Why Employees NEED TRAINING to be Brand Advocates

More and more organizations are realizing the value of having employees actively engaged in social media representing the organization. These brand advocates benefit their organizations in a number of ways from increasing reach, to spotting trends, to surfacing issues, to fostering a sense of connected responsiveness with the community. Across the board, the key to achieving success with brand advocates is training.

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Employee engagement is important in social media for communities and brands

Of social media users think brands should not just post on social media, but interact with their communities.

Better productivity is seen by companies that have a large number of socially engaged employees

Higher earnings per share seen by companies that have a large number of socially engaged employees.

85% 21% 147%

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60% of employees want to share relevant content on social media sites about their employer in order to boost business. – Jumpstart:HR

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Trust is a Key and Communities Trust Employees more than Brands

“Edelman’s Trust Barometer, revealed that the average employee is trusted significantly more than a company’s CEO. The public wants to engage with your employees, not just your social media managers.” – Source: Adobe

“Employees rank highest overall 36%, as the most trusted influencer to communicate across 4 out of 5 topic categories including: Engagement, Integrity, Product, and Services, and Operations.” - Susane Merick

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The message is clear: Employees are trusted more than other brand sources. To increase trust and build relationships with the community, brands should have employees engage directly with the community on their behalf.

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Training is the Only Way to Guarantee Results

Balance is Needed Certification Gets Results

“You must find the right balance, because activating employees to share everything will simply generate spam”- Adobe

“Companies have found that guidelines are only the first step. What they really need is a formal social media literacy program, which offers a certification” - Jeannie Meister

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There is tremendous pressure not to spend time on training because it takes people off the job, and some employers question whether it's possible to teach workers to make appropriate decisions when situations arise that are neither black nor white, but gray. My feeling is that the only way you develop good judgment in people is to train them. – Charlene Li, Partner and Founder, Altimeter Group

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Social Media Training has Other Benefits

“52.3% of the respondents faced employee misuse of social media” and “71.2% respondents have had to take disciplinary action due to that misuse.” They went on to connect the dots saying, “Making the additional investment of training can greatly reduce employee misuse of social media and cut down the business’s need to impose discipline on employees.” – Source: Maximize Social Business

“Employees can surface complaints or issues raised by members of the online communities in which they participate. They can hear ideas and gather intelligence that will enable the company to solve problems, improve customer satisfaction and adapt nimbly to changing customer needs and desires.” – Source: Shel Holz / Monster.com

“Offering social media training creates a team of advocates who are equipped to represent their employer online. That means they will not only share news about your company but also feel confident they know how to do this in a safe and responsible manner while building their personal brand.” – Source: Forbes

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“Employees can surface complaints or issues raised by members of the online communities in which they participate. They can hear ideas and gather intelligence that will enable the company to solve problems, improve customer satisfaction and adapt nimbly to changing customer needs and desires.” - Shel Holtz principal of Holtz Communication + Technology

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Increased Content Engagement and Referral Traffic

Homeaway.com created an employee advocacy program, and coupled it with rigorous content-testing.

The results:

- Content engagement increased 74 percent year-over-year and drove up social-media referring traffic by almost 100% in their critical June to August period.

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“In some months, one Photoshop brand ambassador has generated more revenue than the official Adobe @Photoshop Twitter account”

Empowered Employees & Brand Ambassadors that Generate Revenue

Adobe added social media training to their new hire orientation focused on understanding key principles such as disclosure and who to contact with questions.

They also identify employees who want to go further, and use next level training to create employee brand advocates.

The Results:

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Raised awareness significantly among its target audience of prospective recruits, with the number of engaged followers increasing “more than 50 percent” in the preceding 12 months.

Deloitte’s Ambassador Corps promoted the @LifeAtDeloitte initiative

The Results:

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Conclusion: Employee brand advocates need to be trained:• Brand advocates benefit their organizations in a number of ways from increasing reach, to

spotting trends, to surfacing issues, to fostering a sense of connected responsiveness with the community.

• Across the board, the key to achieving success with brand advocates is training. • Training empowers your employees and teaches how to share information about your

brand• Proper training facilitates good judgement in your brand advocates• The impact employee brand advocates goes to the bottom line:

• Improving brand trust• Decreasing negative commentary• Increasing conversations, web traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement

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Next Steps….

To learn more about how brand advocates can benefit your organization, and how to create a successful brand advocacy program, register for our August 13, 2015 webinar (11 AM PDT / 2 PM EDT)

Contact CarverTC today to schedule a one-on-one consultation regarding your organization’s training needs.

Mention this SlideShare and get 15% off your first course!

has the Social Media Training Courses to Help!

See our social media brand advocacy courses:• For organizations looking to start an employee brand advocacy program.

• For training brand advocates how to interact on social media networks.

See all our training offerings on the CarverTC Training page.• Our 7, new half-day courses.

• Our week-long comprehensive course that will prepare participants for a certification test with our partner, the National Institute of Social Media.

Our Courses:

A social media team is made of people in different roles. From content creators, to community managers, to social service team members. The organization needs to take a comprehensive approach to training and in order to get the right people, the right training so that everyone can be successful. – Bob Carver

Our Upcoming Brand Advocacy Webinar:How to Increase Revenue by Turning Employees into Social Brand Advocates

August 13, 2015 | 11 AM PDT / 2 PM EDT | Get more information and RSVP

Sources

Forbes: http://onforb.es/1OaK6KX Adobe: http://adobe.ly/1JfTR6g

Social Media Today: http://bit.ly/1Gk3cbdSusaneMerick.com: http://bit.ly/1L6Lr7a

BusinessInsurance.com: http://bit.ly/1K5lwwzMonster.com: http://mnstr.me/1gAfYgN

MaximizeSocialBusiness.com: http://bit.ly/1CCcogn