The employee ambassador effect

Social media has changed the business world dramatically, bringing more and more companies into the public eye and forcing them to remain authentic and transparent. So when it comes down to new candidates on the job hunt, company information, policies, practice and history are more open than ever.

This is where employee ambassadors can help.

An employee ambassador is someone who publicly advocates for the company, brand or product that they work with. This could be anyone in your organisation who has knowledge of social media or has the passion to share your values and work in a positive manner.

According to BusinessNewsDaily.com content shared or recommended by employees gets eight times the amount of engagement than that of the brand or company. In addition, LinkedIn data suggests employees have ten times more online presence than the company they work for. It may sound like common sense, but we trust people more so than the companies for which they work.

Globally recognised brands may already inspire and attract candidates on social media without much groundwork. But do they offer real insights into what makes them human? A taste of what it’s like to be part of the team culture or examples of the opportunities employees have been involved with? This level of transparency is becoming expected by candidates now. Dell realised this in the early days of social media, and encourages their employees to publicly advocate for the business.

Dell is a great example of a business that continues to evolve in line with the digital landscape, and now boasts over 10,000 employees who promote their work-life balance over social media. But while it’s great to offer personable insight and engagement to those audiences, it’s important that ambassadors retain a sense of professionalism. The tech giant has been offering voluntary training since 2011, in which every team member can attain a social media and community accreditation. This helps employees find a balance between personal expression and the responsibility of representing the brand.

Jason Seiden, co-founder of Brand Amper shared some useful tips on encouraging employees to engage with social media advocacy and some safeguards to protect both the brand and the ambassador. These include:

• Creating guidelines for them to follow
• Allowing flexibility and expression
• Being mindful of employees feelings toward mixing personal and professional social accounts.

By sharing your company’s ethos and culture you can offer candidates an insight into what it’s like to be part of the day-to-day working environment, the benefits they would receive, career progression routes, the people they’ll meet and inspiring success stories. Ultimately, using this strategy on social media has the potential to convince candidates that your company is a place for them to thrive and enjoy.

What would an employee ambassador’s content plan look like? As an example:

• Post job updates and industry news on LinkedIn to build authority in your field
• Interact with other industry professionals to discuss current trends on Twitter
• Post a winning selfie at the pub quiz with colleagues on Instagram
• Publish any office event photos on Facebook that may provoke a giggle or two

Encouraging people to connect and interact with you is the key point here, but if you’re being transparent, genuine and fun, the interest will naturally increase.

By creating an employee ambassador role for your organisation, candidates can interact and engage with someone they can relate to and establish a personal and trusted relationship with your business before they’ve even applied for your job.

If you’d like to read more on how to kickstart employee advocacy on social media, check out this comprehensive article from Linkhumans.com which outlines everything you need to know before implementing your first employee ambassador.

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