{"id":2972,"date":"2019-04-29T16:29:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T14:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zestmeup.com\/?post_type=blog&p=2972"},"modified":"2025-12-12T18:11:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:11:24","slug":"employee-advocacy-utopia-or-stroke-of-genius","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/zestmeup.com\/en\/blog\/employee-advocacy-utopia-or-stroke-of-genius\/","title":{"rendered":"Employee Advocacy: Utopia or Stroke of Genius?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n

Employee Advocacy: Utopia or Stroke of Genius?<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n

TAGLIST BLOCK<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n

Automatic H2 List Table of Content<\/h2>\r\n\r\n

Author Metadata<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n

Le r\u00e9cap de l’article<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Employee advocacy is the holy grail for HR and Communication departments, and for good reason. The endorsement of an engaged employee sharing positive first-hand experience is unparalleled when it comes to employer branding. <\/p>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The Dream:<\/b> Employees who are proud of the company they work for, speaking highly both internally and externally, sharing positive experiences, and promoting company initiatives, values and successes across their own personal social networks.\r\n\r\n

The Reality:<\/b> Only 15% of employees are engaged in their job and barely 17% are satisfied with their work experience. <\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>Employee advocacy is the holy grail for HR and Communication departments, and for good reason. Paying for advertising, writing news articles, or developing \u2018discover our culture\u2019 webpages are great, but pale in comparison to an engaged employee sharing positive first-hand endorsement.\r\n\r\nAnd it\u2019s powerful: the reach of your company branding is 24x stronger when advocated by an employee (Source: Daily Digital<\/a><\/span>). After all, we live in a world powered by reviews, so why should this be any different?\r\n

Identify your ambassadors<\/h3>\r\nFirst things first: identify your ambassadors. \u2018Ambassadors\u2019 are those within your organization who take the lead on employee advocacy, explaining to their colleagues how \u2013 and why \u2013 to advocate.\r\n\r\nWith many mediums for advocacy, a safe place to start is on social media. Even though a whopping 88% of employees have social media for their personal use (Source: Sociallymap<\/span><\/span>), it\u2019s not a given they\u2019re willing \u2013 or equipped \u2013 to use those platforms in a professional setting.\r\n\r\nYes, many will reject the idea of using their personal accounts for company gain. But those aren\u2019t the ones you want to focus on. It\u2019s the employees who are happy and driven to promote your business that will have the strongest influence in the social sphere; i.e. the ambassadors. Spend time explaining, training and equipping these employees, encouraging them to \u2018like, comment and share\u2019 company content on social media platforms, or write an in-depth review on Glassdoor. Support and recognize their efforts; after all, it\u2019s their voice which is your strongest communication asset.\r\n\r\nOnce you\u2019ve identified and mobilized your ambassadors, it\u2019s time to get the rest of the team on board.\r\n

Survey Spotlight<\/h3>\r\nRemember: reviews aren\u2019t always positive. You\u2019d be ignorant to not anticipate potentially toxic employees sharing negative experiences about your company. Chances are, your ambassadors will be outspoken. By nature, they\u2019re not shy in letting you know how they feel. It\u2019s the quiet, unspoken, hidden-in-the-wings employees that you need to shine a light on.\r\n\r\nZest can help you distinguish engaged ambassadors from disengaged \u2013 or worse; actively disengaged \u2013 employees. By launching short and relevant surveys, you can uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your company, as perceived by your employees. Insights will enable you to adjust your actions, in real-time, to align with employees\u2019 values. For example, you might find out that 90% of your workforce value \u2018employee friendships\u2019, yet 60% feel \u2018alone at work\u2019. You could conclude to arrange more physical team-building activities to nurture such relationships.\r\n\r\nShining a spotlight on the real engagement levers of your employees will prepare you for any unanticipated negative critics and enable you to manage them before they do any damage.\r\n

Recognise their efforts<\/h3>\r\nSo, you\u2019ve got a great group of ambassadors who are advocating for your business left, right and center. Your goal now is to keep it that way. Here are a few ideas for recognizing, and encouraging, the efforts of your top ambassadors:\r\n