How to turn your employees into brand ambassadors

Travis Leggett,
May 20, 2020

Grow your business’ reputation by harnessing the power of the people that know it best.

No one knows more about a company than its employees. Even the most hard-pressed “fanboy” pales in comparison to the amount of information that the average employees can tell you about the brand that they work for. Regardless of what industry your company is in, this wealth of knowledge can be used to your advantage.

Your employees have the potential to be an invaluable resource in terms of extolling the virtues of your company to potential customers. This makes it incredibly important to integrate employees quickly and encourage them to spread the word about your brand, be it on social media, at networking events or in their daily life. This is especially important if your company is going through a rebranding process.

We’ll take a look at steps any business can take to improve their employer branding and building brand awareness by effectively turning their employees into brand ambassadors.

Share the vision and values

If you think about your own personal life for a second, what’s the most common topic of conversation that comes up every time you meet a new person? It’s probably about your job and the company you work for. This is great for word-of-mouth promotion, but it’s important to establish a clear articulation of “who your company is” and “what your company does”.

At RDB, we have spent a considerable amount of time clearly defining our vision and values as a company together with our employees. This included meetings, seminars and team-building exercises to reinforce how important our values are to the work that we do and make sure that everyone understands our company’s vision. Our belief is that by taking these extra steps, our employees will be better equipped to share our message with others.

When we’re having a conversation, we tend to either downplay or embellish things based on who it is we’re talking to. By developing a clear message that your employees can share when the subject of your business comes up, you can avoid any misconceptions that could occur with potential customers or employees. Then your employees can become your biggest brand promoter.

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Empower to share content

Social media has become an integrated part of our everyday lives. The latest statistics show that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have combined nearly four billion monthly active users.

Creating content that your brand can share across relevant platforms has become a vital part of any business’ marketing mix.

Allowing your employees to take an active role in the process can help to build a deeper bond between them and the company. Additionally, you’re more likely to repost/share something that you’ve been involved in creating, especially if your name is attached to it.

Your company’s social media posts also have the potential to play a role in the recruiting process, as recent studies have shown.

73%

of 18-34-year-olds found their last job through a social network.

This means you want to jump on the social media bandwagon, especially since your employees can become a company ambassador on these sites.

At RDB, our content is based around a monthly plan that allows employees across all departments to be involved. This includes all the assets we create for self-promotion (ie. long-form blog content, Facebook banners, static and video link ads, seasonal animation, etc.). We’ve found that this strategy allows us to create more engaging and informative content as each piece is being written by an expert that understands what the target audience would find interesting and relevant.

Another important aspect to consider is tailoring content to the platform where it will be posted. While Facebook may have more daily active users, this does not mean that your message will perform better there than on Twitter or LinkedIn for example.

It’s important to look at the target market, interests and added value of the platform when creating content. For example, a post that is generally more long-form is more likely to be liked/shared organically on places such as LinkedIn, whereas more visual-based assets should be created for Instagram.

Incentives breed creativity

While an employee is more likely to promote a piece of content on social media if they were involved in the creation, adding some sort of contest element to your strategy can help to ensure they are even more motivated. Something as simple as a small reward for the creator of the post that gets the most likes and/or shares can go a long way in generating a larger buzz for a product launch or other big business news.

In addition, the “gamification” that this adds, can foster the creative spirit in your marketeers, prompting them to think outside the box in the assets and content they develop. This advanced creativity will, with any luck, bleed over into other aspects of their work as well.

Contests or incentives do not need to be limited to only social media postings. The same strategy can be implemented for lead generation in real life. Like RDB, many companies have found that some of the most promising leads come from unexpected sources. Adding financial incentives may provide the impetus employees, not on your regular salesforce, need to reach out to their private/professional contacts and arrange an introductory meeting.

Give your employees the information, the freedom to be creative and the encouragement they need, and they’ll spread the word about your company to anyone that will listen.

These activities could have an impact on awareness, market share, sales, and recruitment strategy without adding any additional cost to your marketing budget.

Millennials and Gen Z’s purpose driven approach in life can actually catapult your business to new heights.

Get in touch with us to attract high potential global talent and help your business grow!

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