04.2.2024 Donna Spencer
In today’s world, employee-generated content (EGC) has become a powerful tool for companies to showcase their brand and attract top talent.
Because EGC is authentic, coming directly from the employees, it makes it more relatable and trustworthy. In fact, there are multiple benefits to incorporating employee advocacy into your employee branding strategy.
- Employees have 10x (on average) more followers than a brand’s account (PostBeyond).
- Employees are subject matter experts. They are doing the job and can share first-hand knowledge and experience.
- Video content helps highlight diversity in the workplace. One in three employees and jobseekers (32%) would not apply to a job at companies with a lack of diversity among their workforces (Wilson HCG).
- 92% of consumers turn to people they know for referrals above any other source (PostBeyond).
The benefits of employee advocacy are clear, but understanding what it means to build EGC into your organisation and what it may look like is a different matter. This can be especially important when you’re trying to get buy-in from stakeholders when implementing a brand ambassador program.
Recently, a new client of Tribal Impact asked us for examples of employee advocacy in action. We presented them with examples of good, genuine EGC at all levels, which excited our client about the possibilities of employee advocacy.
We thought we’d share these examples to help you understand the power of employee advocacy and what it could look like for your organisation.
1. ServiceNow Uses The Power Of YouTube To Showcase Company Culture And Drive Engagement
As mentioned above, video is a great way to showcase life in an organisation. Robert Blackett, Senior Manager and Business Strategy at ServiceNow, has done an incredible job creating an engaging YouTube channel for the company.
His channel has helped increase engagement and awareness of the ServiceNow brand to an audience of over 30,000 subscribers!
Additionally, Bill McDermott, Chairman and CEO of ServiceNow, creates excellent content on his LinkedIn profile, which has resulted in significant engagement and followership with over 260,000 followers. This is a wonderful example of EGC at all levels.
2. Microsoft Employees Lead The Way In Employee Advocacy On LinkedIn
Microsoft employee Lee Welch is an excellent example of how to create engaging content on LinkedIn. With over 4,000 followers, he’s reaching a large audience that Microsoft may otherwise not have reached.
This particular LinkedIn post of Lee’s is a great example of building engagement in the comments section.
There are lots of examples of employee advocacy at Microsoft. They have done a fantastic job at activating their employees. Nuria Munoz, Global Talent Acquisition at Microsoft, is another example of using her LinkedIn channel to extend the brand’s reach.
We recently did a LinkedIn Live with Nuria on the role of an inclusive employer brand in diverse talent acquisition. Watch it here.
3. SAP Tech Influencers Use Subject Matter Expertise To Create Engaging Content
Trond Røvang and John Oxenby at SAP, who have dubbed themselves the "Grumpy Old Men", have become successful tech influencers on LinkedIn.They create engaging content around SAP's products and services and have attracted a significant following on the platform, with over 22,000 followers between them.
Their success demonstrates how EGC can help companies establish their thought leadership and influence in their industry by harnessing the power of their subject matter experts.
We interviewed Trond and John about their journey to social media success. You can read that interview here.
4. IBM Employee Brings Company Event To The Eyes Of Many Through TikTok
Nada Alkutbi, Geo Social Media Lead at IBM, is a great example of an employee who has leveraged TikTok to showcase her experience at a recent company event.
Her TikTok video received significant engagement and shares. She also shared this to her LinkedIn profile, extending the reach and receiving great engagement in the comments section.
We’re delighted Nada will be speaking at our Social Business Exchange 2023 event on the 16th May.
5. Co-hosted Podcast Series Highlights EGC’s Role In Diversity And Inclusion
During our LinkedIn Live with Emmanuel Delvaux, he mentioned two employees from SLB and Baker Hughes who set up a podcast about women in engineering, and it’s taken on a life of its own!
"Flipping the Barrel" is a co-hosted podcast series by Jamie Elrod and Massiel Diez, highlighting a woman's perspective in the oil and gas industry.
The podcast hosts female employees in the industry, bringing a unique and authentic perspective to the topic, which has resonated with listeners.
The podcast's success demonstrates how EGC can help companies showcase their diversity and inclusion initiatives.
If these real-life examples have inspired you, talk to Tribal Impact about how you can activate your employees.
