As many recent studies have concluded, employees have become the most credible and trusted communications advocates within an organization. Their opinions are believed to be trustworthy since they have the ability to see beyond the rhetoric. As such, employees have effectively become another (and possibly more lasting) bridge to the company’s soul. And this newfound importance of the workforce has placed some significant challenges on organizational balance.
From a corporate standpoint, senior managers have turned their attention to ensuring that their company’s strategy and direction is clear and understood. There are now many questions to explore, discuss and debate with regard to employee communications.
These questions include: What business are we actually in? Who are our competitors? Do we have a differentiated offering for customers? Are we exploiting our core competencies or strengths for competitive advantage? And perhaps the most important question: Are we making the right investments, including acquisitions, to bolster our position?
Having employees participate in such discussions allows people to make the argument themselves about various aspects of the business. Externally, technology has broken down any and all barriers to engagement and involvement, enabling better connections internally between managers and employees.
Technology is also enabling and encouraging people to have a voice and an opinion. Unlike the past—when a company could enforce its will on constituents—employees, consumers, customers, media reps and competitors now demand the right to be heard.
This shift in expectations has created an unprecedented opportunity for companies to view employees as a new type of competitive advantage.
AT THE CORE
From a basic standpoint, employees can now discuss, listen and direct external conversations about your product, brand or company.
Employees are eager to use social media on behalf of their company if there are some specific efforts made to engage them appropriately.
Among the most important is to create media channels that people can opt into and are not overly programmatic or campaign-oriented.
At our company, employees do not want to be called “advocates” or “ambassadors,” but, rather, to be seen as legitimate commentators for the company, product or brand.
Below are the key elements on how to engage employees in ways that benefits the business:
1) Clear policy and guidelines. A clear set of guidelines for how to participate in on-line conversations on behalf of the company including when not to participate
2) Social training. To amplify company messages, empower employees to share company news and product information across personal social networks.
3) Governance. Establish a central point to vet information or raise issues that may come up needing company involvement
4) Content engine. Regular content must be developed with easy access by employees.
5) Professional recognition. To activate social thought leaders, establish credibility concerning company topics and build influencer status throughout the organization.
6) Scorecards. At some point, you’ll need to develop individual scorecards to in order to determine how employees are performing and well their content is resonating.
DAY-TO DAY APPS
So, what does this new reality mean for the practice of organizational (internal) communications? Here’s the impact on the day-to-day operation.
▶ Gaining buy-in from leadership. Any organizational shift such as this one starts with leadership; leaders set the direction, tone, decision-making, accountabilities and consequences for an organization.
As communicators, we can make the case for engaging employees as the company’s new competitive advantage.
Two examples: regular social content and engagement from a major technology company has significantly improved the brand’s organic search and share of voice around key B2B products and solutions while a top food and beverage company is effectively doubling its traffic by encouraging its employees to share stories from their internal newsletter and intranet with friends and family.
▶ What’s our story? Any effort at a strategic, employee outreach begins with having a narrative. Where is the company now and how is it describing itself? What exactly needs to be addressed and why?
Done well, the narrative provides employees with a basis for formulating content and addressing issues in a coherent, informed manner.
▶ Management. It’s management that will ultimately determine the success of such an effort. Is your manager supportive? Encouraging? Ambivalent? Other? The most powerful tool for a manager in effecting employee behavior is to make it important.
▶ Content as a catalyst. Communicators must create new and different conversations among leaders, employees, customers and other stakeholders. This means we must create and curate content on a constant basis and make it accessible.
▶ Training is essential. Of any activity associated with creating a new portfolio of employees as “products,” training stands alone. Training around social media policies, tenets and governance, is the differentiator between success and failure.
Considering the critical importance to retain and attract talent, smart forward-thinking organizations will proactively engage their employees to glean new insights, new ideas and potential issues impacting the top and/or bottom lines.
Supporting employees who are active in becoming informed members of the company shines a positive light on the entire enterprise.
Employees as Your Next Product
With social media the ability to share has never been greater. However, companies have to fight for their customers’ attention.
The traditional formula of having your products or services do the talking, so to speak, no longer applies, as information is now ubiquitous and consumers are bombarded with a steady stream of noise. Breaking through rests with an organization’s most committed asset: its workforce. Having employees build relationships with customers not only makes good business sense it also improves organizational health.
There are three primary characteristics that define employees as your next product:
1. Collaborate and communicate effectively, cross-functionally to accomplish business objectives and innovate.
2. Amplify business product, service and commitment messages to build authentic advocacy and mitigate issues.
3. Demonstrate expertise around key business topics to reinforce leadership and reputation. —G.G.
CONTACT:
Gary Grates is a principal at W2O Group. He is also Board member of the Institute of Public Relations Research (IPR) He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared in the June 23, 2014 issue of PR News. Read more subscriber-only content by becoming a PR News subscriber today.