Employee advocacy - How to make great content

Shareable content and employee advocacy go hand in hand when it comes to enhancing your social footprint. Employee advocacy involves empowering and encouraging your employees to share company related content and messages with their own networks.

This can significantly amplify your company brand's reach towards the future workforce, improve authenticity and boost engagement. Here are some tips for creating shareable content and fostering employee advocacy:

1. Provide valuable content: Create content that is informative, entertaining or helpful to your target audience. This can include industry insights, tips and tricks, how to guides or thought leadership pieces. Ensure that the content is relevant, well crafted and aligns with your brand's values and messaging

2. Make it visual: Visual content tends to be more shareable and engaging. Incorporate images, videos or interactive elements into your content strategy. These formats are more likely to catch the attention of your employees and their networks, increasing the chances of shares and engagement

3. Keep it authentic: Authenticity is key to successful employee advocacy. Encourage your employees to share their own perspectives, experiences and stories related to their work or the company culture. This helps humanise your brand and builds trust with your audience

4. Provide easy sharing options: Make it effortless for employees to share content by providing user friendly sharing tools. Implement social sharing buttons, pre drafted messages, or even an employee advocacy platform that streamlines the process. This reduces barriers and encourages employees to participate in sharing company content. Meanwhile, it's possible to start low key without pro software. You may start by using an Excel spreadsheet

5. Offer training and support: Some employees may be hesitant to engage in social media or may need guidance on effective sharing practices. Offer training sessions or resources that educate employees on best practices, social media etiquette and how to leverage their networks to maximise impact. Provide ongoing support and address any concerns or questions they may have

6. Recognise and reward: Acknowledge and appreciate employees who actively participate in employee advocacy. Recognise their efforts publicly, offer incentives or rewards and create a sense of camaraderie. This helps foster a culture of advocacy and motivates other employees to get involved

7. Monitor and measure: Track the impact of your employee advocacy efforts. Monitor the reach, engagement and conversions generated through shared content. Analyse which content performs well and resonates with the audience. This data can help you refine your content strategy and identify areas for improvement

While business compliance is important for ensuring adherence to laws, regulations and industry standards, it can sometimes be perceived as burdensome or restrictive. However, it is crucial to maintain a balanced perspective.

Here are a few considerations:

1. Legal and ethical obligations: Compliance with laws and regulations is essential to operate a business ethically and responsibly. Non compliance can lead to legal issues, financial penalties, reputational damage and even business closure. It is important to understand and meet the necessary legal and ethical obligations

2. Building trust and reputation: Compliance helps build trust with customers, stakeholders and the public. By demonstrating that you follow industry regulations and best practices, you establish credibility and a positive reputation. This can result in increased customer loyalty, stronger business relationships and a competitive edge

3. Risk mitigation: Compliance measures often include risk management practices. By identifying and addressing potential risks, you protect your business from financial losses, operational disruptions and reputational harm. Compliance can help create a more stable and secure business environment

4. Employee safety and well being: Compliance requirements often encompass employee safety, fair labour practices and non discrimination policies. Prioritising compliance in these areas ensures the well being and rights of your employees. It fosters a positive work environment, enhances employee morale and reduces the risk of legal disputes

5. Enhanced efficiency and transparency: Compliance frameworks often encourage efficient and transparent business practices. By implementing standardised processes, clear policies and proper record keeping, you improve operational efficiency and enable easier audits or assessments. This can lead to better business performance and smoother operations

6. Customer protection: Compliance measures are often designed to protect customer data, privacy and consumer rights. By adhering to these regulations, you demonstrate your commitment to safeguarding customer information and ensuring fair business practices. This can help build customer trust and loyalty

While it's true that strict business compliance can sometimes limit creativity and experimentation, it is still essential to approach reaching Gen Z with a balanced perspective.

Generation Z and employee advocacy

Here are some considerations to keep in mind:

1. Understand the rules: Whilst compliance can feel restrictive, it's crucial to have a solid understanding of the rules and regulations that apply to your industry and target audience. This ensures that you don't inadvertently violate any legal or ethical boundaries in your attempts to engage with the future workforce (Gen Z).

2. Embrace authenticity: Gen Z values authenticity and transparency from brands. Instead of focusing solely on compliance, strive to create genuine connections and resonate with this audience. Be true to your brand's values while maintaining compliance and seek to address their unique needs, aspirations and concerns

3. Test and learn: While compliance may require certain guidelines or restrictions, you can still experiment and iterate within those boundaries. Create a culture of testing and learning, where you can try different approaches to your social posts, gather feedback and iterate based on the results. This allows you to refine your strategies and better engage with Gen Z

4. Leverage User Generated Content (USG): Encourage Gen Z to participate and contribute by leveraging user generated content. This involves inviting them to share their experiences, opinions and content related to your brand. UGC can be a powerful way to engage with Gen Z while ensuring compliance, as it puts the creative control in their hands

5. Listen and adapt: Gen Z is a diverse and dynamic generation, so it's crucial to listen and adapt your strategies accordingly. Pay attention to their feedback, engage in conversations and adapt your content based on their preferences and evolving trends. Being responsive to their needs and desires will help you stay relevant and connected

By finding ways to work within compliance guidelines, whilst still being creative and adaptive, you can effectively engage with Gen Z and build meaningful connections with this important audience segment.

You are now ready to move on to the next level - how to make an: