How can companies differentiate themselves from others? How can a brand build up trust – specifically in times where people cannot meet face2face? How can a potential client find someone to talk to when going into the shop is not possible or people to talk to are anyway not located and available in your hometown? How can a seller in a highly competitive marketplace build reputation as a trusted advisor who knows what he/she is talking about without appearing too “salesy”?

Well – there is an answer to that.
Employee Advocacy – set up properly – can help in all the questions asked above – and even in more situations. Before we talk about the advantages of Employee Advocacy let´s have a look at what Employee Advocacy is all about .

What is Employee Advocacy?

Employee Advocacy is the promotion of an organization by its workforce.

“Employee Advocacy and Employee Advocacy programs are being implemented in companies as a way to not only foster a boost in team morale, but also to assist businesses and brands in awareness and even sales.” (Forbes)

Who can benefit from an Employee Advocacy program?

• The company itself
• The company´s employees
• Clients or prospects
• Potential talents that consider applying for a new job in that company.

Benefits of Employee Advocacy for a company

• Branding/Marketing – social traffic by individuals that are trusted more without additional marketing cost
• Social Selling – people buy from people not from companies; Employee Advocacy allows to leverage the expertise & trust of a company´s employees; a great vehicle for virtual, scalable 1-2-1 sales approaches
• Talent Acquisition – new talents get inspired by employees who as individuals are more trusted then companies

Benefits of Employee Advocacy for a company´s employees

• Personal Branding – employees can combine the reputation of their employers with their personal way of positioning themselves as thought leaders or trusted advisors on themes they select
• Reach expansion – employees can work with the branding of their employer to expand their reach
• Social selling – employees can use employee advocacy as a means to expand their client set, to build up 1-2-1 relationships with their clients via social media, to segment clients, to analyze client backgrounds etc

Benefits of Employee Advocacy for a company´s clients or prospects

• My contact @ – make complex organizations easy to access through a virtual contact with whom you can build up a relationship
  
• “Buddy” on my client journey – identify a face of a company to help handling sales or support related questions
• Trusted advisor – get to know the expert for your business problem, build up trust and a relationship

Benefits of Employee Advocacy for new talents considering to join a company

• Research – understand how a brand/a company wants to position itself
• Culture check– do I like what the other employees are sharing? Does the company culture appeal to me?
• Job offers – more and more employees share in their network open jobs for their team

Key takeaways

• Employee Advocacy has advantages for everyone.
• It allows employees to establish themselves as experts & trusted advisors.
• It is a free marketing & sales vehicle for company´s to push their offerings leveraging the personal trust of their employees.
• It is a great way of establishing and nurturing one-to-one relationships with clients which is a booster for a great client experience specifically when it comes to support related questions.