Loyalty 

For the loyal employee, they are proud of who and where they work and want to share positive news about their company.

Authenticity

Each employee has his or her own authentic voice that is real, honest and authentic. Companies should utilize those authentic voices of their employees to amplify positive news on behalf of the company.

Trust 

The employee already has built-in trust with their friends and followers, so when they share news about the company they work for, the likelihood of someone paying attention and engaging with what is being shared is much higher than if it just came directly from the company.

1. It is great for the employee because it helps them grow their personal brand on social media.
2. It creates an entirely new marketing channel for the company to drive genuine reach, distribution and brand recognition.

 

Here are five important ideas to consider when it comes to empowering employees to share news about the companies they work for on social media.

1. Create a Corporate Social Media Policy 

Before activating and empowering employees to talk about the company they work for, they must agree to the companies official Corporate Social Media Policy. These are a standard set of rules and guidelines set by the company when it comes to how employees talk about their company personally. IBM, Best Buy and Ford all are great examples of social media policies to review and consider.

2. Create Social Media Training 

Employees will aspire to do great things and share news about their company as long as they are properly trained and aligned to the company's social media standards and procedures. When creating a training program, companies should make sure the lessons are easy to understand and that the goals, objectives, and teachings are clear and concise.

3. Employee Recognition and Rewards 

Employees who are socially active for their companies should be rewarded and recognized. Consider finding a few employees that are thought leaders and highlight them as the “gold standard." The more these employees are recognized, the more they will lead by example.

4. Listen and Respond to Employee Feedback 

Companies should always strive to be socially responsible by enabling the employee to be vocal on the company's behalf. Companies should carefully listen to employees’ experiences and suggestions and must be willing to adapt based on that feedback.

5. Create a Social Media Center of Excellence 

Companies should consider creating a division or group that oversees the creation, management and development of the company’s social media strategy and social media team. This includes the overall corporate social media strategy and management framework for application across business units and functions. In addition, this center of excellence helps coordinate with key stakeholders across the company to ensure effectiveness and encourages the adoption of social media techniques into the corporate culture and into all of the company’s products and services.

In summary, employees are a vastly untapped marketing resource when it comes to a company's social presence. With a simple set of processes and procedures in place to properly educate the employee, they are much more likely to be successful.

About the Author

Russ is Co-Founder and CEO of Dynamic Signal, a silicon valley software company that provides VoiceStorm, a marketing platform that helps top brands partner with and leverage the social reach and influence of their employees, fans and customers to achieve their branding, marketing and commerce goals. A digital media industry veteran, Russ has more than 15 years' experience in the online marketing world. He co-founded and was CEO of Adify (acquired by Cox for $300M in May 2008), was EVP of Corporate Development at comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and was among the first employees at Flycast (acquired by CMGi for $2.3B in January 2000).

To learn more about social media marketing, visit salesforce.com, or download the free e-book.