Putting People First: The Power of Executive Visibility and Brand Advocacy on Social Media

When it comes to successful PR and social media strategies, it’s really easy to get caught up in the day to day loop of trends, breaking news, and how to make your company seem really great online. Don’t get me wrong, creating timely and relevant content is a big part of effectively promoting your brand online, especially when it comes to social media.

But sometimes you can get stuck – whether you’re struggling to grow your social following, bring in new customers, or create messages that resonate. A lot of content today, particularly from brands, is simply adding to the noise.

So, if you’re figuring out how to break through on social media and create a brand voice that resonates, start with the right voices – your people. Investing in executive visibility and brand advocacy efforts on social media can create huge success for your brand – if you do it right.

Advocacy drives results in many directions

Take LinkedIn for starters. Data from the platform shows that while on average only 3% of employees share content on LinkedIn, those employees generate 30% of all content engagement for a typical business. And employee re-shares of company content have a click-through rate of 2.1x that of the original company status update.

There is power in numbers, and elevating and empowering employees to develop their personal brand on LinkedIn raises their visibility right alongside the brand. It’s a win-win for engaging your talent and customers.

When you apply this to the executive level, the importance increases. We all know that talent retention and recruitment are difficult across many industries right now, but did you also know that the online presence and personal brand of your leaders can have a direct impact on those efforts? LinkedIn data shows that 80% of employees would rather work for a “social CEO,” and with never-ending email inboxes, social media is a great place to communicate with your current staff as well (tactfully, of course).

How to engage your people

So, now that we’ve established the value of putting employees and leaders in the center of your executive visibility strategy, how do you really engage them to effectively increase your brand’s reach? Here are three ways to set your brand and your people up for success.

1. Give them a head start

Instead of simply telling your teams, “you need to start posting on social media,” make sure they have what they need to do it effectively and efficiently. Provide tips and best practices for how to optimize their profiles, and share suggestions for what kind of content would be good to post about. If you have a company blog or regular media presence, amplifying that content is the perfect place to start.

2. Create a system of social sharing

Social platforms are built for sharing, so tap into the resources available to make it easier. When you post on your brand’s LinkedIn page, hit the “notify employees” button so they’re informed when content goes out and can re-share your posts.

3. Leverage what they do

Encourage employees to comment on and share your company’s posts and their colleagues’ posts. Not only is it an encouraging practice for the people trying to get out there and build their networks, but it increases everyone’s reach and tells the algorithms that you want to see more content from those people and brands.

Putting a few simple systems in place can empower your employees and leaders alike to get more comfortable advocating for their company and each other on social media. Their engagement adds credibility to your messages, allows you to reach people you may not have gotten to otherwise, and helps employees feel that they are a part of the mission and driving impact.

Investing in your people’s success and visibility on social media is not just for their benefit; it’s for your brand’s too. Try it out and see how quickly it can impact business results.

Need help? Reach out here to talk more about our executive visibility and social media services.