social employee advocacy: tapping into the power of an engaged social workforce
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[WEBINAR] Social Employee Advocacy: Tapping into the power of an engaged social workforce
Ed TerpeningIndustry Analyst, Altimeter
@EdTerpening
Aubrey LittletonResearcher, Altimeter
@AubreyLittleton
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“I bristle at the notion that employee advocacy is a new thing. In many ways, it’s something
we’ve been trying to do for a long time, and only recently have the stars aligned between culture, technology, and product to be able to roll it out at
scale.” Matt Switzer, Hootsuite
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“When we first launched our [employee advocacy] pilot, I found an old essay that the President of General Mills had written in the 1940s that said:
‘PR is everybody’s job.’ That’s especially true today; we all have a role to play in promoting the company and this is just
the 2015 version of that.”Kevin Hunt, General Mills
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Key Findings
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1. Planning and adoption of employee advocacy is quickly growing
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2015 State of Social Business
45% of strategists indicated employee advocacy was a top priority – a 191% increase in interest over 2013.
Source: “The 2015 State of Social Business: Priorities Shift from Scaling to Integrating”, by Ed Terpening and Charlene Li, 2015
191%
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90% of brands are pursuing employee advocacyOur latest research shows that 90% of brands are now pursuing some form of employee advocacy – a further 2x increase over 2015.
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, 2016
1st Increase reach of our messages in social networks2nd Drive increased understanding and brand health of our organization3rd Engage employees more deeply in our company mission and their work
The top business drivers for employee advocacy
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2. Consumer response to employee advocacy content is encouragingEmployee posted content out-performs social ads
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31%of consumerssay they “better understand”
companies whose employees share content
47%of brands
cite “increased understanding and brand health” as priority for
employee advocacy
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, 2016
Employee advocacy promotes brand health
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3. Employee advocacy amounts to native advertising in social
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Native Advertising in Social Media
21%of consumersreport “liking” employee posts
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, 2016
8%of consumers
report “sharing” employee posts
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4. But, employee posts can backfireLike anyone struggling with information overload, followers will block those that over-post or post irrelevant content.
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Backlash can be significant
20%of consumersreport they have blocked or un-
followed a connection based on posts about work
“Have you ever blocked/unfollowed/unfriended someone because of their posts about work?”
Global consumer survey, Q1’16, n=2286
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, 2016
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5. Employee advocacy drives employee engagement
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How do you feelwhen sharing your employer’s content?
“I feel more connected and
enthusiastic about the company I work for.”
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5. Europe lags North America in adoption
Europeans share less, overall∙ Greater desire for work-
life separation
Motivations & employer tool provision differ∙ Europeans less interested
in connecting work life with social networks
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Best Practices for Planning Action
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1 Define Scope and Business Objectives
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✓ Set Expectations
“The biggest barrier is a psychological barrier in
expectation.”
Glenn Gaudet, GaggleAMP
∙ Have realistic targets for adoption
∙ Begin pilots with manageable groups
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✓ Work Inside-Out
∙ Employee engagement goals lead to consumer-based outcomes.
“Alignment is the key to unlock advocacy at the scale required to drive true business impact.”
Nicole Alvino, SocialChorus
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✓ Engage Leaders
“We have a really open culture - we are allowed to
‘try and fail’.”
Sarah Mortensen, Cisco EMEA
∙Seek executive support to:∙Cross silos∙Procure resources∙Motivate employees
to participate∙Allow for initial
missteps
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2 Research and Baseline
✓ Understand Organic Activity∙ Who is already
sharing within your organization?
∙ What motivates these “organic advocates”? What results do they see and what motivates them?
✓ Mine your ESN
∙ Use an Enterprise Social Network to create and reinforce culture of sharing internally.
∙ Translate that culture externally with employee advocacy.
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3 Departmental Alignment
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Departmental AlignmentTeam Why?
✓ Employee Comms Raise internal awareness.
✓ Human ResourcesSet policy.Drive engagement through ESNs.Manage the employee relationship
✓ Legal Legal compliance (e.g., FTC disclosure, NLRB, et al)Labor, privacy, and regional laws.
✓ Sales Social selling.Align engagement and advocacy strategies.
✓ IT Important operations ally.
✓ Marketing / Social Team Think strategically about employee advocacy.Define KPIs that drive brand impact.
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4 Pilot: “Test and Learn”
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✓ Start Low-Tech
“Our program is really quite an old one. We started it as an
email, with anywhere from five to ten pre-written, legally-approved tweets for people to copy-and-paste into Twitter.”
Nolan Carleton, AT&T
∙ Don’t shy away from low-tech pilots, but be aware that they won’t scale.
∙ Typically, even large brands begin employee advocacy efforts with as few as 25 - 75 employees.
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✓ Employee Training
Convey…
…the benefit to the employee
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, Altimeter Group, 2016
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✓ Employee Training
Convey…
…the benefit to the brand
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, Altimeter Group, 2016
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✓ Employee Training
Convey…
…the shared benefits
Source: “Social Media Employee Advocacy: Tapping Into The Power of An Engaged Social Workforce” by Ed Terpening, Altimeter Group, 2016
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✓ Training
“People are so fearful of getting out there in social media, but once they do it…it’s amazing the pivot they make. Make sure whatever materials you have about your program are fun and
engaging. Don’t make your program any scarier than it needs to be.”
Nolan Carleton, AT&T
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5 Scale
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✓ Benchmarking
∙ What does good scale look like?
∙ Average employee adoption seems to run between 10-40%
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✓ ROI
∙ Look for connections between employee engagement and consumer response
∙ Give employees proof metrics, too, to encourage participation
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✓ Retirees
∙ Some retirees may have unique social graphs with significant influence
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✓ Content
∙ Consider the content mix and tools
∙ Curate content to differing teams interests and areas of expertise
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✓ Content
58%
58%
62%
48%
43%
27%
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✓ Governance
∙ Have clear policy∙ Training /
mentoring∙ Have monitoring
in place
Thank You
Disclaimer: Although the information and data used in this report have been produced and processed from sources believed to be reliable, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the completeness, accuracy, adequacy or use of the information. The authors and contributors of the information and data shall have no liability for errors or omissions contained herein or for interpretations thereof. Reference herein to any specific product or vendor by trade name, trademark or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the authors or contributors and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
Ed TerpeningIndustry [email protected]@edterpening
Altimeter provides research and advisory for companies challenged by business disruptions, enabling them to pursue new opportunities and business models.
Recent, related research cited in this presentation.