How to improve an employee advocacy programme

Summary

• Two of the trickiest challenges of employee advocacy are getting leadership involved and finding a good balance between authentic content and brand consistency.
• Leadership teams set the tone for an employee advocacy programme and give it a legitimacy you won’t find elsewhere.
• Authenticity and brand consistency are not in conflict.
• If you set the right expectations, you can achieve a positive balance between the two.

Getting employees to champion your brand isn’t just about handing them a script. It’s about creating a culture where your employees want to share their experiences and giving them the tools to be able to do so in their own way. It takes planning, strategic thinking and clear guidance. Yet when it comes to employee advocacy programmes, there are challenges that can get in the way of getting the best results. We’ve broken down two of the most common issues we see that cause employee advocacy programmes to stumble or fall flat.

Challenge one: Leadership buy-in with employee advocacy

So, you’ve invested in a well-designed employee advocacy initiative. Your comms team is engaged. Your ambassadors are ready to go. And the leadership team is supportive. Then, after sharing a single post on LinkedIn at the launch, they go quiet. The rest of the business is left wondering just how important this employee advocacy programme is. So, what went wrong?

Leaders set the tone

Leaders are the single biggest signal to your employees that this employee advocacy programme is real. They also set the psychological safety dial for the whole organisation. If employees can see that senior leaders are showing up authentically, sharing real experiences and talking openly about the culture, then the unspoken message is that it's okay to do that here.

Leadership reach is higher

They also bring a reach and a credibility that no-one else can quite replicate. Candidates google the CEO. People look at leadership teams on LinkedIn before they apply for jobs. So, leaders who engage with advocacy best understand that their personal presence online, at events and in content is itself a talent attraction tool.

What does good leadership advocacy look like?

Employee advocacy done well ensures that senior leaders are genuinely and visibly bought in. The CEO shares employee content with a genuine comment. The leadership team talk about employer brand in the same breath as business performance. They're willing to be filmed, to tell their stories and be human in public in a way that might feel uncomfortable. And that gives the whole programme legitimacy and momentum.

3 ways to improve engagement from leadership

1.     Understand their priorities

Work with their communications teams to view any planned content they have and take time to understand their personal brand, so that you can align your approach.  

2.     Make it easy

Create clear guidance on what to share and how often. Offer them ready-made content, if they are less confident, so that they can post and share easily.

3.     Make it valuable

Make sure it’s meaningful for them as individuals and as leadership figures. Show them how they can personally benefit – whether that’s networking, reputation, influence or impact.

Challenge two: Balancing authenticity and consistency

When you choose to create an employee advocacy programme, your goal is to make people feel proud enough, connected enough and informed enough that they become natural promoters of your company just by living their working lives. It's organic and it’s authentic. But how do you give people the freedom to share their perspective without feeling like you’re losing control of your brand?

To create better content, set expectations first

Employee advocacy content doesn’t need to look identical or sounding like it was written by the same person. If you try to make it feel like it went through a brand committee, it will become corporate and safe; and it will lose its impact and authenticity.

Real authenticity comes from people who are well prepared and feel comfortable. They understand what they're trying to say and have the space to say it in their own voice. Brand consistency, on the other hand, is about values and behaviours. It's about the feeling someone gets from interacting with your content, regardless of who made it.

The best way to find the balance between authenticity and brand consistency is to set expectations on both sides at the start and make sure everyone is well-prepared.

3 strategies for balanced content

1.     Choose brand coaching, over policing.

Instead of a review process that says you can't say that, invest in training and create guidance that will help people tell better stories. Show them examples and give them guardrails so that they can feel safe to create their own content.

2.     Build a creative framework.

Let any content brief you create be shaped by employees’ real experiences. Then when you edit the content, you'll be curating authenticity. You can choose the moments where they're the most themselves, where their genuine passion comes through and where they say things that will resonate.

3.     Consistency not uniformity.

Content should feel unmistakably like your organisation because of the values it reflects, not because of a rigid template. If your people are warm, let them be warm. If your culture is a bit playful or relaxed let some of that show. That's what candidates are buying into.

From leadership to authenticity: Getting it right

In today’s world, employee voices are more powerful than ever. Employee advocacy programmes can amplify your brand’s reach and build genuine trust with employees and candidates, but only if they’re done right. By securing leadership buy-in at the start and guiding your employees to be authentic, without losing sight of your brand’s values, you have the potential to create a winning advocacy culture that benefits everyone.

Take the next step with employee advocacy

Our teams can support you to bring your leadership team on board and provide guidance on how to train and empower your employee advocates. No matter what challenges you’re experiencing, we can help you figure out how to improve your employee advocacy programme and get the results you’re looking for. Take a look at our employee advocacy page to find out how we can help or get in touch - hello@thirtythree.co.uk.