Samantha Stone, Founder & CMO of The Marketing Advisory Network LinkedIn reports “In an average company, only 3% of employees share company-related content but they are responsible for driving a 30% increase in the content’s total likes, shares, and comments.” I set out to find out what’s holding employees back, and more importantly, what can be done to break through the barriers and drive more engagement. To achieve that goal, we went right to the source – surveying hundreds of employees from a wide range of organizations and we found some remarkable truths. In this session we’ll breakdown what holds employees back, but more importantly how to overcome the challenges. Attendees will walk away with an action plan focused on the four essential elements of employee advocacy that our research surfaced.

1. Samantha Stone
Author, Founder & CMO The Marketing Advisory Network
FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF
EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

2. Only 3% of employees
share company-related content
Source: LinkedIn
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

3. But they drive a 30% increase in
total likes, shares, and comments
Source: LinkedIn
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www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

4. Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
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5. 78%Employees say something positive about their employer
to someone else directly
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone
3%

6. You can eliminate 70% of the big
obstacles holding employees back
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

7. #1 Treat employees as
individuals
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

8. A passionate workforce drives advocacy
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www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

9. Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
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10. #2 Write down guidelines
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www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

11. Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Training or Guidelines Provided No Training or Guidelines
69% of the
people who
never
advocate
work for
organizations
that have no
written
guidelines or
training
It drops to
less than
40% when
guidelines or
training are
offered

12. #3 Create content for multiple
channels
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

13. Provide prompts
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14. #4 Take a programmatic
approach
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

15. Measure the right things
Employee Recruitment Increase participation Grow reach Increase impact
• # of qualified job applications
per open position
• # of employee referrals
• Acceptance rate on job offers
• Percent of employees
who shared work related
content each month
• Average number of work
related posts per
employee per quarter
Note: If you are focused
on a specific function or
geography be sure to
measure % change
from the previous period for
that group.
• % growth in
employee
followers by
channel (pick one
or two to focus on
initially)
• # of inbound inquiries
sourced by employees
• $ value of revenue
generated/influenced
• % of employees hitting a
minimum threshold of
engagement
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

16. Don’t forget incentives
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www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

17. Consider a technology assist
• Measurement
• Training
• Create a feedback loop (rewards, leaderboards, gamification, engagement insights)
• Content distribution
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone

18. Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone
A study conducted by the
Aberdeen Group revealed
that companies with formal
employee advocacy
programs have a 26%
increase in year over year
revenue.
Source: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT TO EMPLOYEE
ADVOCACY: A NATURAL PROGRESSION” August 2016

19. 4 key take aways
• Segment employees as you
would your customer
community
• Write down social sharing
guidelines & offer training
• Provide prompts for several
channels
• Use reward programs to drive
momentum
Copyright 2017 Marketing Advisory Network
www.unleashpossible.com @samanthastone
You can do it GIF