7 ways to empower your employees to become brand evangelists

Whether you have 1 employee or 1000, here are 7 ways to empower them to become brand evangelists.

1. Educate your employees on how to properly use social media. Give your employees clear examples and detailed instructions on where you need their help and A. Don’t get frustrated that your employees aren’t sharing your content when you don’t make the time to have a conversation with them on HOW they can help if they want to. B. Be specific about the dos and don’ts of what they can/should share and what they should not share. A good social media policy will also help you.
2. ASK your employees if they want to be more involved with your brand online – you may be pleasantly surprised. I will add that you should NEVER ask an employee to do something that you yourself aren’t willing to learn and implement if need be. Also – your social media presence should be under the control of the company and not a rogue employee that creates and controls your brand’s online presence.
3. Educate your employees about the importance of a strong personal brand. For years I have written, spoken and presented on how a strong personal brand can be the best asset for your brand and for your employee. Besides, do you really want an employee that has a lack luster (or questionable) social media presence representing your brand? Be aware that your employees may say and behave in a less than flattering way online and that CAN and DOES reflect on your company  whether you want it to or not.
4. Reward your employees that invest their time and effort into your online success. A dinner out, a day off – whatever you do let them know how valuable they are to your success.
5. Listen to the chatter in your organization. If the employee evangelists that are investing their time online are being mocked or derided by fellow employees – they may give up due to bullying. Let everyone in your organization know that this type of bullying behavior will not be tolerated. Listen to and support those employees that believe in your online investment.
6. Ask your employees for feedback. Listen to the suggestions that they offer and let them know that even though you may not take action on every suggestion, you appreciate their input. Also, make work happy and look out for your own evil twin behavior.
7. Make time to train your employees how to communicate with your customers and prepare them to answer any questions that may arise both online and off. You can do this by sharing: A. your company’s mission, vision and values. B. frequently asked questions and approved answers C. How they should properly handle customer complaints.

I personally believe (and we proactively practice this with our Experience Farm clients) that you and your employees are the right people to manage your company’s online presence. With ongoing training, a commitment to learning and a culture of community building, your business can cut through the online clutter.

Constantly PUSHing your message out on your social channels without engaging with and celebrating the community that supports you is a HUGE mistake. It’s NOT fluff. It’s important to educate yourself and your employees to be the brand evangelists that champion your community and not just yourself.

The BEST thing you can do to empower your employees to become brand evangelists? LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Don’t get frustrated that your employees aren’t creating or sharing content for your brand when you yourself don’t or won’t.

There are so many ways you can continue to empower your employees. Hootsuite offers fantastic FREE resources with Hootsuite University Youtube channel. I have pulled together FREE resources and work to keep them up to date. There is also that magic thing called Google ;)

Additional Reading Resources:

• Make Work Happy

• Why Your Business Needs Social Media Education

• 10 Effective Ways to Train and Educate New Employees

• How Social Media Turns Your Employees Into a Secret PR Army

• HootSuite Launches Conversations, The Internal Communication Tool

• 5 Personal Branding Tips from the Trenches

• Building A Brand That Will Last : Lessons From Louis Vuitton

• How to turn your entire team into brand evangelists

• Inside Starbucks’s $35 Million Mission To Make Brand Evangelists Of It’s Front-Line Workers

• Maximize Your Own Brand with Social Media

• How to Stop Workplace Bullies In Their Tracks – Forbes

• How to Deal With a Bully in the Workplace

• 5 Steps to Getting Better Employee Feedback (Even If You Hate it)

• How to Supercharge your Social Media Marketing Strategy with Employee Sharing

• 51 Ways to Reward Employees Without Money

• 15 Personal Brand Turnoffs When Hiring a New Employee

• Handle an Employee’s Controversial Online Behavior

• Cost and Effect of Employees’ Bad Internet Behavior

• Educating and Engaging Your Employees to Create Clarity and Purpose Around Your Vision

• Richard Branson on How to Train Your Employees

 

How have you empowered your employees to become brand evangelists? Is there a brand that you think has great employee evangelists? As an employee, what has your employer done to help you become a better brand evengelist?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!