Social Media - From the Inside

The topic of social media is typically framed within the context of communications between individuals. Given the rapid growth of applications like Facebook and Twitter, marketers are exploring ways to connect these electronically social individuals with their brand. The engagement continuum that is followed begins with simple awareness of the brand and through active engagement creates a stronger affinity that culminates with brand advocacy.

Brand advocacy is also critical to the success of internal communications. Just as a company needs to understand their customers, the company also needs to understand their employees. As Baby Boomers leave the work force and are replaced by Echo Boomers, Generation X / Y and Millennials, the motivations of these unique groups will change the employee dynamics of companies for decades to come.

The engagement continuum with employees is the same as that of a customer. An employee becomes aware of the company even before being hired. As an employee engages with the company, they begin to assess their values and the potential of achieving their personal goals. If there is alignment of values and goals between the employee and that of the company, then the employee's engagement elevates to that of being a brand advocate. Brand advocacy is the ultimate company engagement goal for both customers and employees.

As brand marketers leverage social interaction in order to generate advocacy with customers, the same tactics can be used to generate employee advocacy. Whether the company creates an internal social network like "Blue Shirt Nation" at BestBuy or launches an instant message platform like Yammer, the key to success is to identify what employees feel comfortable using and to use executive leadership to champion the strategy. The lack of executive leadership involvement in the implementation of these social tactics will almost certainly result in not achieving the goal of generating employee advocacy.