The WIIFM Factor: Successful Employee Advocacy

The stats are in, and they show time and time again, impressions and engagement achieved through social advocacy far outperforms typical branded channels. It’s easy to see why implementing a social advocacy program is beneficial for marketing, sales and HR teams. However, a key metric to success is getting employee buy-in and adoption. Why should employees care? What’s in it for them?

What’s in it for me aka the WIIFM factor can easily become a stumbling block when trying to implement employee advocacy. This post will cover the benefits employees can expect from adopting an employee advocacy program.

Accessible Social Media 

Many employees did not grow up with social and are unsure how to use all the platforms much less their best practices. Learning all the different platforms is not an advantageous use of their time yet is still needed in order to stay top of mind and relevant in most industries. Social advocacy programs take the guesswork out of sharing by allowing employees to easily choose the content and network they want to share to with in one click.

Minimize Reputation Risk

Many employees want to be brand advocates, but both the employees and company stakeholders worry about security. There can be unintended consequences when employees share on social:

  • Posting a photo not realizing it’s revealing confidential materials
  • Promoting a promotion that isn’t applicable to that audience or has expired
  • Sharing an article that references a competitor

The key isn’t to limit or remove social, but to create policies and tools that mitigate these risks. All content within an employee advocacy tool will have been reviewed and approved by the company so employees can share confidently.

Source Company Branded Content Faster

For sales and account managers, finding relevant up-to-date branded content is imperative to help guide prospects and customers. Employee advocacy software creates one centralized content hub where teams can easily find the most up-to-date branded collateral and company updates. Replacing scattered content repositories, housing out of date content, will save customer facing teams time and energy.

Easily Build a Personal Brand & Thought Leadership

Establishing a personal brand and distinguishing yourself as a thought leader is (for most industries) no longer a nice to have, but a need to have. Social advocacy programs make it easy for employees to showcase themselves as thought leaders. They will be able to access and share relevant industry content – both in house and third party – with one click from one curated centralized source.

Expand Networks

Sharing interesting social posts will drive employees’ social presence, engagement and interactions. Without much effort, they can start to build and expand their personal professional networks.

More Transparency with Their Organization

Employees who are engaged and bought-in to the organization want to know what is going on. Sharing information and company wins across a whole organization is not always an easy feat. Having one centralized content and information library will allow employees across teams, offices and even countries to share company updates and stay informed. Numerous studies show high-quality internal communication not only fosters strong employee-organization relationships, but it also promotes a positive brand message.

Getting employee buy-in is crucial for the success of an employee advocacy program. Social advocacy programs have huge benefits for the company, but it also has tangible benefits for employees.

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