Maximize Your Reach: 7 Irresistible Employee Advocacy Benefits for B2B Brands!

There are many B2B professionals these days who are either working on or thinking about building their own personal brand. This is partly because they want to manage their reputation at scale. It's the most thoughtful, simple, and effective way to build their network, differentiate from their competition, and create new opportunities.

From a B2B brand’s point of view, this holds significance. Nowadays, buyers trust people more than brands. It's obvious from the growth of the influencer community and the flourishing creator economy. That brings me to the topic of this episode - employee advocacy and how it can really benefit B2B brands. So, let’s get started.

What is employee advocacy?

Let’s start with a quick overview of employee advocacy. Employee advocacy is when employees promote the brand of a company. But it's much more than that. It's about creating and nurturing a culture where employees believe in what their company has to offer and actively pursue opportunities to spark social networking conversations with people with similar interests. This might involve sharing company content on social media, referring potential customers, or talking about the company at events. It's about leveraging employees' authentic voices to increase brand visibility and credibility, since people tend to trust information from people they know. A firm's employees become its brand ambassadors, especially in the digital world.

What are the employee advocacy benefits for B2B brands?

From a B2B marketing perspective, employee advocacy has 7 key benefits. Creating brand awareness and reach, improving credibility, enhancing lead generation, enabling better talent acquisition, improving employee engagement, strengthening customer relationships, and boosting thought leadership are some of its potential benefits.

Your brand's awareness and reach can be significantly expanded through employee advocacy. Often, employees' posts get more engagement because they seem more genuine and trustworthy. As per Oktopost research, about half of your employees post company-related content on social media, which can roughly 10X your social media reach. Posting and sharing company-related content can improve search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site. Your company's content may also get more downloads.

Authentic endorsements from employees can make your brand more credible and trustworthy. If a customer success manager shares a testimonial from a satisfied customer on Twitter, it shows how valuable the company's solution is. Social media posts from employees about positive experiences working at your company can also help build a positive reputation.

The referrals of employees can lead to qualified leads and potential customers. For example, a product manager might share a case study on LinkedIn, attracting the attention of potential clients in their industry. Personally, I've seen new hires post on LinkedIn and get a meeting with a prospective client they had worked with before. Sales cycles in B2B companies can be long, so a formal employee advocacy program might shorten them.

Employee advocacy programs can attract top talent seeking a positive and engaging workplace. A current employee might share a positive review of a company on Glassdoor, encouraging others to apply.

Engaging employees by empowering them to advocate for the company can boost their morale. For instance, a company might organize an employee advocacy contest, rewarding employees for their most creative and effective social media posts.

A highly effective employee advocacy program can help build stronger relationships with existing customers by providing helpful recommendations. For example, a customer service representative might share a useful tip on Twitter, demonstrating their commitment to customer satisfaction.

Finally, employees can establish themselves as industry thought leaders, helping establish the company as a trusted brand. Marketing managers could share a blog post on industry trends to showcase their company's expertise. This could then be shared further by the employees on social media.

In B2B companies, what are the implementation challenges to employee advocacy?

Putting together a successful employee advocacy program isn't easy. Often, B2B brands run into challenges that can impede their effectiveness. From coming up with a cohesive strategy to ensuring high engagement, these obstacles can make it hard for companies to maximize employee advocacy. Building a program that boosts brand awareness, builds trust, attracts top talent, and generates leads requires understanding and addressing these challenges.

B2B brands struggle with employee advocacy because they don't have a clear strategy. Make sure your plan outlines goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and a content calendar. Having a vague strategy means employees aren't clear about what they're supposed to do. They may not know how to be brand advocates or what to do.

Low employee engagement is another challenge. Employees need to feel valued and motivated to participate in advocacy programs. You need to foster a positive workplace culture and recognize your employees' hard work. Motivating employees can be hard if they don't get incentives or recognition.

Another problem is insufficient training. There's a good chance employees don't naturally know how to advocate for their company. Employees can become effective brand ambassadors by learning about social media best practices, content creation, and brand messaging.

What is the likely future of employee advocacy?

It's possible for B2B companies who haven't considered employee advocacy or are in the planning phase to develop a clear strategy, train their employees, and reward them well. Employee advocacy will become increasingly important in B2B marketing as social media platforms evolve and authentic content becomes more important.

Every social media platform updates their algorithm, often favoring individual content over brand content. It means employee-generated content, whether it's company-generated or user-generated, appears in users' feeds more often than traditional corporate posts. Therefore, employee advocacy can help companies stay on top of these changes and maintain a strong online presence.

As customers seek more authenticity and transparency, employee advocacy helps humanize brands. Personal experiences and testimonials are more credible and relatable, influencing potential customers from awareness to decision.

Employee advocacy is expected to become more integrated with social selling strategies, allowing employees to identify and engage with potential customers. It could involve teaching employees how to use social media for sales, such as crafting compelling messages, building relationships, and closing deals.

Remote and hybrid work models have changed how employees interact with their employers. Employee advocacy can help bridge the gap, fostering a sense of community even when employees aren't physically together.

It's pretty obvious that technology will shape the future of employee advocacy. Artificial intelligence tools will automate tasks like content curation, scheduling, and analytics, making advocacy programs easier for employees. Moreover, existing platforms such as EveryoneSocial and HootSuite Amplify will evolve, and new ones will emerge. They'll keep providing employee advocacy solutions including social media management, content creation, and performance tracking. Using the performance data, B2B companies can improve advocacy programs and show stakeholders how effective they are.

Diversity and inclusion are becoming more important within organizations, so employee advocacy will continue to play an important role. Companies can create more inclusive and equitable workplaces by empowering employees from diverse backgrounds to share their perspectives. Employee advocacy can also help challenge stereotypes and biases, fostering a more welcoming and inclusive environment.

With technological advancements, social media platform changes, and evolving customer journeys, employee advocacy benefits for B2B brands will make it an indispensable tool. Businesses can boost brand visibility, build trust, and drive growth by leveraging employees' authentic voices. Investing in robust advocacy programs will position B2B companies for success in the evolving digital landscape.