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Turning Employeesinto Brand Advocates4 Steps to an EffectiveEmployee Engagement Program
Engagedemployeesare thelifebloodof everysuccessfulbusiness.They speak positively about your companyto each other, to potential employees, andto your customers. They want to be partof your organisation and they’re motivatedto see it succeed.In a digital marketplace, engaged employeescan be an even bigger asset. Leveragingthe power of their personal social networks,you can magnify your brand presence andenhance your reputation as an employerof choice.Our research found that, on average, youremployees have a network that is 10 timeslarger than your company’s follower base.As a result, jobs shared by employees yield30% more job applications1.There’s alsoa 37% lower initial attrition rate2 for hiresimpacted by employees.3While every company would like to thinktheir employees are engaged, the realityis quite different. Only 13% of globalemployees are engaged.4So what can you do to engage youremployees in an authentic and meaningfulway? Read on to learn how to create anemployee engagement program that willturn your employees into advocates andamplify your employer brand. alculated by comparing the number of applications per job for jobs shared by non-recruiter employees vs jobs not sharedC Initial attrition rate is calculated as employees leaving the company within 6 months of joining Hires impacted is Measured as Profile views, connections, inmails sent by the new hire 12 to 1 months prior to starting the job4 Gallup State of the Workforce Study 2015123LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 2
4 steps to an effective employee engagement programA good way to ensure the success of your employee engagementprogram is to follow these 4 steps:BuildEngageHow your employeeengagement program will work.How your employees can getinvolved and stay engaged.EducateMeasureHow your employeescan play their part.How you can improve andreinforce your programOn average,your employeeshave a networkthat is 10 timeslarger than yourcompany’sfollower baseLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 3
1.Build afoundation foryour employeeengagementprogramLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 4
The first step to a successfulemployee engagement program is awell thought‑out strategy that includesthe following elements:Define a social media policyMany companies start by defining asocial media policy. This is where you spellout what is ok for your employees to shareon social media and what is not. Givingguidelines to your employees will help themfeel more comfortable actively promotingyour company.Nominate employee championsYou may want to nominate employeechampions to help get people on boardwith the program. Do you know employeeswho are already very active on social mediaand sharing news about your company?If so, that’s a great place to start. You canposition this is a leadership opportunityand get those employees involved first.5Create a content distribution planHaving a plan is critical to the successof your outreach. Know how and whenyou are going to share content with youremployees and your followers, and makesure this plan is regularly updated.Incorporate into youronboarding processGet the ball rolling early with new employeesso that sharing content is seen as a naturalpart of their role. You can add things to youronboarding process like asking people toupdate their LinkedIn profiles, and givingthem a tip sheet for sharing company content.Build an incentive andrecognition programAn incentive or recognition program can bethe push employees need to get them started.For example, each month the employee whohas shared the most photos or garnered themost likes/comments gets a prize. It doesn’thave to be expensive, but a little recognitioncan go a long way.90% of businessleaders see adirect connectionbetween employeeengagement andbusiness success5 Psychometrics Engagement Study 2015LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 5
2.Educate youremployees aboutyour employerbrand and how tobest represent itLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 6
Like any workplace initiative,your employees need to be takenon the journey so they can buy in andunderstand what’s expected of them.Here’s how you can do it:Train your employees on how to usesocial media to promote your brandEmployees need to feel comfortable andsecure that what they’re sharing and doingis ok. Whether through a formal course, orinformal lunch ‘n’ learn, train your employeeson guidelines and recommendations for usingsocial media as well as preferred channelsand content types.Promote your employer brand internallyIf you’re going to ask your employees to beadvocates for your brand, they better knowwhat it is! Share your value proposition andvalues with them. You could create a culturedeck, talk about it at your company meeting,or pass it out as part of a fun showbag.Whatever you do, you need to get youremployees excited about it.Help employees build out their profilesAsk your employees to associate themselveswith your company on LinkedIn and otherplatforms. You could even provide them witha few sentences that represent your brandthat they could add to their summary or jobdescription sections. This gives them an easyway to display their pride and your values.Tell them what’s in it for themBeing more engaged on social mediaand sharing content builds credibility forindividuals. It also helps them grow theirnetworks and establish themselves asa trusted adviser and leader.Bonus tipAsk your employees to followyour company on LinkedIn.That action spreads throughhis or her network as anupdate, motivating othersto follow as well.LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 7
