Turn your employees into brand ambassadors: a guide to employee advocacy

In a world where the voice of the consumer dominates, your employees can become your best brand ambassadors. Imagine them embodying your company's values and mission with authenticity, far beyond their simple roles as employees. This is what employee advocacy is all about: a strategy designed to raise your profile, attract talent and solidify your reputation.

A well thought-out advocacy programme can turn your employees into true spokespeople. The result? Better internal communication, increased commitment and tangible benefits for your brand image.

Find out in this guide how to mobilise your teams and turn your employees into proud representatives of your company. 💪

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What is employee advocacy?

Definition and translation of employee adocacy

Employee advocacy, or "brand defence by employees", is based on the commitment of employees to promote their company via their personal networks, particularly digital ones.

These employees become real relays of communication, capable of transmitting an authentic and personal message with positive repercussions.

Each employee can be a natural ambassador for the brand. Their enthusiasm for their work and their company, fuelled by their day-to-day experiences, makes them more credible than corporate communications that are often perceived as impersonal.

The result: this human bond forged with the audience reinforces the positive perception of the brand and creates a winning strategy for all parties. ✨

The key challenges of employee advocacy

• Messages shared by employees inspire more trust than those issued directly by the company. Personal testimonials create an authentic link with the audience.
• A successful programme relies on the commitment of employees. They enthusiastically share their company's values, successes and news.
• Each employee reaches his or her own network, multiplying the reach of the message. This makes it possible to reach varied and often highly qualified audiences.
• By becoming ambassadors, employees develop new skills and strengthen their sense of belonging to the company.

The importance of social networks in employee advocacy

Social networks are the driving force behind a successful employee advocacy strategy. They transform your employees into brand narrators, humanising the company. 👥 Here's why they're essential:

Social networks reinforce the authenticity of messages and their credibility. By sharing their personal stories, your employees become unique and spontaneous narrators. With the right training in digital practices (sometimes necessary 😅 ), their publications become more effective.

• Each employee shares their unique vision, making the message more credible and sincere.
• Personal stories evoke emotions, creating a strong bond with the audience.
• Each employee offers a different angle, enriching the overall perception of your brand.
• Employees gain access to specific communities that are often inaccessible by traditional means to the company alone.

Why create an employee advocacy programme? 4 benefits

1- Increase visibility and credibility

In a world of fierce competition, visibility and credibility are essential weapons. An employee advocacy programme mobilises the voice of your employees to amplify your messages.

Thanks to their authentic sharing, your employees become your brand's best ambassadors. Their testimonials, perceived as sincere and reliable, broaden your audience while inspiring trust.

By humanising your company, you strengthen the connection with your audience and provide valuable social validation.

2- Improve engagement and internal communication

Strong engagement turns your employees into enthusiastic brand ambassadors.

👉 To achieve this, fluid, open and two-way communication is essential. Involve your employees in the decision-making processes and create effective channels to encourage exchanges. Transparency and clarity build trust, boosting team motivation.

To stimulate and maintain the commitment of your teams, here are 15 concrete actions to motivate your employees over the long term.

3- Reduce communication costs and manage your e-reputation

In a context where every euro counts, employee advocacy is a clever solution. Authentic messages shared by your employees reach targeted audiences without the need for exorbitant advertising budgets. The result? Significant savings on content creation and increased visibility. 👏

At the same time, your employees play a key role in e-reputation management. Their testimonials reinforce a positive and responsive image of your company online. This strategy acts as a shield against criticism and as a lever to amplify strengths.

It is also crucial to understand phenomena such as loud quitting a trend that is affecting more and more companies.

4- Facilitate recruitment and strengthen the employer brand

1. Turning your employees into ambassadors means boosting your employer brand. 💪 Their authentic sharing naturally attracts talent who are looking for committed, human companies. By seeing satisfied and invested employees, candidates are more inclined to join an organisation known for its values.
2. Employee advocacy modernises your recruitment strategy. Your employees' real-life stories provide a transparent and accurate view of the company. This authenticity attracts talent aligned with your objectives and creates a positive dynamic.
3. To maximise this impact, celebrate success 🎉 and offer development opportunities. Recognising efforts and offering regular feedback boosts employee commitment. In return, they become enthusiastic ambassadors.

👉 To find out more, discover the eNPS score, a key tool for measuring and optimising your employees' engagement.

How do you set up employee advocacy in your company?

Step 1: define clear objectives and guidelines

The first step to successful employee advocacy is to set clear objectives. 🎯 Whether it's increasing the visibility of your brand or strengthening your employer brand, these objectives must be measurable so that you can monitor the results and adjust if necessary.

Next, develop simple, scalable guidelines. These benchmarks should be easy to understand to encourage active participation.

Our advice: involve your employees from the very start of the process; their involvement guarantees greater buy-in and commitment.

To maximise the involvement of your teams, discover 6 effective ways of rewarding your employees, even with limited resources.

Step 2: Select and train ambassadors

Choosing the right ambassadors is crucial to the success of your employee advocacy. Look for employees who are :

• passionate
• influential and committed
• capable of conveying an authentic and inspiring message.

