While a successful employee advocacy program can boost your company’s credibility, visibility and even revenue, the reality is that many companies attempt to launch one without ensuring that the key elements are in place. The following are some of the more common mistakes to avoid.
- Not having a clear gauge of employees’ views of the company. Some companies make the mistake of trying to launch an advocacy program when employees are not likely to be positive advocates, says Christopher Hannegan, Edelman’s executive vice president, U.S. Practice Chair, Employee Engagement. Measuring your employee engagement is critical to avoid misreading your audience.
- Assuming that employees don’t want to participate. Some companies take the opposite view that staff would not want to talk about them online or that there would be no value in it. “What companies sometimes overlook is that, if for nothing else but to help find talent and to help burnish your overall reputation, there is an incredible power in having your employees talk about you,” Hannegan says.
- Not providing employees with adequate training on how to use the social media tools or on the guidelines for sharing.
- Launching an advocacy program because “everybody has one and we should have one, too.” Companies need to clearly define the purpose of the program, Hannegan notes. Is it to sell more products? Improve the company’s reputation? Attract better talent? “Define the use case upfront so you can then develop the right programs, select the right technology, and build in the appropriate KPIs and the right measurement for it,” he says.
Download the full article here.