3.Activate youremployees andmake it easyfor them to getinvolved andstay engagedLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 8
Now that you’ve put in placea program, and educated youremployees about it, the critical nextstep is to put the program in action.To do this you need to:Make it easy for employeesto share contentGive people pre-written social mediamessages with links that are easy to copyand paste to share across social mediaplatforms. Make these messages accessibleby putting content in multiple places: yourinternal site, a newsletter, a social mediaadvocacy tool like LinkedIn Elevate, etc.Encourage employees to create contentYou can start by creating a companyhashtag, like #LinkedInLife, that gives peoplea simple way to surface pictures. If possible,find subject matter experts who can publishabout the work they do, what life is like atyour company, or what innovations arehappening in the industry.Get more employees involvedin your referral programA referral program that rewards employeesfor helping attract new recruits is a great wayto activate your employees. If you already havea referral program, make sure you activelypromote it to new and existing employees.If you don’t already have one, make that partof your new employee engagement program.Bonus tipLinkedIn Referrals is a toolthat matches an employee’sconnections to open jobsand makes it extremely easyfor that employee to referpeople. It also integrates withtons of different applicanttracking systemsContent has2x higherengagementwhen sharedby employeesLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 9
4.Continuallymeasure,improve, andreinforce yourengagementprogramLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 10
For your employee engagementprogram to have maximum impact,you need to ensure you’re continuallymonitoring it, improving it andreinforcing it with your employees.Some of the ways to do this are:Evaluate what is working,iterate, and improveOnce your metrics are in place, you canevaluate what’s working, make tweaks,and improve over time. Take this opportunityto try new things and treat your program asa ‘test and learn’, especially while it’s in theIdentify key metrics to measure successinitial stages. Feedback from your employeesStart by choosing key success metrics thatcan play an important role in this.you want to track. You may want to lookat things like the number of employeesMaintain ongoing training for employeesparticipating, the reach of your messaging,Keep your program top of mind withemployee satisfaction and retention, andemployees. Since employees come andthe percentage of hires from referrals.go, or become more or less active in socialmedia, you’ll want to make sure interestedemployees can always get the informationthey need to be more involved.LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 11
Benefits youcan measureWhat can you hope to achieve froma successful employee engagementprogram? Some of the measurablebenefits you should see are: More followers for your companyon LinkedIn More views on your social media posts Higher response rates on yourcampaigns from customers in yournetwork More views of your company profileon LinkedIn58%more likely to attract talent More traffic to your company websiteand careers page More job applications, particularly fromyour employees’ personal networks Lower initial attrition rates with new hires Lower turnover with yourexisting employees Higher Net Promoter ScoresUltimately, these benefits will help you amplifyyour employer brand and strengthen yourposition as an employer of choice.6Companies with highnumbers of employeessharing quality content areMembers connectedto your employees are27%more likely to respondto an inMail6 Looking at response rate for inmails sent via Recruiter members who had a connection within the company vs those that did notLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 12
Additional ResourcesBuilding a strong employer brand on LinkedIn starts with buildinga strong employer brand, period. Neither happens overnight.But if you invest in increasing your reach, engagement, jobinterest and new hire staying power, you’ll be well on your way.For more tips on how to define, promote and measure youremployer brand, download our Employer Brand Playbook.About LinkedInTalent SolutionsRead our blogCheck out our SlideShareFollow us on TwitterSee our videos on YouTubeConnect with us on LinkedInAttract, recruit, and empower the best people for your businesswith LinkedIn. Get access to quality candidates – active andpassive, external and internal – on the world’s largest professionalnetwork of 450M candidates.Visit our websiteLinkedIn Employee Advocacy Mini Guide 13
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employees have a network that is 10 times larger than your company's follower base. As a result, jobs shared by employees yield 30% more job applications 1.There's also a 37% lower initial attrition rate 2 for hires impacted by employees 3. While every company would like to think their employees are engaged, the reality is quite different.
