kc/iabc june lunch - sara folkerts - employees as brand ambassadors
DESCRIPTION
Turn engaged employees into your best brand ambassadors.TRANSCRIPT
Sara Folkerts, Communications ManagerSprint Nextel
Turn Engaged Employees Into Your Best Brand Ambassadors
IABC – Kansas CityJune 20, 2013
2
What we’ll talk about today
Building advocacy – starting from within• Why social media training for employees is critical to your
PR and Social Media strategy• Employee social media training best practices• How to create a program that will meet your employee’s
needs AFTER training them• What measurable objectives you can expect from your
employee ambassador program
Final questions and wrap-up
Why do this at all?Why social media training for employees is critical to your PR and Social Media strategy
3
Your brand is what your customers (and employees) say it is
4
“To succeed with empowered customers, you must empower your employees to solve customer problems.” – Empowered, Bernoff and Schadler
It’s about empowerment
6
Employee engagement
“Employee-owners exhibit such enthusiasm for their organization that they infect customers with similar
satisfaction, loyalty, and dedication.” -The Ownership Quotient by Heskett, Sasser and Wheeler
Basics Honesty Transparency Trust Loyalty Advocacy
“People like me” are more trustworthy
7
2013 Edelman Trust Barometer
How to set up an employee ambassador programEmployee social media training best practices
8
1. You need a Social Media Policy
• More guardrails, fewer rules• Encouraging, not discouraging• Get the right people together –
Legal, HR• Start with a supporting statement
for social media• Tell employees what the policy is
about• Why does it exist?
Photo courtesy theurbanmind.blogspot.com
Sprint embraces social media…
Sprint embraces social media as a significant part of its corporate strategy and acknowledges and
encourages employee participation in a wide variety of social media activities as they feel
comfortable. This policy applies to any social media activities that contain postings about Sprint’s business, products employees, customers,
partners, or competitors.
Specific to your company
• You might already have a Code of Conduct – remind people of that!
• How should people manage the company’s time when they are online?
11
Photo from Sprint Social Media Training for Managers
Specific to your industry
• Publically traded company
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Intellectual property• Copyright• Private customer data
12
Photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons
2. You need Executive Buy-in
13Photos courtesy Getty Images and the Catholic League
3. You need to listen first
14
• 65% of those surveyed were being asked specific questions about PepsiCo products
• More than half wanted information they could share across their social media platforms
4. You need training that works for everyone
15
Screen shot of Sprint Social Media Ninjas training
Training should…
• Be fun!• Be fast – or self-paced• Be easy – you can do it from almost anywhere• Solve an employee’s problem – Why should an employee take this training?
Sprint Social Media Ninjas
•What the Ninja program IS:• Support group for employees engaging with
customers online• Community of people who care about
customers and are active in social media• Real enablement for advocates
•What the Ninja program is NOT:• Spokesperson training• Certification
17
What makes a good ambassador?
• Engaged• Specialized
expertise• Personality• Team player• Permission to
participate
This is Chris
David (aka the IT guy) in central Florida
He keeps busy with his family, the outdoors and his church
Ninjas news makes it really easy for David to share awesome Sprint stories with everyone
6. You need to stay connected AFTER training
• Facebook group• Online community
Sharing the approved stuff
Sharing the approved stuff
• 65 US employees from four locations(Smaller groups in UK and Brazil)
• Training on…> Key messages> Social media> How to become better ambassadors
(e.g., sharing coupons and friends)• They engaged via blog posts, using products at family
gatherings, distributing coupons, sharing approved content• Results: Increase in comfort and activity• Engaged with average of 22 people per month (goal was 3)
7. You need measureable results
Sprint measures…
• The number of employees who have completed training
• Clicks and shares on bit.ly links specific to the Ninjas program
• Views on the content we share
• Etc.
25
Ninjas by Organization
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
Corpo
rate
Mar
ketin
g
Prepa
id
Strate
gy & C
orpor
ate
Develo
p.
Lega
l & G
over
nmen
t Affa
irs
Busin
ess
Mar
ketin
g
Human
Res
ourc
es
Finance
Consu
mer
Mar
ketin
g
Corpo
rate
Com
mun
icatio
ns
BMG
Consu
mer
Networ
k Ope
ratio
ns &
Who
lesa
le
Custo
mer
Man
agem
ent
Population: 3,000 and growing!
The Black Belt Challenge
• Self-report and track your Ninja activity
• Use existing recognition tools and programs to reward that behavior
• Make the rules clear and make it easy to participate!
• Self-paced programs work for everyone
Ninjas are getting noticed
27
#1 most improved company – period
2008 2009 2010 201155
60
65
70
75
80
ACSI Results
ACSI Results
28
29
Who else is doing this?Examples from other companies
30
Other companies include
• Coca-Cola• Dell• Sodexo
Employee comments
Employee posts
Network group pages
Links to employee
blogs
Employee stories
Short-term campaigns
Wrap up and QuestionsFinal thoughts and let’s discuss
35
36
Lessons from Sprint Ninjas
• Lesson #1: Treat employees like trusted partners in your business.
• Lesson #2: Listen to your employees as much as you listen to customers.
• Lesson #3: Equipping employees as ambassadors boosts commitment.
• Lesson #4: Have a social media policy and make sure everyone knows what it says.
What will build trust in the future?
37
2013 Edelman Trust Barometer
Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved.
This work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Questions?Sara Folkerts
Phone: 913.484.5410
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/saramiller
Twitter: @saramiller
More questions?
I also have expertise in:
• Online community management
• Blogging and writing for the web
• Internal social media strategy development and governance
• Social media policy and training
• Employee advocacy programs