The idea of employee as employer fan is not new. Retail, restaurant, and hospitality chains, for example, have long realized the collective power of their employees, and through the creation of unique, powerful cultures–and generous employee discounts, benefits, and workplace perks–they could count on their loyal employees to deliver resplendent messages and stellar customer service–even off of the clock.
Now in the age of social media, every employee has the capacity to act as the face of his or her employer. As such, every friend or contact of an employee could very well be a customer touchpoint–a prospect to whom to sell, an existing client to whom to provide service, or an influencer to whom to present the company in the best possible light. While a seeming win-win for all parties, organizations must be aware of the associated risks, too.
“Employees are the brand,” said Allan Steinmetz, CEO and founder of Inward Strategic Consulting, in an interview with CMO.com. “When employees fail to deliver on the brand promise based on poor employee engagement and performance, it will have a direct impact on revenue, loyalty, and satisfaction.”
Emi Hofmeister, manager of social marketing at Adobe Systems, pointed to Southwest Airlines and Zappos as two companies that have empowered their employees as brand ambassadors. She also made an important distinction: “In other contexts, they are advocates,” she told CMO.com.
Indeed, a brand ambassador is an employee who acts on behalf of a company through a more formal program that involves training, software, metrics, and reviews. An advocate, on the other hand, receives only arms-length guidance on what should or shouldn't be done to carry forth the message of the company.
In the June Webinar “Scale and Trust: Making the Case for a Formalized Social Advocate Program,” Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang called the process a “long-term relationship-based program to recognize and partner with trusted members of the community.” The reality, of course, is that most companies have a range of suggestions in place, and depending on the department, manager, team, or function, employees often act based on what they find most comfortable or suitable.
Still, most employees would willfully promote their employers in a positive light if given more guidance and direction. To wit, training is also vital to show employees how to properly engage, as well as how their blend of personal and professional engagement on social networks impacts their companies. A formal training program also demonstrates to them the company’s seriousness about social and digital communications. As a result, employees feel empowered and engaged.
“Training implies that there is a right way to do things. But the reality is is that when you are establishing relationships, things are much more nuanced, and not so black and white,” explained Altimeter group partner and analyst Charlene Li in another recent Webinar. To become best-in-class, Li encouraged companies to focus on training employees on judgment, which is especially difficult because the judgment that is needed is constantly evolving in the face of technology.
Observing senior leadership taking an active role in social brand stewardship also helps, especially because plenty of CXOs still aren't sold on the power of social, digital, and self-publishing technologies to spread a company's message.
“Authenticity is motivating,” said Joe Cecere, president and chief creative officer of branding and design firm Little & Co., which counts Target, Microsoft, and DC Comics as clients. “Team members also need to see their leaders working toward the company vision, acting in accordance with company values, and being consistently excited about the brand.”
Measuring Social Success
Of course, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Companies are still trying to figure out how to measure the success of employee brand ambassador/advocate programs.
“For more brand ambassador programs, they may ask employees to use a single [technology management] platform so that all stakeholders can be monitored and managed in one place,” Hofmeister said.
Social customer relationship management (CRM) has emerged as a new approach to capturing and understanding the relevance of conversations. Defined as the integration of social media with CRM strategies, leading companies are developing systems–whether purchasing off-the-shelf products or hiring developers to create their own \ solutions–that retrieve employee conversations and glean them for value. Social data, such as tweets that reference clients or prospects, or an employee's LinkedIn newsfeed that includes new connections, can be entered into the existing CRM system and used for business development or client service.
A strong social CRM system, combined with effective social media policies, guidelines, and training, all make an organization a strong social business. Consulting firm Dachis Group measures the strength of companies' social business strategies and publishes the Social Business Index. It is no surprise that media companies and Internet content providers are the leading companies in the index. “A fully networked organization receives outsized benefits that change the competitive stance of the company,” said Dion Hinchcliffe, chief strategy officer for Dachis Group, in a recent webinar.
Next Page: The social downside of employees as brand fans.
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