These profiles will play a key role in promoting your brand.

Once selected, train them in corporate culture, brand image and the use of digital tools. This will enable them to communicate effectively while remaining aligned with your values.

Step 3: develop a communication strategy that incorporates the corporate culture

For effective employee advocacy, your communication strategy must faithfully reflect your corporate culture. This link strengthens the authenticity and impact of the messages you share.

Here are a few tips:

• Involve all levels of the company to represent your values consistently.
• Every employee should feel part of the process.
• Train your ambassadors to embody the corporate culture through their personal stories.

These stories create a strong emotional bond with the audience, making your brand more human and appealing. 💕

Step 4: measure and adjust the programme's performance

To ensure the success of your employee advocacy, define appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs). Analyse:

• reach,
• engagement
• and impact on brand awareness.

👉 This data provides a clear view of the effectiveness of your programme.

Use analytical tools to collect and interpret these metrics. This will enable you to identify strong points, but also areas for improvement. At the same time, gather feedback from your ambassadors: their perspective is invaluable in refining your approach.

Example of an employee advocacy programme

Let's take the example of a fictitious company specialising in SaaS solutions for SMEs. In order to strengthen its employer brand and improve its visibility, TechNova has launched a structured and innovative employee advocacy programme.

Aims of the programme

• Increase the company's profile on social networks,
• attract qualified talent
• and strengthen employee commitment by recognising their contribution.

Setting up the programme

1. Selection of ambassadors: the company invited volunteer employees from various departments (marketing, HR, R&D) to join its programme. The focus was on profiles that were active on LinkedIn and Twitter.
2. For tailored training, the ambassadors took part in workshops on corporate culture, best practice in publishing on social networks, and the use of tools such as Canva to create attractive visuals.
3. A content hub was made available for content creation, including articles, case studies and pre-written visuals. Each employee could personalise the publications to add their own personal touch. 🖌️
4. Indicators such as number of shares, engagement rate and reach were tracked using analytical tools. Each month, TechNova celebrated the "Best Ambassador" at an internal meeting, offering a symbolic badge and additional training. 🥇

Results

In six months, the company saw:

• A 40% increase in its visibility on LinkedIn.
• A 25% increase in qualified unsolicited applications.
• Increased employee engagement, with 85% of participants saying they felt more involved in the company's successes.

💡 Looking for a concrete example? Renault Group has shared the results of its employee advocacy programme: read more in this article.

Our advice for overcoming potential challenges

Managing reluctance and encouraging participation

The reluctance of some employees can put a brake on your employee advocacy programme, but it's not insurmountable. The key is? Transparency. Clearly explain the objectives and benefits for both employees and the company.

Offer appropriate training to develop their confidence and give them the necessary tools. Value their contributions by highlighting their successes or offering symbolic recognition.

Create a variety of roles in the programme to match each person's strengths and preferences:

• writers
• narrators
• or even content curators.

Encourage exchanges of experience between ambassadors. A dynamic and inclusive programme engages your teams more and reduces resistance. 🤗

Resistance to change is also a common challenge. To understand it better and overcome it, read our detailed article on the factors of resistance to change.

Establish guidelines to avoid inappropriate messages

Clear guidelines are essential to avoid inappropriate messages. Draw up a guide that is simple, understandable and accessible to all your employees.

Include concrete scenarios to illustrate good practice and the possible consequences if things go wrong. This helps your employees to better understand what is expected of them.

Offer training sessions to anchor these rules and answer any questions. Review your guidelines regularly to ensure that they remain relevant in the light of changes in your strategy or industry trends.

With the right rules, you can ensure that your communications are in line with your values, while protecting your brand's image. ✅

Creating an environment of trust

An environment of trust is the key to encouraging genuine sharing. Encourage open communication, where everyone feels listened to and respected.

Value individual expression by highlighting personal initiative and innovative ideas. Publicly recognise your employees' contributions, whether it's a simple sharing or a more active role in the employee advocacy programme.

Encouraging empowerment within your teams is a winning approach to combining growth and well-being at work.

Support the initiatives of the natural leaders in your teams. These leaders inspire their peers and strengthen the collective dynamic. Finally, make this a long-term commitment by cultivating a corporate culture based on transparency and mutual commitment.

Trust isn't just a bonus: it's the glue that keeps your teams together and motivated. 🤝

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You're now a leader in employee advocacy!

Congratulations, you have all the keys to turning your employees into passionate ambassadors and building a solid employee advocacy strategy. But one question remains essential: how far can you take your brand thanks to your employees?

Take a moment to think. Does your corporate culture sufficiently inspire your teams? What tools and training will enable them to amplify their voice? And above all, how can you continue to nurture their commitment over the long term?

Employee advocacy is not just a programme: it's a collective adventure, a way of reinventing corporate communication with authenticity. Every share, every message, every interaction is an opportunity to reach a little more of your audience and spread your values.

Are you ready to write the rest of the story with your ambassadors?