As the saying goes, people buy from people, not companies. Both studies and history show that consumers are far more likely to trust individual people than corporations, highlighting the level of value people associate with reputable industry professionals.
LinkedIn is one of the most active social media platforms on the internet, empowering people and businesses across the globe to share their expertise and make professional connections in a structured yet familiar setting. It also happens to be the best place to initiate an employee advocacy program.
But how does employee advocacy on LinkedIn work, and how can businesses like yours use it as a tool for enhancing brand credibility, contributing to better employee engagement, and inspiring growth?
In this guide, we’ll look at the strategy of employee advocacy campaigns and how they can benefit both the business and the employees. We’ll also learn how it can increase brand visibility, attract blue-chip customers from around the world, and drive traffic toward your most conversion-active sites.
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What Is LinkedIn Employee Advocacy, And Why Is It Important?
LinkedIn employee advocacy refers to the implementation of an employee advocacy marketing initiative on the popular business social media platform LinkedIn.
Employee advocacy is a marketing campaign concept centered on the public advocation of reputable employees who represent both their company and their passions in the same place. When it comes to corporations, consumers feel more comfortable consuming information, testimonials, and recommendations from real people. And that’s exactly what makes employee advocacy so effective.
By implementing an employee advocacy campaign on LinkedIn, your business can use the social standing, reputation, and familiar appeal of its highest-performing employees to attract high-end clients and share information about your brand and what it offers.
But employee advocacy doesn’t just benefit businesses. It has also been shown to inspire major career growth for participating employees, contributing to higher engagement and improved job satisfaction, making it a uniquely symbiotic form of contemporary marketing.
What Are The Benefits Of Using LinkedIn For Employee Advocacy?
LinkedIn is by far the most popular and active social media platform for professionals on the internet. This makes it the ideal place to market your brand and its employees online. There are many benefits to implementing this kind of program, including the following:
- Helps employees build their personal brand
- Drives traffic to your company’s profile or website
- Captivate customers at the top of the sales funnel
- Leads to guest appearances on LinkedIn webinars and events
- Establish employees as subject matter experts
This platform is renowned for its boundless networking potential and ability to skyrocket small but strategic brands to new heights of success. With the right strategy, any brand can cultivate a highly beneficial relationship with LinkedIn.
Watch our webinar on how to transform employees into social media champions.
How Can Companies Initiate And Implement A Successful LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Program?
Implementing a new social media campaign can take a lot of work, and an employee advocacy program is no exception. Here’s how your business can initiate a program designed for success.
1. Secure executive buy-in
Encourage your most experienced and successful employees to participate in the program. They will set an example to the rest of your employees and allow them to grow their following to a healthy degree before making the decision to implement it companywide.
2. Choose a channel champion
A channel champion is someone who manages and oversees the employee advocacy program. They will be in charge of creating a brand-specific strategy, onboarding employees, working with employees to improve their content, and measuring the program’s success.
3. Establish campaign requirements and policies
A good employee advocacy program needs structure. The channel champion must establish clear campaign requirements and policies so that employees who want to participate fully understand what is required of them and what to expect from the program moving forward.
4. Onboard and train employees
Not all people are natural-born brand ambassadors or corporate influencers. But if they want to be a part of your brand’s employee advocacy program, they can be. Provide training and onboarding programs for willing employees in order to avoid social media blunders and maximize success.
Strategies And Best Practices For The Success Of LinkedIn-Based Advocacy Efforts
Just like any new campaign or social media initiative, there are effective and ineffective ways to approach employee advocacy on LinkedIn. In order to make the most of your campaign and to successfully use LinkedIn as an employee advocacy tool, you can follow these strategies and best practices.
1. Learn when to post on LinkedIn
By uploading content at the right time of day, your posts can receive more attention on LinkedIn.
2. Understand your “why”
Employee advocacy is a strategy driven by purpose and inspiration. Make sure your employees understand the “why” behind their participation in order for the campaign to see the best results.
3. Measure progress
Find out how your campaign is faring by using KPIs and metrics to measure its progress. This can help you improve and adjust your strategies along the way.
There are many case studies on the success of LinkedIn-based employee advocacy efforts to glean inspiration from. For instance, enterprise tech brand Gong implemented an employee advocacy campaign on LinkedIn to grow their business eight times within a span of just two years.
By hiring exceptional talent and creating a solid social media strategy, Gong has been able to produce inspiring and motivating employee advocacy content that has resulted in massive growth and C-suite leads that push the company consistently forward.
Want to maximize your brand’s share of voice using social media? Watch our webinar now.
Harness The Power of a LinkedIn Employee Advocacy Tool
Employee advocacy campaigns are only as good as the minds behind them, which is why it is essential for emerging brands to onboard the right software before implementing any new campaigns.
Clearview Social specializes in the strategy and implementation of employee advocacy programs. By helping brands all over the world create more successful employee advocacy campaigns, it has become the go-to software for any business seeking to enhance its credibility and visibility across popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), and, of course, LinkedIn.
Reach out to Clearview Social now to start your employee advocacy journey the right way.