📱 3 Colleagues to Include in Your First Social Advocacy Campaign
Choosing the right mix is half the battle to getting a strategy off the ground
Hi! 👋
In The B2B Bite, I break down the most effective strategies and tactics to help B2B companies do better marketing.
Sent every Monday AM. Best enjoyed with coffee.
Last week I sat down with the wonderful Katie Cacchiani to record an episode of B2B Better on how to get folks in your organisation ready to take part in an employee advocacy programme.
You can check out the full episode at the bottom of this email. 👀
I'm a HUGE advocate for EA + social selling - especially for early-stage marketing teams that don't have massive budget or resources to invest in building out a robust organic strategy quite yet. Why?
Look at it as if you're investing in a bunch of rental properties to generate some passive income. You put up the capital at the start (your time in setting up the framework and running workshops) and then let the payments come in each month (your colleagues amplifying your messaging and content to their collective networks while you sleep!)
But it's not just about taking work off your plate. EA has some serious creds in its back pocket:
Messages shared by employees vs. the brand have 561% greater reach
90% of B2B buyers are more likely to engage with salespeople active on social
75% of B2B buyers use social media to support purchase decisions
So where do you start? I've written before about setting up an employee advocacy programme in 7 steps - you can read it here - but I didn't cover who could be the right candidates to take part in a launch campaign.
I see three main contenders.
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The Execs
Every CEO should be on social media. Period.
Customers look to them for confidence on the future of the industry and their company in it, employees look for inspiration and a 'why' the mission they're working towards is worthwhile.
If I were starting an EA campaign on my own with zero budget and a need to get some quick wins on the board, this is where I would start.
The Experts
Look deep enough and I guarantee there is someone in your organisation already killing it at social media.
Maybe they run a successful brunch Instagram account? Or create TikToks about raising a toddler? Or are competitive speedrunners on Twitch?
These are the people you don't have to necessarily train in the practicalities of posting regularly, just offer guidance on how they can expand their focus to include your brand (if they want to, of course!)
The Eager
For every expert in your company there will be 10 eager beavers who want to get more adept at social media but just don't know where to start. These are the folk to cherish. With a little training and encouragement, they'll turn into your superstars.
Reasons for holding them back can range from being as simple as not knowing what to post to a fear of sharing something that could land them in hot water. Your job is to give them a framework and a clear process on where to get answers.
🥡 Takeaway
Building an EA programme can seem daunting at first glance. It requires commitment, buy-in and - like all effective, modern-day marketing strategies - time. To maximise your odds of success, pick a pilot group that has a vested interest in seeing the project succeed OR already has the necessary skills to hit the ground running.
Ideally both. 😉
How to scale your marketing team from seed stage to IPO | Jonathan Metrick
Writing for an audience, not SEO | Michelle Garrett
I've built multiple growth teams. Here's why I won't do it again | Lars Lofgren
What to do before working on a new marketing campaign | Sheeta Verma
🎙️ Training Colleagues to Be Effective Social Advocates w/ Katie Cacchiani
In this episode, I sit down Katie Cacchiani, Digital Media Director at Mediassociates.
We talk dive into how to prepare employees to take part in an advocacy programme, running successful training workshops, and how to motivate unsure staff to take part.
Katie also shares some advice on whether an approach to employee advocacy should change when dealing with exec-level employees.
This episode is a must-listen for marketers who need advice on training colleagues to be effective advocates.
Listen to it here:
This is real advice for the everyday B2B marketer who wants to be better.
You can follow Katie here.
And that's it! See you next week.