EMPLOYEES AS BRAND AMBASSADORS
[This post is part 2 in a series of posts related to Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors. This post focuses on the concept of using employees as social media-enabled brand ambassadors.]
Brand ambassadorsare what current and potential customers see when they interact with anorganization. Brand ambassadors providecustomers and others with a real person with whom to interact when dealing withan organization. Instead of visualizing anorganization as an abstract concept, a logo, or the image of an ivory tower,the brand ambassador humanizes the exchange or transaction. A social media-based employee brand ambassadorprogram allows organizations to personalize the growing number of Web-based transactionsinto brand-enhancing experiences, resulting in improved reputation, increasedsales, and other positive effects that strengthen the organization’s brand andprovide benefits to customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.
Ronald J. Alsop notes in The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation that “Employees’ behavior and comments outsidebusiness hours can carry significant weight. In many cases, people’s only experience with a company is through itsworkers. Word-of-mouth impressionsgleaned from employees can be quite positive if they’re fiercely loyal to theircompanies – or deadly if they’re miserable in their jobs.”
Prior to the socialmedia explosion brand ambassadors conducted their influencing activities duringface-to-face social and business functions such as community fairs, chamber ofcommerce gatherings, Rotary meetings and other activities. An example of a successful “old school” brandambassador program is the Oscar Mayer “Hotdogger”brand ambassador that has since 1936 travelled around the country in hot dog-shapedWienermobiles.
While theHotdogger brand ambassador served a purpose yesterday, and still today, socialmedia has enabled brand ambassadors to use tools such as social networks,blogs, and other forms of social media to supplement traditional influencingactivities. It is important to clarify,however, that a social media-based employee brand ambassador program does notreplace but only enhances traditional brand ambassador activities. Social media merely provides brandambassadors with an additional venue on which to conduct influencingactivities. Today’s Web 2.0 environment requiresthat brand ambassador programs include both traditional and social mediacomponents.
Referring to today’sbrand ambassadors, Inc. Magazine’s Markowitz says“They can be tweeters, bloggers, Facebookers – or they could just be the peopleyou send to corporate events. More thanyour firm’s logo or an actor in your company’s commercial, your customers willcome to know your ambassadors as true representatives for your business’smission.”
According to Smarp blogger Roope Heinila (“Employees As Brand Ambassadors In Social Media”) “Social media has changed the impactthat company employees can have on their employers brand image. While in the past only marketers, salespeople and customer service have had controls over the brand image it has nowbecome the responsibility of every employee with a presence in social media (atleast to some extent).” Heinila furthercites a study that claims that “61% of employees are proud of their employerand would be willing to share this information with others over social media.”
Evan Maier concurson the Marketing Blog: FootPrints blog: “The key to successfully leveragingsocial media to boost a brand isn’t about targeted planning, million-dollarstrategies, or figuring out some secret insiders’ trick; it’s about whoever hasthe loudest voice. In traditional media,that means ad buys. In social media,that means brand ambassadors regularly engaging your audience.”
So, do socialmedia-enabled employee brand ambassadors differ from traditional brandambassadors? The answer is “yes” and “no.” As noted above, social media is merelyanother venue for brand ambassadors to conduct their influencingactivities. What this means is thatbrand ambassadors now use social media as an additional venue to conduct their influencingactivities which includes strategy implementation, community development, andreputation monitoring.
· StrategyImplementation: Every organization shouldmaintain a plan, whether formal or informal, that identifies management’sstrategy for introducing and/or broadening the organization’s brand within itstarget market. In other words, brandawareness. In the big picture this mayinclude activities such as advertising, event sponsorships, in-store announcements,etc. Social media-enabled employee brandambassadors are responsible for converting the overall strategy into actionthrough the use of social media platforms. Such implementation may include the creation of a blog. Other examples include the establishment ofaccounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. It is the social media-enabled employee brand ambassador’sresponsibility to implement actions that are consistent with the organization’soverall brand strategy.
· CommunityDevelopment: Organizations that understand howto use social media in a business setting know that its best use is in thedevelopment of “communities.” Wikipedia defines “community” as “A group of interacting people, living in someproximity (i.e., in space, time, or relationship). Community usually refers to a social unitlarger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion.”
In the case ofsocial media-enabled employee brand ambassadors, creating a community meanscreating a group of formally or informally connected individuals that have aninterest in an organization’s products or services. Such a community includes the collection ofpeople that “friend” the organization’s Facebook page or that “follow” it onTwitter. It can also include those thatregister to receive news feeds from its blog or any other activity that keepspeople “in the know” relative to the organization. It is the social media-enabled brandambassador’s responsibility to engage these communities in activities that puta human face on the organization, thereby enhancing its brand value.
· Social MediaMonitoring/Listening: One of the most importantlessons of social media that every business must heed is to develop a socialmedia monitoring or listening program. Due to the ubiquity of social media use,customers and non-customers may be making reference to the organization in oneform or another. Without a social mediamonitoring program the organization is unaware of such activity.
Establishing amonitoring program can be as easy and inexpensive as utilizing Google Alerts or SocialMention.com. Both of these applications provide the ability to establish reportsbased upon key terms, such as the organization’s name, found on Web pages,blogs, social networks and other social media platforms. Larger and more complex organizations may optfor more robust and pricey options such as radian6 (www.radian6.com).
If good things arebeing said, it is always a good idea to have the brand ambassador recognize thecompliment to demonstrate that the organization is listening and cares. If the information posted is less thanstellar, the brand ambassador must inquire about the negative experience in aneffort to correct the problem. At aminimum, even if there is no ability to repair the situation, the brandambassador can offer an apology or at a minimum, acknowledge the situation.
In all instances,social media monitoring provides brand ambassadors with the ability to reportthe details to the appropriate individual or department within the organizationin order for the organization to become aware of what works and what doesn’twork. The organization should consider allsuch instances as learning opportunities and a way to improve customerrelations.
In the post-OccupyWall Street era, consumers are skeptical of everyone. This is especially true of largeorganizations and financial services providers. Through honest, transparent, and consistent attention to the communitiesand their needs, social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors provideorganizations with an effective tool to enhance value and/or repairreputational damage. They also act asproof positive for customers and potential customers seeking evidence of theorganization’s brand promise.
