For years, companies have faced enormous challenges due to rapid digitization. Thus, instead of continuing to rely on traditional marketing methods, brands are increasingly using influencers to increase their online presence and brand awareness.
While influencers have been a household name on social media platforms and beyond for years, corporate influencers are gradually becoming the focus of attention for CEOs, HR and marketing.
In this article, we look at who corporate influencers are, why their role as brand ambassadors is so important for your brand, and how to turn your employees into true brand ambassadors and corporate influencers.
Who are Corporate Influencers?
Corporate Influencers are employees who present their view of their company and their brand on their social media channels – through expertise in their own field or through insights into their daily work for the company.
With the rise of social media platforms which opens up new opportunities for brands to be noticed both internally and externally, the work of corporate influencers in sum, can create considerable and lasting added value for your company.
Why employees are a brand’s best influencers
When most people think of ‘influencers’, they are usually thinking about Instagram and YouTube stars. These Instagram and YouTube celebrity kind of influencing, is mostly perfect for promoting a product that aligns with their online persona – thus, many companies get deterred by the time, effort, and money needed to find the right influencers.
But when it comes to communicating the benefits of a business? Your brand needs someone it can trust and who knows and understands the benefits of what you have to offer. Someone that is personally invested in the brand culture, ethics and values. Who could fill these shoes better than your own employees and colleagues?
The very best ‘influencers’ for a business are its employees, because after all, what better brand advocates could there be than the people that work there?
The use of your staff as influencers provides you with all of the advantages of using external influencers while saving you both time and money.
How to Turn Your Employees into True Brand Ambassadors
- Communicate the vision.
If you asked your employees to tell you the vision and mission of the company, chances are they would each articulate that message in a different way. Make sure your employees understand the value you are providing to your customers. This message should be consistently reinforced in communication from senior leadership and managers so employees can clearly articulate it to their networks. It’s important that everyone is speaking from the same page when it comes to “who we are” and “what we do.”
- Encourage Employees to Grow their Own Personal Brand
Brand ambassadors shouldn’t just be a reflection of your own brand. It’s important to encourage employees to grow their own personal brand, and then use it to strengthen your company image. Why? Because people trust people more than they trust businesses.
The goal should be to have your team members become respected thought leaders in their own spaces. By being visible to the community at large, or just seen as trustworthy experts in your industry, they’ll paint a positive image of your company at large. This type of trust is what strengthens brand authority, leads to new business, and strengthens customer relationships at large.
- Make it easy for employees to be brand ambassadors
Make it as easy as possible for your employees to be brand ambassadors. Curate content specifically for staff that is easy to share. Give meaningful corporate gifts that your team members will want to use or wear in their everyday life. Launch a staff referral program when recruiting for a new position so your team can build talent from talent. Recognize those employees going above and beyond.
- Let Employees Contribute.
Offer employees the chance to contribute to the company’s blog content. When employees are in the public spotlight, it’s more likely they will share the content with their friends, family and peers. Point out to your employees that while they’re helping to promote the company, they’re also working to build their own personal brands.
- Make a Game of It
If you have a product launch or other big news coming up, let your employees help you create some buzz around it. For a little extra encouragement, create a contest and reward for the post that gets the most likes and shares.
If your employees enjoy what they do, they can help you get the word out and spread that excitement to their own circle of friends. These activities could have an impact on awareness, sales and recruitment without adding any additional cost to your marketing budget.