“Social media is just another trend” – is one of the most popular excuses used by companies not to go social. Well, think again! Social media isn’t just a fad anymore; it’s the cause of a permanent shift in the way we communicate. If you and your company aren’t participating in social media somehow, you’re missing the boat.
At DemandGen, we’re embracing the power of social media. We incorporate social media in all our marketing efforts and strongly encourage everyone on our team to participate in conversations online. Believe it or not, social media is the easiest, fastest, and most explosive way to broadcast and collect information. And the coolest thing about it? Absolutely anyone can take advantage of it. That’s why it’s so strange that, with more and more companies spending time and resources on social media every day, they often forget about the elements that can impact their success the most: their employees!
Transform Employees Into Brand Ambassadors
Get your employees involved in your social media efforts by encouraging them to like or follow your social media pages and share relevant content across their own networks. They can also participate by commenting on posts, engaging in discussions, and contributing to your company’s blog. Bringing your employees into your social media strategy is a game-changing opportunity, and can deliver major benefits and possibilities including:
• Brand Awareness: If you empower your employees to be brand ambassadors, you have a passionate army of advocates, who have the ability to reach customers, influencers, and prospects both inside and outside your industry by sharing company related content.
• Reach: If your company has 100 employees, and each one of them has an average of 500 friends and followers, you potentially reach 50,000 people as a direct result of your employees’ social activity.
• Building Trust: The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer found that regular rank and file company employees have more credibility than executives. Read the full report for more information.
Make Participation Easy
Encourage your brand ambassadors to participate in social media by making it a part of their daily routine. At DemandGen, we wanted to make sharing as easy as possible, so we decided to use a social media amplification platform called GaggleAMP. Amplification, in connection to social media, refers to the way in which a piece of content, through engagement, reaches a broader audience and get people talking about your brand.
Here’s how it works:
- Your company signs up for GaggleAMP.
- You create a “Gaggle”: a group of people that gets direct access to all the social media content put out by the company.
- You request interested employees to join the Gaggle.
- Employees then authorize their social networks and decide which content they would like to share with their network.
A platform like GaggleAMP is very easy to use and is a great tool to get employees involved in your company’s social media efforts.
Don’t Forgot To Set Rules and Guidelines
Sometimes employees are hesitant to engage in conversations on the company’s social media platforms: they’re afraid to blur the lines of personal and professional, so they avoid it altogether. Having a social media policy in place can help ease that fear and encourage employee participation. The social media policy should clearly outline the company’s rules and guidelines around social media usage. It should be unambiguous and encourage personal expression, but at the same time, the “don’ts” have to be clearly listed, no matter how obvious they may seem.
Here are a few examples of obvious but important rules and guidelines:
- Do not reveal confidential information.
- Be authentic – include your real name, company name and title on all profiles.
- Do not post material that could be seen as inappropriate, demeaning, or offensive.
- Avoid plagiarism at all costs. Document all sources and give credit where credit is due.
Social business is here to stay, but true success with it can only be achieved with social employees. Your employees are the most powerful advocates and strongest assets of your company. Now is the time to embrace their involvement rather than hold them back. Create an organization culture designed to attract brand advocates and that encourages employees to participate in conversations online.
Has your company embraced social media? Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter, and tell us about your experiences with getting employees to contribute, and how you manage staff engagement.
Heidi Heroldt is a DemandGen Marketing Associate who manages DemandGen’s social media campaigns and other marketing initiatives to help grow DemandGen’s social reach and expand brand awareness.
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