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Sep 02, 2021 Tribal Impact

16 Employee Advocacy Experts Share Their Top Tips

16 Employee Advocacy Experts Share Their Top Tips compressed

Employee advocacy efforts have seen a sharp rise. 19% of organisations increased their employee advocacy in response to COVID-19 and engagement rates in employee advocacy programs increased by almost 40% in 2020 compared to 2019 

Yes, the pandemic is once again to blame in part, but it’s merely accelerated a growing trend of interest in garnering the greater reach, authenticity and conversions employee voices can bring. 

In 2019 just 31% of organisations had an employee advocacy program in place so it’s still relatively early days. Meaning understanding how to run a successful program can be a challenge - which is where expert insights from those who have created impact with their programs can help.  

Luckily, we have just the thing!  

Our Tribal Chief, Sarah Goodall, co-hosted a series of LinkedIn Live videos on employee advocacy with Onalytica’s CEO, Tim Williams. The interviews with leading employee advocacy experts are designed to help Executive Leaders, SMEs and Advocacy Program Leads understand how to nurture and support their advocates 

And they’re also full of practical tips for advocates themselves, no matter what stage they’re at in their journey - whether it’s growing their network or becoming a successful thought leader. 

The eBook: Advocacy and Influence for B2B Leaders summarises the key take-aways from each expert interview, along with embedded videos of each and “Listen out for” nuggets like, “Is that why my garden’s so terrible? Every day’s a school day.”

{DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY HERE] 

Here’s a sneak glimpse of the insights awaiting in the eBook: 

 

Rob McCarGow, Director of AI, PWC 

Must watch if you are trying to become a Subject Matter Expert in a large enterprise, particularly in the Tech & Professional Services Industry 

In the early stages, especially on Twitter, you can benefit quite a lot from just seeing how it works, rather than trying to think you have to make a big splash straight away. You can learn a lot from watching how people interact with one another and how they curate their content. Then, as you gain confidence, you put yourself out there a bit more. 

 

Edyta Malesza-Malatrat, Marketing Director, SAP 

Must-watch if you’re looking to be a brand advocate and inspire others to do the same 

If you’re posting something brand-related, think about that brand & what they stand for, but also inject your personality in there. The two can fuse together to create content which is more personalised for your audience. By dropping the corporate narrative & ncporating your personality, the message instantly becomes more accessible & interesting to a wider audience.  

 

Paul Maher, Partner, General Manager, Microsoft 

Must-watch if you’re looking to create a strategy that is intentional to drive engagement with technical audiences through insights 

Think of social media like a campaign framework. What are the endpoints & delivery mechanisms? Who is the audience and who influences them? 

 

Danielle Guzman, Global Head of Social, Mercer 

Must-watch if you’re looking to get started, but would like some guidance on how to  take the first step, and how to measure success. 

Just try and fail, try and fail, try and fail, and have the tenacity to keep on reading, learning and going through that loop. Eventually the confidence builds & you find your community & you slowly start coming out of your shell. 

 

Brian Madden, Distinguished Technologies, VMWare 

Must-watch if you want to improve your audience’s experience 

Create content that you’d want to consume. If you’re publishing content that you find boring, why would your audience be interested? 

 

Gerry Moran, CEO, Marketingthink Consulting 

Must-watch if you want to integrate social as a key part of your marketing strategy 

For brands, adding social at the end of a marketing strategy process is like pouring sugar onto a cake that you’ve already baked because you forgot to put the sugar in the batter. The sugar will technically be on the cake but it will taste awful. 

 

Timo Elliot, VP, Global Innovation Evangelist, SAP 

Must-watch if you want to find a balance between posting for passion and posting to get results 

There’s a lot of discussion on social media about the systems & the metrics & the analytics and that’s important, but sometimes it gets in the way of what I believe is truly fundamental, which is being interesting and useful, and really knowing your audience & customers in the first place.  

 

Christina Dove, Regional Market & Culture Leader, Mercer 

Must-watch if you want to build a strong, online community within your brand 

Think of three things you want to be known for and try to tie things back to that. Then you’ll always have an anchor to go back to & you’ll always know what you’re going to talk about. 

 

David Perry, Global Advisor, Social Media, WSP 

Must-watch if you’re part of a global brand looking to sync up your social efforts across different regions 

Social media’s like gardening - you can't just dump a bunch of seeds, topsoil & fertiliser, leave it for the summer & come back to a perfect garden. You’ve got to work at it, pull out the weeds, make sure that there’s enough water, give it some love everyday. If you’re diligent & consistent you’ll get there.  

 

Georgina Goode, VP, Communications, Global Brand, Channel & Content Marketing, Boeing 

Must-watch if you’re looking to set up employee advocacy initiatives within an information-sensitive industry 

Even brands with sensitive information can encourage employees to post on social media. Providing useful guidelines can give people the confidence to post more & not worry about posting the wrong thing. 

 

Benjamin Arnuif, Senior Director, Product Strategy, Analytics, Oracle 

Must-watch if you’re looking to grow your audience & your influence with it 

Start a routine and set a few goals, even if they’re small. Getting started can be as simple as connecting with 2-3 people on a daily basis, starting some conversations. Eventually it becomes a habit and your network grows. 

 

Nigel Walsh, Managing Director, Google Cloud 

Must-watch if you want to bring industries that seem dull to life and bring everyday experiences into your business content 

Always remember to think about your voice, tone and personality when building your brand online. 

 

Paola Johnson, Head of Community & Customer Advocacy, Thoughtspot 

Must-watch if you’re looking to understand the power of building out your personal brand 

There are definitely personal things that you can share on professional social accounts - think about things you share in a business meeting 

 

Danielle Jones-Hunte, Global Head of Employee Advocacy, BP 

Must-watch if you’re part of a brand going through a transition period 

You can be your authentic self on social media & find your space. You can build your personal brand to be powerful. Find your medium & what you enjoy doing, whether that be video/writing/sharing content.  

 
Zoe Sands, Social Media & Community Lead, Veritas Technologies LLC 

Must-watch if you’re looking to build your personal brand whilst increasing online protection and security 

Reddit has had a resurgence. It shows the power of community & people coming together. This can have a phenomenal impact on businesses. 

 

Charlene Brown, Director - Head of Digital Selling Executive Branding Program & Gamification for Digital Selling, SAP 

Must-watch if you’re a program lead and you’re passionate about promoting Diversity & Inclusion in a brand going through transition 

The best things to post are things you have learned and experienced. People can’t pick your story apart, and if they do try, there are easy ways to unfollow/block them. Overall it does give you a thicker skin though! 

 

We had a lot of fun interviewing these employee advocacy experts and learned a lot, despite being seen as “employee advocacy leaders” ourselves. We hope you find these insights and the series as useful as we did.  

 

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About Tribal Impact

Tribal Impact is a B2B Social Selling and Employee Branding Agency.

We're a team of social media strategists, trainers, coaches, content creators and data analysts who are passionate about helping our B2B customers develop and scale their social selling and employee advocacy programs.

Learn more about us here.

Published by Tribal Impact September 2, 2021