Why You Should Help Employees Grow Their Social Following

Who are the people that know your business the best? The ones that know your values and mission inside out?

The answer is, of course, your employees. They are the people that live in your business every single day.

And, in an age where almost everyone has a least one social media account, you can leverage their involvement in your business to supercharge your digital strategy.

Source

If your employees are engaged, they will be more than willing to share company-related content, like pictures of the office, videos of team building days, or your latest product line with their networks.

In fact, actively encouraging your staff to share their content on social media and helping them grow their following can have a hugely positive impact on your brand.

Here’s why.

1. Drive Traffic

The more eyeballs you can get on your website the better, right?

Let’s assume for a minute that you have 20 employees who each have at least 100 followers on social media. That’s the potential to reach 2,000 new people and possible new website visitors (not to mention potential customers).

According to research, almost 40% of people spend between one and five hours a week on business-related social media activities. If you can encourage your employees to spend that much time talking about your business and engaging their followers, the potential number of website visitors dramatically increases.

But, in order to get more traffic through social media, you have to support your employees in growing their followings and help them find relevant and quality content to share with their networks.

2. Build Trust and Authority

Research from the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that your employees are the most credible voices you have. That is, your audience are far more likely to trust what they say than what you put out on your branded business social media accounts.

And, in an age where consumers are actively seeking businesses they can trust, this is invaluable. Not only that, but it helps make your brand more human.

Rather than your faceless business account sharing stuff, your employees provide a much more “real” experience with their stories and content from the inside.

It works kind of like a modern-day version of traditional word-of-mouth marketing, which falls under the idea that we trust our peers more than companies and corporations.

3. Increase Your Reach

We mentioned earlier that most people today have at least one social account with a smattering of followers (even if those followers are simply family and close friends).

By having a number of different accounts share the same content - whether that’s your latest blog post, a new product you’re launching, or an interview you did with a local newspaper - you’re instantly increasing the reach that piece of content has.

But the reach doesn’t stop at your employees’ followers. Their followers might then go on to share that content to their followers, which expands the reach even more. At some point down the line, you’re going to reach people who are interested in your brand and what you’re offering.

This is particularly true if your employees are active on social platforms that your business isn’t. For example, you might limit your business accounts to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but your employees might be active and engaged on sites like Tumblr, Pinterest, and Reddit, which gives you the chance to reach prospects you might otherwise have missed.

4. Improve Productivity and Engagement

Employee productivity is vital if you want your business to thrive. Engaged employees perform better and have a bigger impact on company goals than employees that are not engaged.

And, by investing in their social media accounts and taking an interest in helping them grow their following, you’re actively showing that you value their contribution to your brand.

You can help employees with their social accounts by running regular workshops to inspire content ideas, sharing the latest social trends with them to try out, or by launching an employee advocacy program where individuals get rewards for sharing business-related content on their social accounts.

This tactic can be particularly effective. According to research, 87.2% of employees enrolled in an advocacy program like this say it helps them expand their professional networks.

5. Invest in Your Employees’ Social Followings

People are often told to stay off social media during working hours but, if used and monitored in the right way, your staff can leverage their followings to share content related to your business.

Helping your employees grow increases their productivity and engagement, which means they are far more likely to promote your business through their social media accounts in the future.

Not only will this drive more traffic to your site, but it will boost trust and credibility around your brand, and improve staff engagement levels.

So, if you’re not already nurturing the fledgling followings of your employees, now’s the time to start.

Contributor Bio:

Ryan Gould, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services, Elevation Marketing

From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. He skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs, and believes strongly in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively aligns sales and marketing teams within organizations.

Get in touch with Ryan on LinkedIn.

...

Want to become a contributor to the SalesScreen blog? Drop us a line at marketing@salesscreen.com