Over the past 2 years, how we use social media professionally has changed, possibly forever. From keeping in touch with friends and family to doing business, building professional connections, and getting to know co-workers, social media has become critical in terms of communication for businesses.
When it comes to business relationships specifically, a lack of in-person interactions meant that online communications saw a huge increase, simply due to necessity. This increase doesn’t appear to be slowing down, with more people than ever before using social media within their professional life: there’s no time like the present to utilise it if you aren’t already.
From 2019-2021 LinkedIn saw increased engagement levels with never-before-seen numbers. Interactions between members saw a remarkable 55% increase from 2019-2021, whilst LinkedIn live streams increased by over 89% during the same period.
With such staggering increases in engagements happening on LinkedIn, it’s important that businesses understand how to utilise the platform, both as businesses and individuals. It’s no longer good enough to simply promote your products or services on a social media platform and sit back and wait for the orders to pile in. Businesses need to recognise that thousands of other businesses are using the platforms to do the same as them: generate business, and therefore they need to think differently to stand out from the crowd.
A simple, and highly effective way to do just this is through employee advocacy.
The age-old phrase, ‘people buy from people’, really is the truth here. When potential customers connect with people and begin to build trust with the individual, they are more likely to trust the brands or businesses that those people advocate for. By adding a human element to your business’s social media, you are moving away from being a faceless business looking to sell, and becoming a reputable, trusted brand.
In 2021, when the world is driven by digital, employee advocacy is a must-have for businesses to succeed. With a strategic employee advocacy plan, your employees will share content on social media to help boost brand awareness, affinity and engagement online. At the same time, employees are seen as thought-leaders in their space and can expand their personal networks.
Recent studies actually show that more than 74% of people trust content shared by employees over content shared by a company page! Adweek also stated that more than 84% of people trust user-generated content from their family, friends, and peers over any other type of content!
Are you unsure of how to put an employee-advocacy plan in place? Or perhaps your team is unsure of how to use the platforms to leverage the benefits for both their own professional growth as well as the business? Our team of social media experts is here to help!
Contact us for an initial chat here.