Post on 25-May-2020
From the Trenches: What it Takes to Growan Employee Advocacy Program
Jessica LaHaieInfluencer Relations CoordinatorTechsmith Corporation@JessieLaHaie
Turner RoachSocial Media Marketing ManagerDeloitte@turnroach
Molly ClementsSocial Marketing ManagerUnited Way Worldwide@UnitedWay
Panel Moderator: Stephan Hovnanian | Content Solutions Architect | Bambu by Sprout Social | @stephanhov
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
We’re more than just an accounting firm. Our employees represent Deloitte to our clients and encourage them to take a closer look at all that we do.
Deloitte’s Employee Advocacy Story
• 5 years old with 8,000 participants
• Grew by 6,000 in last two years
• 11% of total US employee population
• Build employees’ personal brands
• Data helps drive engagement
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Employees are an extension of our brand. We want to lower barriers for anyone to build their networks, and even become speakers and content creators.
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Techsmith’s Employee Advocacy Story
• 4 years old
• 100 out of 300 employees participate
• Build employees’ personal brands
• Use Word of Mouth for product releases
and recruiting
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Everyone knows what United Way is, but not what they do. Our advocacy program lets all our local member organizations communicate as one brand and one voice.
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
United Way’s Employee Advocacy Story
• 1 year old
• 450 of 2,000 local member organizations
participating to date
• Central hub for B2B communication
• Consistent social presence for smaller local
organizations
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
One of the biggest challenges for getting employees to participate in an advocacy program is making it worth their time by communicating the value of the program.
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Engagement Tactics that Fuel Adoption
• Contests and Sweepstakes
• Lunch & Learns
• Complete specific actions to qualify
• Make prizes relevant and personal
• Exclusive content
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
How Technology Helps Adoption
• Easy to use
• One-stop shop for content
• Pre-written status updates builds confidence
• Data and reporting drives content strategy and ROI
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Growing an advocacy program means scaling your admin and content efforts, raising awareness internally, and maintaining value for all types of employees.
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Scaling Your Admin and Content Efforts
• Enlist PR firm and other outside teams
• Encourage employees to suggest content
• Appoint topic, team, or channel leaders
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Raising Internal Awareness
• Showcase ambassadors and power users
• Highlight business wins, relationships built, anecdotes shared
• Regular reminders in all internal communications
• Get executives to participate
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Maintaining Value for All Types of Employees
• Part of new hire training
• Match rewards and recognition with “advocate level”
• Provide resources or privileges to employees to want to grow in
the program
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Advocacy in B2B is part of the word-of-mouthmarketing toolkit, where “soft metrics” are more common than direct sales. So how do we define and measure success?
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
Defining and Measuring Success
• “Our program will be successful if…”
• Web traffic from employee-shared content
• Applications from employee-shared job postings
• Content performance
• Anecdotal speaking, business, content opportunities
@JessieLaHaie @turnroach @UnitedWay @stephanhov #MPB2B
From the Trenches: What it Takes to Growan Employee Advocacy Program
Jessica LaHaieInfluencer Relations CoordinatorTechsmith Corporation@JessieLaHaie
Turner RoachSocial Media Marketing ManagerDeloitte@turnroach
Molly ClementsSocial Marketing ManagerUnited Way Worldwide@UnitedWay
Panel Moderator: Stephan Hovnanian | Content Solutions Architect | Bambu by Sprout Social | @stephanhov