Some of your best brand ambassadors are the team you work with.

Did you know that happy staff are MUCH more likely to share posts than your clients?

If employees trust the CEO, they are much more likely to engage and become a brand ambassador or advocate.

So how can you empower your team to share information about your company while still “controlling” the message?

1. Invite them to re-share content that you’ve published to your LinkedIn Company page or other official Social Media channels.
   This way, the content is already pre-approved AND you’ll be drawing attention back to your official channels.
2. Ensure you have a solid Social Media policy in place. 
   Remind them that you would LOVE to have them share great information about your company. Also remind them they have to be mindful of what they post on their personal sites, even during their non-working hours.
   (I like this Social Media policy video by Victoria, Australia’s Department of Justice. I bet your team would be more likely to watch a video than read a policy paper!)

   3.  Ask your team to participate as a part of the process. 
Perhaps you can celebrate an employee of the month. Ask them to write a blog post, or feature one of their clients.

Empowering your team to use Social Media has many benefits:

• It can help showcase your workplace as a great company to work for, and can attract talent.
• It can help your team feel empowered as part of the “voice” of the company and provide value in employee retention
• It will help the exponential growth of your brand – particularly when your team have a wide reach and are influential within their network.

Be sure to measure what’s working and perhaps even have some fun rewards for the people who have the widest reach. This earned form of word-of-mouth awareness is MUCH less expensive than advertising, and the level of trust is as high as 84%.

So how do you get started with a Brand Ambassador program?

1. Define your goals (what are your key performance indicators?)
2. Know where your target audience is, and make sure you have a presence.
3. Reach out and ask your staff if they are interested in participating and ask them for their feedback about what channel(s) they are currently using, and what they may be willing to contribute (content, sharing, feedback).
4. If you haven’t already, develop content calendar with what you’re going to publish, when you’re going to publish etc.
5. Once you’ve developed relevant content that will resonate with your target audience, provide a complete “turnkey” promotions kit to your team. Outline the process of what you’d like for them to do and really encourage them to participate.

Measure and tweak as you go.

Remember, QUALITY content for your target audience is paramount. Don’t just make “noise”. Ensure each post is thoughtful, insightful and brings value.

READY? SET? GO!

Now it’s YOUR turn: Do you have a brand ambassador employee program at your company? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know what you think in the comment area below.

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Leslie Hughes is a LinkedIn Optimization Specialist, Professor of Social Media, Corporate Trainer and Principal of PUNCH!media

Leslie was called a “Social Media Guru” by CBC Radio and has been working in digital marketing since 1997 and founded PUNCH!media in 2009. PUNCH!media clients include The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and TVO.

PUNCH!media’s goal is to empower through education and help executives gain confidence in their online presence so you convert higher-paying clients.

Leslie provides LinkedIn corporate training and LinkedIn profile writing for executives and teams who need a strong, powerful presence online.