A positive and engaged workforce can be the lifeline of a thriving employee advocacy program.
When employees are happy with their place of employment, it shows. In fact, statistics show that 50% of all employees are already sharing information about their employers, even without organizational intervention.
Given that employees are your internal customers, an engaged and happy employee is the closest – if not better – version, of a loyal customer advocate.
They will champion your brand, promote your products and services, and expand the number of applicants to grow your talent pool, like no other can.
They create positive chatter for the brand.
We live in the times of cyber trolls. A billboard, newspaper ad, or even a social media or search ad will probably do the trick and spread awareness about the brand.
But if the United Airlines and Pepsi fiasco of 2017 taught us anything, it is that sometimes you just a need a few good apples in your basket to, if not influence, at least sway away any sort of negative talk about your brand.
The fact that an average employee advocate is 2x more trusted than a company CEO should tell you that they rank pretty high on the trust factor. Meaning when they speak, please will stop and take notice.
Final Thoughts?
Your employees are the backbone of your organization. With the wealth of knowledge they hold, they undoubtedly become a force to reckon with when trained as brand ambassadors and given the right medium to share the brand message. For a supercharged employee advocacy program, request a demo today!