How To Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors

By Ashley Wilson

If you want to make your company stand out from the crowd, you need more than just a basic marketing campaign. You need a plan to make people believe in the same things as you do. This is true whether you’re hunting down potential customers or searching for new candidates to add to your talent pool. 

Many people don’t realize that they already have access to some of the best tools that money can buy for growth: their employees. 

Your staff members are the people who see behind the scenes in your company every day. They’re also a lot more trustworthy than any of your marketing statements. 

Glassdoor found that when employees refer friends to a company, they are up to 6.6% more likely to accept a job offer. 

All you need to do to unlock your employees’ potential is to learn how to use advocacy to your advantage. 

Here’s how you can transform your team members into brand ambassadors. 

Keep them in the Loop

You can’t expect your team members to share information on all the new and exciting things happening in your company if you don’t share those details in the first place. Employees need to be up-to-date on everything from exciting events that your teams get involved with to the new projects that you’re working on. 

Maybe your company is working on a new project? 

If so, give your employees some helpful information on features and benefits that this new solution has to offer, so that they can ramp up some excitement for you on social media. 

If you recently completed a fund-raising scheme for charity, let your team members know about what you did, and share some statistics that could help the content they share on social to stand out. 

Experts say that 1 employee share generates up to 4 clicks on average on Facebook. 

Get Teams Involved in Content Creation

Giving your employees plenty of inspirational content that they can share online is an excellent way to boost your chances of successful ambassador programs. 

However, not all team members will feel particularly invested in content they haven’t had a hand in building themselves. 

On the other hand, if you can teach your people how to write articles, create podcasts, and publish videos, they’ll be far more likely to share them with their friends. Provide your team members with top tips on how to make the most of content creation. 

If your team members don’t have any prior experience in building content, consider giving them some help with online training sessions, or set up a mentoring strategy. Find out what kind of educational opportunities are best for your staff. 

Get Involved in Events

Sometimes, the problem with a brand ambassador program isn’t that your employees don’t know how to create content – it’s that they don’t know what to write about. If that’s the case, you’ll need to find ways to get your team involved in things that matter to your audience. 

Events and company outings are an excellent way to simultaneously improve the bonding experiences between your team members and create some unique content to share on social. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box with these events. 

Explore ideas that encourage teams to step outside of their comfort zones and learn new skills. Fun events and experiences are a great way to generate attention for your brand too. 

Have Team Takeovers

A great way to show how much you invest in your team is to let them take over your social media accounts and blog pages from time to time. 

An “account takeover,” where employees take charge of your Facebook and Instagram page, gives them a chance to let their creative side shine through. 

If none of your employees are particularly comfortable with taking the lead on your entire content strategy, you could ask groups to get involved instead. 

For instance, one week, you might have your marketing teams handle Instagram and share some top tips with your audience. Another week, you might ask your IT team to share their insights on Facebook. 

Let the people who want to get involved with these “takeovers” choose which platforms they feel most comfortable with. Some of your employees might like creating videos, whereas others feel more confident with blogs. 

Create the Right Company Culture

Finally, if you want to boost your chances of transforming employees into brand ambassadors, you need to ensure that you have the right company culture. 

Culture isn’t just a buzzword anymore but a crucial consideration for employees when searching for the right employment opportunities. 

Most of today’s younger team members are more than happy to accept a lower-paying job if they think that it will offer a better cultural fit. 

With that in mind, consider your target audience and what kind of things they’ll be looking for in a job with your firm. 

Do they like the idea of work/life balance or constant access to new education?

Good company culture will help you to not only attract but retain the best talent for your team. The more comfortable your employees are working with you, the less likely they’ll want to ditch you for a new opportunity. 

Create Your Brand Ambassadors

Your employees aren’t just valuable to your business because they bridge the gap between you and your customers. These dedicated professionals can also help you to continue luring the right talent through your door, so your business consistently evolves and improves. 

If you haven’t started to work on a brand ambassador program for your company yet, now could be the perfect time to start exploring your options. 

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