Nearly half of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets this year. But most are still looking for the best approach. A recent Sprout Social survey may help them. It indicated that employee advocacy could be a cost-efficient way to deliver what consumers seek from brands.
Why employee advocacy?
As influencer marketing is getting more popular, KOLs with large number of followers are turning into celebrities. It makes them more competitive and more expensive to work with. What’s more, the lack of authenticity in celebrity endorsement will also happen to KOLs. Therefore, the ROI may not be as ideal as imagined.
According to the survey, consumers are more likely to trust the recommendations of friends than those of paid celebrity or influencers. Speaking of authenticity, who knows better about your brand than those who work for you? As your employees are already familiar with your brand, enable those with high social reach to amplify your impact.
Big companies already use employee advocacy
Major global brands such as IBM, Humana, Pitney Bowes, GameStop, and SAP have all used employee advocacy strategy. By extending their social media strategies, these companies ignite brand awareness, employee engagement, and revenue.
Companies can give communications and marketing team the ability to curate and upload company-approved content. So their employees can choose what interests them and share it in just a few clicks. This approach can help transform them into experts, advocates, and contributors.
To sum up, let’s see how Ted Rubin, author of Return on Relationship, puts it:
“In today’s social world, every person has an extended circle of personal influence and an opportunity to build their own personal ‘brand.’ By helping your employees build that brand rather than squelching individuality, you can build an army of very powerful advocates.”
To maximise your social media impact, you need a complete strategy planning. Contact us today to increase your social volume.
Read the full article at Inc. and Mobile Marketer.
