Employee advocacy programs

Employee advocacy programs are a strategic approach in talent acquisition and employer branding, where companies encourage their employees to share positive experiences, insights, and open job positions through their personal social networks. This method leverages the trust and credibility that employees have within their networks, making it a powerful way to promote the company. Here's how it works:

Key Elements of Employee Advocacy Programs

1. Sharing Job Openings:

• Employees share job postings on their social media platforms, expanding the reach to a broader audience that includes potential candidates in their networks.

1. Promoting Company Culture:

• Encouraging employees to post about their work experiences, company events, and office culture. This gives an authentic view of the work environment and can attract like-minded candidates.

1. Employee Testimonials:

• Using stories or testimonials from employees about their growth, achievements, and experiences within the company to showcase the positive aspects of working there.

1. Training and Guidelines:

• Providing training and guidelines to employees on how to effectively share content and represent the company on social media.

1. Incentive Programs:

• Offering incentives or rewards for employees who actively participate in the advocacy program, especially if their efforts lead to successful hires.

Benefits of Employee Advocacy Programs

• Broader Reach: Content shared by employees typically has a wider and more organic reach compared to company-shared content.

• Increased Credibility: Information coming from employees is often perceived as more credible and authentic.

• Cost-Effective: This is a cost-effective way of promoting job vacancies and the employer brand.

• Enhanced Employer Brand: Positive employee experiences shared online can significantly boost the company's employer brand.

Examples

• Salesforce: Encourages its employees to share their work experiences and actively participate in social media advocacy.

• Dell: Dell’s employee advocacy program, Dell Champions, encourages employees to share news and information about Dell, enhancing its brand on social media.

Best Practices

• Content Library: Providing a library of pre-approved content that employees can easily share.

• Recognition: Acknowledging and celebrating employees who effectively contribute to the program.

• Monitoring and Feedback: Monitoring the program’s effectiveness and gathering employee feedback for continuous improvement.

Fun Facts

• Social Media Reach: According to LinkedIn, the collective network of employees is typically 10x larger than a company’s follower base.

• Employee Trust: Edelman’s Trust Barometer reports that employees are trusted as a source of information about a company more than CEOs.

Employee advocacy programs tap into the power of personal networks and authentic experiences, making them a highly effective tool for talent acquisition and enhancing the employer brand.