It doesn’t take a marketing executive explaining the phenomena to understand that the marketing for businesses landscape is changing rapidly as a result of social media. In fact, over 90 percent of businesses today are involved in some sort of social media or content marketing. Connecting with potential customers through social media makes it easier to understand which aspect of the product or company they do or don’t like and respond in a positive manner.
Furthermore, marketers can monitor what customers click on and in combination with big data, they can use this information to target where ads are placed so the right people see them at the right time. Social media has certainly opened many doors for marketers, but it is also accessible to other employees in the company. This begs the question, how are your non-marketing employees portraying your brand?
Should Businesses Train Every Employee in Sales?
According to Rutgers University professor, Mark Burgess, over 90 percent of people do not trust traditional advertising, however, over 80 percent of them do trust recommendations. All of the advertising in the world can go out the window if a close friend has a bad comment about your product or recommends a different product altogether. The power of the word of mouth is most certainly not dead.
It stands to reason that if 74 percent of internet users are linked in to social media and casting their opinions out on the web for every single one of their acquaintances to see, that a portion of them are likely to be your own company employees. Employees that are capable of influencing their modest Twitter following to some level based upon the quality of day they had at work. As an indirect result of social media, every employee clear down to the company janitor now has nearly the same power in the well-being of your company as the marketing and sales team.
Professor Burgess elaborates on the concept in his TEDTalk, where he argues that the voice of the organization has changed – individual employees are more likely to be heard now than ever before – and these employees are intricately tied to a brand’s identity. He goes on to say that the most powerful way to engage potential customers is through authenticity, not promoting a marketing scheme, but by encouraging employees to use social media tools to identify what they enjoy about the company.
Building a Social Employee
Making use of socially connected employees is most certainly something to take into account in developing a business strategy. However, trusting a group of untrained marketers to successfully advertise your products can be a scary endeavor. Because of this, it is important to use your trained marketing department to your advantage. Not only are they going to have a significant impact in developing new ideas and getting them out there, but they are also going to play a key role in teaching other employees to represent your brand.
1. Develop a Plan
Becoming a social business can take time, however, when successfully implemented the rewards are profound. Collaboration with the chief marketing officer will be of great importance in determining and developing a strategy. The strategy needs to take into account a transition period where some individuals from the marketing department train employees on how your company will use social media.
Furthermore, reach out to employees you have identified as good people for a pilot program. You want to choose people that are hardworking and carry some level of influence with their peers. During training and implementation periods, these will be the primary employees teaching others. Their input will also be important in organizing your efforts to become a social business because, as users, they will likely see flaws before you do.
2. Implement a Social Media Policy
There do need to be ground rules set in place as you begin to encourage employees to use social media during work hours, which is why there should be a clear social media policy in place from the beginning. Will there be a minimum or maximum amount of time for social media each work week? Are there limitations to what employees should be doing while on social media? Will they be encouraged to use social media to network in their field?
Collaborate with your team of marketers and pilot program participants to determine what each of them feels is good policy. The marketing team will be able to aid in the creation of ideas and will likely provide the most framework for what types of social media use should be acceptable. Including other employee opinions though will also be helpful in determining how long they think social media should be used and how it will be the most beneficial to the company.
3. Begin Training
Using members of the marketing team, begin to train employees on how they can make a positive impact on your company. Additionally, use this time to test the social media policy. Be patient as staff members learn to use some of the tools. Most of them have probably used social media before, however, few of them have probably participated in a marketing strategy using social media.
As the social employee program begins its implementation be sure to ask for comments and feedback on how things are going for new users. Often times they will be the quickest to spot any flaws. When they do offer suggestions, be flexible and willing to make necessary changes to support them. Not only will this boost productivity and make becoming a social employee easier, but it will also increase employee trust in your leadership skills.
4. Monitor and Assess
Social media itself is constantly changing, what works effectively one quarter may not be as beneficial the second. Stay on top of changes that are naturally going to happen and leave enough freedom in your strategy to make adjustments with ease. As the program gets under way set clear goals and obtainable benchmarks for the company. The best way to assess when changes need to be made is by measuring the quantifiable benchmarks and noting qualitative changes.
Share both the company goals and actually progress openly with all employees. Efficient communication with all parties involved will be critical in the success of the company. Employees that feel as though they are included in important decisions and that their opinion matter often report greater satisfaction with their work environments. Furthermore, when employees know where the company stands, it will be easier for them to set personal goals and understand what they need to do to make improvements in the program.
Using social media to increase sales conversions is a powerful way to cut advertising costs while still increasing business for your company. Acknowledging that the majority of employees are a part of social media and utilizing that fact to your advantage opens a number of new doors from which your brand can benefit. Employees that have been trained to represent your business through social media avenues are a profound asset to the company.
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