You spend a lot of time hiring a dream team that suits the vision you had for your startup. Chances are, that dream team talks about their work outside of the office. We all do. About 50% of us even share posts about our jobs on social media. Why not make the most out of those conversations and social posts? Your business will benefit from turning employees into brand ambassadors by:
- saving time and money in recruitment and hiring,
- seeing more employee engagement and productivity, and
- establishing your employer value proposition (EVP) and creating social media materials for future use.
Not sure how to turn your employees into brand ambassadors? Here are eight ways to get started.
1. Communicate your company vision
“Communicating your company’s ‘whys’ to your team is essential to getting them on board early, and helps foster the transparency that is needed to make any future content shareable and realistic.” — Inc.
Transparency and sharing your company purpose with your employees is key for several reasons:
- They’ll feel like they play an integral part in making the company vision become a reality.
- You’ll hire and retain people who are aligned with your startup.
- The more a team member resonates with your company’s “why,” the more they’ll want to share it with others.
2. Layout sharing guidelines
Make a quick and easy set of guidelines for sharing company-related content on social media that your employees can follow. With social media taking over the bulk of advertising and recruiting for businesses, employees who post on their pages will be effective ambassadors for your company. Plus, guidelines are a fantastic way to make your team feel comfortable sharing and can save your HR team any number of PR headaches.
3. Provide basic training for social media
On the note of social media, if you have staff who are unfamiliar with it, toss in a crash course on posting basics. It will empower your staff to make great posts that you want to be associated with your brand.
Pro Tip: Creating a snappy hashtag for employees to use can also help bolster engagement and team building. #EdgeGame #PivotandEdge #PivotLife #hiringsimplified (PS follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for more insider tips and industry secrets!)
4. Give permission to share
It may seem obvious, but if you haven’t already — give your team permission to share work things on their social media and otherwise. It’s easy to get caught up in the dos and don’ts of the professional world. Letting your team know that it’s okay to throw their voice into the mix when it comes to your startup is important. Besides, your employees will likely have a social network that’s larger than your company’s, so it’s worthwhile.
5. Do something worth sharing
If you want your team to be ambassadors for your company, you need to give them a reason to want to be! Besides just being an excellent employer, events are an opportunity to show off your company culture, perks, and unique office space while creating employee buy-in, which is key for turning employees into brand ambassadors.
To further leverage social media use for employee ambassadors, create shareable content about your startup, too. Having content on hand will help because:
- the content will fit your regulations and give employees an idea of voice;
- it makes it easier for employees to share content about your business, especially when you have job openings; and
- creating low-commitment content such as Instagram stories, which disappear after twenty-four hours, opens the door to employees getting their social media involved.
6. Know your employees
You can’t expect to motivate your employees to be ambassadors for your brand if you don’t know what motivates them in the first place. What are the things your team values that they’ll want to talk about? Maybe it’s pride month, truth and reconciliation for indigenous peoples, women’s rights or cyber-security. It could also be something as simple and ubiquitous as the latest dance trend on Tik Tok, or commentary on popular music and Netflix shows. When you know what matters to them, you can include those points in your EVP, build content and events around those motivations, and continue to create an atmosphere that brings in and retains top talent.
7. Use employee stories and let them contribute
Giving your employees a voice and having them contribute to your business is one of the best ways to turn your employees into brand ambassadors. How?
- Have them create content to post on your and their social media,
- Encourage them to post honest reviews about what it’s like to work for your startup,
- Have employee pages on your site and social media with videos that feature your hardworking team, and
- Leverage their stories as much as possible for recruiting and to build trust and authenticity around your brand.
8. Create an ambassador and referral program
Involve your team with hiring by creating referral program. Consider providing each employee with an individualized recruiting link that will track referrals. You’ll then be able to offer recruitment bonuses and incentives as motivation to use that link and bring in candidates, all while boosting your company brand.
Interested in leveraging your employee network further, or build your employer brand? We’re here to help.
