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7 min read

7 Reasons Why Employee Advocacy Boosts Brand Reputation

Key takeaways

  • Employee advocacy demonstrates a huge amount of credibility for your brand.
  • It can also help dispel any reputational damage or misconceptions.
  • Employees shouldn’t be forced into posting advocacy content; you should accept that not everyone is comfortable with this blurring of the personal-professional boundary.

Employ­ee advo­ca­cy is the pro­mo­tion of a com­pa­ny’s brand, prod­ucts, or ser­vices by its employ­ees through their per­son­al chan­nels, par­tic­u­lar­ly on social media. This prac­tice lever­ages employ­ees as ambas­sadors who share con­tent, insights, and pos­i­tive expe­ri­ences about their work­place. By doing so, they enhance the com­pa­ny’s vis­i­bil­i­ty, trust, and rep­u­ta­tion in an authen­tic and relat­able way.

Organ­i­sa­tions can choose to imple­ment struc­tured employ­ee advo­ca­cy pro­grams, pro­vid­ing tools, train­ing, and pre-approved con­tent to empow­er employ­ees. They may also afford ample free­dom to employ­ees, who may feel com­fort­able cre­at­ing advo­ca­cy con­tent with­out templates.

Either way, the goal is to ampli­fy mar­ket­ing efforts, build a cred­i­ble brand image, and reach audi­ences that tra­di­tion­al mar­ket­ing might not. There are many ben­e­fits to busi­ness­es, but most revolve around boost­ing their reputation.

This blog will explore how employ­ee advo­ca­cy can boost a brand’s rep­u­ta­tion and also pro­vide you with advice for imple­ment­ing this strat­e­gy. Let’s dive in:

Examples of employee advocacy

To give an idea of what employ­ee advo­ca­cy might look like, here are some examples:

The most com­mon type is social media shar­ing. This may include post­ing com­pa­ny updates or achieve­ments, job open­ings, or shar­ing blogs and arti­cles from their per­son­al accounts. Ide­al­ly, these posts should include some per­son­al com­men­tary so that they’re dis­tin­guished from typ­i­cal pro­mo­tion­al com­pa­ny content.

Refer­ral pro­grams are anoth­er type of advo­ca­cy. This is when employ­ees rec­om­mend their work­place to poten­tial hires when it’s look­ing to fill an open posi­tion. They may also leave pos­i­tive reviews on plat­forms like Glass­door, shar­ing why they like work­ing for you.

Per­haps in con­junc­tion with these advo­ca­cy types lies behind-the-scenes con­tent. Employ­ees might cre­ate their own videos or pho­to posts that show­case their work envi­ron­ment or moments of team cama­raderie. These con­tent types will bol­ster any pro­mo­tion­al or insight­ful mes­sages staff try to get across.

And our final type of employ­ee advo­ca­cy involves pub­lic speak­ing. If your com­pa­ny par­tic­i­pates in con­fer­ences, webi­na­rs, or pan­els, this is an easy oppor­tu­ni­ty for team mem­bers to rep­re­sent the busi­ness. They may share insights about your indus­try or com­pa­ny culture.

But, how do these approach­es work to effect mean­ing­ful rep­u­ta­tion­al change?

7 reasons why employee advocacy boosts brand reputation

1. Authenticity and trust

Employ­ees’ advo­ca­cy brings a lev­el of authen­tic­i­ty that cor­po­rate mes­sag­ing often can­not achieve. When employ­ees share their gen­uine per­spec­tives about a com­pa­ny, its val­ues, or its prod­ucts, their mes­sages are per­ceived as more believ­able than offi­cial adver­tise­ments or brand­ed posts. This is because indi­vid­u­als are seen as inde­pen­dent voic­es, not direct­ly tied to the mar­ket­ing depart­men­t’s goals.

Authen­tic­i­ty builds trust by show­ing the pub­lic that employ­ees gen­uine­ly stand behind the com­pa­ny and its offer­ings, and trust is a cor­ner­stone of a strong brand rep­u­ta­tion. When audi­ences see real peo­ple endors­ing its mis­sion or prod­ucts, they are more like­ly to believe in the com­pa­ny’s reli­a­bil­i­ty and integrity.

This enhances the com­pa­ny’s rep­u­ta­tion as a trust­wor­thy organ­i­sa­tion that peo­ple can con­fi­dent­ly sup­port or engage with. For the com­pa­ny, this trust trans­lates into high­er cred­i­bil­i­ty, bet­ter cus­tomer reten­tion, and improved rela­tion­ships with stakeholders.

