It is a truth universally acknowledged that not all employees have the same attitude towards their job. That super passionate employee who sees holidays as a personal outrage is as much a possibility as the ‘How-did-I-end-up-here?!’ detached one. True, these different approaches are situated on a behavioural spectrum rather than being divided into sharp categories, but some level of generalisation can be extremely useful, at least for explanatory purposes.
So, for simplicity’s sake, let’s say there are three main groups of employees:
1) The ‘We <3 our job’ group
2) The ‘It pays the bills’ group
3) The ‘I’d rather be anywhere but here’ group
There are specific strategies that companies can implement to turn all three groups into brand advocates, and employee advocacy platforms are incredibly useful in each case.
1) ‘We <3 our Job’
Obviously, this is the easiest group to please. They are already advocates of their company, talking incessantly about how great their job is to friends and family members. Usually they promote their brand mainly through word-of-mouth, sharing those same information more sporadically on social media. Forcing these employees to ALWAYS share online their words of praise could be counterproductive (chances are employees’ social sharing would decrease if they start perceiving it as an obligation, another task to cross out of a to-do list). Still, what companies can and should do is to simplify the way happy employees can spread information online. Through an employee advocacy program, co-workers not only can easily share content on all their personal channels at once, but they can even suggest posts and topics to be shared through the company’s official channels.
2) ‘It pays the bills’
It is easy to forget about this group, but in reality they are the ones with the biggest potential. Uninterested employees are usually overlooked as not posing a threat nor representing a direct benefit to the company, but they can be turned into advocates quite easily. In most cases, employees are not aware of the actual motivation driving their company forward because they have never been invited into the conversation. By using an employee advocacy platform, companies can share articles or statements that give better insight into where they see themselves going, and encourage employees to take that journey with them. Being made to feel part of a team makes a huge difference. It can motivate the unmotivated and ultimately lead to a happier, more effective working environment.
3) ‘I’d rather be anywhere but here’
These guys are tricky. There are multiple reasons why they may lack interest in their company: money, colleagues, work ethic, environment. Some of them are past the point of no return, but there’s no harm in trying to recover the situation, how desperate it may be. All main employee advocacy platforms have gamification features that can be incredibly appealing even to the most sceptical employee. Who doesn’t like to win? Being competitive is only part of human nature, and if there are tangible rewards to be gained, all employees will be tempted to try and become the most prolific social media sharers of the company. Some employees might not be too keen on their job, but if they had the chance to win a prize AND beat all their co-workers at something, wouldn’t they take it?
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