Employee marketing is hardly an alien concept in the corporate world. It has been implemented successfully by many businesses, where it has resulted in increased employee engagement and further aligned them to company goals and values.
Employee marketing has proven time and time again that it improves productivity, helps achieve optimal employee engagement, and creates a positive work environment.
In simpler terms, employee marketing can be defined as advocating your company’s brand, values, and goals through your employees.
To implement a successful employee marketing strategy, you should be aware of what factors and activities help turn your employees into brand marketers.
This is where we’ll be helping you out.
Here’s what companies should aim to achieve to convert employees into loyal brand ambassadors:
A successful employee marketing team requires different skill sets. A team of employees with various cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender backgrounds gives a varied and more nuanced approach to content marketing. This strategy also opens up your business to a wider audience.
Other than that, your company will also foster a reputation for being inclusive and diverse. In the current socio-political climate, diversity in a brand is bound to get you brownie points.
There should be camaraderie and free-flowing of ideas between human resources and content creators, visual media creators, and such. This flow of content ideas will give out an output that is organic and non-fabricated.
Making use of social media influencers for business promotions and brand endorsements are the norm nowadays. More than A-list celebrities, social media influencers are taking over the advertisement industry by storm.
Businesses in all sectors are quick to jump on the bandwagon. But little do they know that choosing the perfect influencer to endorse the brand is what makes all the difference. Just because an influencer has a huge fan following doesn’t necessarily mean they are a perfect fit for your brand.
Most businesses have moved to micro-influencers who have specific target audiences suited to their business. Though this strategy produces results, what’s even better is employee influencers.
If your employees can advocate for your brand or business on social media platforms, your company will come across as more authentic and relatable. Your audience is bound to trust you and feel inclined to access your services.
There are no better advocates for your brand than your own employees. Employees are the ones who know the ins and outs of your company. So, use employee personal branding to your advantage by setting up an employee advocacy program.
It is a symbiotic relationship between the company and the employees. There is a high probability that your employees are already talking about their work-life on their personal social media accounts. Why not leverage this to your advantage?
A successful employee advocacy program increases brand awareness and loyalty. It also gives the consumer an inside glimpse of what goes in their favorite brands and companies. Coming directly from employees, customers are more likely to take up the recommendations and suggestions as expert opinions.
A company merch or swag is typically a promotional item a business implements to boost sales, improve productivity and take up a place in markets.
These promotional items are not just for the customer base or clients. Sending out company swag to employees can be used as a strategy to get the word spread about your business.
This is a great way for employees to spread the company culture, especially on social media platforms.
A thoughtful and well-designed company merch will do wonders for your content marketing strategy. Clothing, accessories, electronic gadgets – there is a myriad of options to choose from.
A vast majority of people in the corporate sector do not like their jobs. Apparently, most employees feel like a cog in a machine and do not feel appreciated or valued for their contribution. More than monetary value, employees need to find meaning in the work they do.
While it is disheartening to know that most people don’t enjoy their jobs, this also opens a door for employers to fix it.
Employees contribute to the work culture of a company. It is important for management to recognize and reward employees and employee ambassadors. The more they feel appreciated and valued, the more employees are bound to advocate strongly for the business.
It is imperative for employees to know where they stand in the scheme of things. Keep an open and transparent feedback loop on your end for employees.
This feedback should be open on both ends. You should be able to communicate to the employees, and they should be able to voice their concerns and feedback openly. Keep in mind that Brainstorming sessions are where great content originates.
This open dialog will create a rapport among the employees, which will let them be better brand advocates for your brand.
Corporate gifting presents you an opportunity to show appreciation to your employees all year round. Whether it is during special occasions/holidays like Christmas, Diwali, or to acknowledge the successes and contributions of your employees on their work anniversary. It could even be to reward them for their dedicated efforts in achieving a significant milestone.
From gifting gourmet snacks, wellness gifts, and expensive gadgets to gift cards and branded swag – amazing ideas for corporate gift are endless.
Leverage corporate gifting to win your employees’ loyalty and ensure long-term retention. It should also be noted that employees who receive thoughtful gifts tend to share their gratitude on their social media channels. Do you know what that leads to? Brand awareness!
After all, you can’t have a more influential brand ambassador than your own employees, can you?
Corporate gifting is one of the most effective strategies for turning your employees into loyal brand ambassadors. The majority of successful companies like TCS, Dell, and Capgemini rely on corporate gifting to reel in their employees..
While turning to content marketing via employee advocacy, the first step you should consider is making amends to your company social media policy. This will allow your employees to share company content with their personal accounts. This sharing of professional life to the personal arena will broaden the target audience for your brand content. The content, while coming from an employee, also shows great promise in turns of authenticity and relatability.
Another sure shot way to engage employees in marketing is to give them access to the company blog. A well-written and updated company blog is essential for a worthwhile online presence. Most times, the blogs on said company websites are written by top officials, CEOs, and subject experts. While this is expert content, it might not be relatable to the general public.
Make use of your employees’ writing skills and invite them to add a guest post on the company blog. This will elevate authenticity and relatability to your brand across your customer base.
On the other hand, it is a proud achievement for the employee to be publicly acknowledged on an official platform for their talent. Truly a win-win situation for both parties involved, don’t you think?
Relevant read: Amazon’s personalized content strategy
Making use of employees to be your brand advocates, when done right, is a great strategy to elevate your marketing game. Not only does it improve sales and conversions, but this strategy also effectively boosts productivity, creates a positive work culture, and optimizes engagement.
In the content-driven world, churning out engaging content is increasingly difficult. You should be aware of every tactic to make sure your content doesn’t fall through the funnel.
Employee advocacy is a great principle to follow if you want to up your business marketing. Consider our curated list of suggestions to improve employee marketing, or let these tips spark new ideas of your own.
Sk Rafiqul Islam is a content marketing practitioner with 3+ years of practical experience. He spends most of his time helping businesses to build a loyal audience with content marketing. He is also running a tech career blog called 10Pie and content marketing VIP, a bi-weekly marketing newsletter. In his free time, he loves reading books and playing football.