What is an Employee Advocacy Platform?

An Employee Advocacy Platform is a digital tool or software that facilitates and streamlines the process of employee advocacy. These platforms enable organisations to curate and share company-approved content that employees can easily distribute through their personal social media channels. The aim is to amplify the company's reach, improve brand awareness, and boost recruitment and sales efforts by leveraging the networks of employees.

Why are Employee Advocacy Platforms relevant to internal comms?

Employee Advocacy Platforms are highly relevant to internal communications professionals because they provide a structured and measurable way to engage employees as brand ambassadors. By using these platforms, internal comms can ensure consistent, on-brand messaging and track the effectiveness of employee advocacy efforts in real-time, enhancing the organisation's external communication strategy.

Examples of Employee Advocacy Platforms in internal comms

Examples might include platforms like LinkedIn Elevate, Hootsuite Amplify, or Smarp. These platforms allow companies to provide employees with ready-to-share content, such as blog posts, news articles, and company updates, making it easy for employees to share relevant and approved content with their networks.

Best practices for Employee Advocacy Platforms

• Provide clear guidelines and training to employees on how to use the platform and share content responsibly.

• Curate a diverse mix of content that appeals to different employee interests and aligns with company values.

• Recognise and reward active participants to encourage ongoing engagement and contribution.

Common challenges for Employee Advocacy Platforms

• Encouraging consistent employee participation and engagement

• Ensuring content shared is relevant, timely, and adds value to employees' networks

• Measuring the impact of advocacy efforts on brand awareness and business outcomes

What do Employee Advocacy Platforms mean for frontline teams?

For frontline teams, Employee Advocacy Platforms can serve as a valuable tool for sharing their experiences and insights into the company's products, services, and culture with a broader audience. This not only helps in building the company's brand but also empowers frontline employees by giving them a voice and platform to showcase their contributions.

Employee Advocacy Platforms FAQs

1. How do you encourage employees to use an Employee Advocacy Platform?

   • By making the platform user-friendly, providing incentives for sharing content, and highlighting the benefits of participation, both for the individual and the organisation.

2. What kind of content works best on Employee Advocacy Platforms?

   • Content that is informative, engaging, and offers value to the audience, such as industry insights, company achievements, and professional development tips.

3. How can the effectiveness of an Employee Advocacy Platform be measured?

   • Through metrics such as reach, engagement, lead generation, and conversion rates, which can often be tracked directly through the platform.