2. Increased reach

When employ­ees share com­pa­ny-relat­ed con­tent, they extend the brand’s reach far beyond its exist­ing audi­ence. Each employ­ee typ­i­cal­ly has their own unique net­work of friends, fam­i­ly, and pro­fes­sion­al con­nec­tions. By advo­cat­ing for the brand, employ­ees tap into these net­works, expos­ing the com­pa­ny to poten­tial cus­tomers, part­ners, or col­lab­o­ra­tors who may not have encoun­tered the brand otherwise.

This increased reach ben­e­fits the brand’s rep­u­ta­tion by cre­at­ing more oppor­tu­ni­ties for its val­ues, exper­tise, and offer­ings to be seen in a pos­i­tive light. Employ­ee net­works are often more engaged than the gen­er­al audi­ence tar­get­ed by cor­po­rate cam­paigns, mean­ing that the shared con­tent gar­ners more atten­tion and interaction.

This word-of-mouth-like effect ampli­fies the brand’s vis­i­bil­i­ty while rein­forc­ing its cred­i­bil­i­ty. With con­sis­tent advo­ca­cy from employ­ees, the brand estab­lish­es a strong, wide­spread pres­ence, improv­ing its stand­ing in marketplaces.

3. Improves public perception

Employ­ee advo­ca­cy is a pow­er­ful tool for address­ing and cor­rect­ing mis­con­cep­tions about a brand. Neg­a­tive stereo­types or mis­un­der­stand­ings can arise due to out­dat­ed infor­ma­tion, third-par­ty crit­i­cism, or lack of vis­i­bil­i­ty into the com­pa­ny’s true cul­ture and oper­a­tions. When employ­ees share authen­tic sto­ries and expe­ri­ences, they pro­vide an inside per­spec­tive that coun­ters these inaccuracies.

For exam­ple, if a com­pa­ny is per­ceived as hav­ing a poor work­place cul­ture, employ­ees show­cas­ing pos­i­tive inter­ac­tions, team achieve­ments, or tes­ti­mo­ni­als of job sat­is­fac­tion can dis­pel such myths. Sim­i­lar­ly, advo­ca­cy that high­lights the com­pa­ny’s com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty, inno­va­tion, or cus­tomer care rein­forces its true val­ues and priorities.

This proac­tive cor­rec­tion of mis­con­cep­tions enhances the brand’s rep­u­ta­tion by pre­sent­ing a more accu­rate, relat­able, and pos­i­tive image. It helps rebuild trust with scep­ti­cal audi­ences, reduces the impact of neg­a­tive nar­ra­tives, and posi­tions the com­pa­ny as trans­par­ent and cred­i­ble in the pub­lic eye.

4. Humanising the brand

Employ­ee advo­ca­cy puts a human face on your brand, mov­ing beyond logos and cor­po­rate mes­sag­ing to show­case the real peo­ple behind your organ­i­sa­tion. When employ­ees share their per­son­al expe­ri­ences, com­pa­ny cul­ture, or sto­ries about their work, they make your brand more relat­able and approach­able to the public.

This human con­nec­tion helps the com­pa­ny build stronger rela­tion­ships with its audi­ence as peo­ple are more like­ly to trust and engage with a brand that feels authen­tic and empa­thet­ic, rather than face­less or over­ly cor­po­rate. By spot­light­ing employ­ees’ sto­ries, the com­pa­ny con­veys its val­ues, fos­ters emo­tion­al con­nec­tions, and demon­strates that it cares about its people.

This relata­bil­i­ty enhances the brand’s rep­u­ta­tion as not just a busi­ness, but an organ­i­sa­tion dri­ven by real, pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als. It builds good­will with cus­tomers and stake­hold­ers, who appre­ci­ate see­ing a gen­uine, human side to the brand, lead­ing to loy­al­ty and stronger long-term relationships.

5. Demonstrates industry expertise

When employ­ees share their knowl­edge, insights, or achieve­ments through advo­ca­cy, they posi­tion both them­selves and the com­pa­ny as cred­i­ble author­i­ties with­in the indus­try. For exam­ple, an engi­neer dis­cussing an inno­v­a­tive project or a mar­keter shar­ing suc­cess­ful cam­paign strate­gies reflects the com­pa­ny’s expertise.

This demon­stra­tion of indus­try knowl­edge boosts the brand’s rep­u­ta­tion by show­ing it as a leader in its field. Audi­ences respect brands that con­sis­tent­ly con­tribute valu­able insights or solu­tions, and employ­ee advo­ca­cy makes this exper­tise more vis­i­ble to a wider audi­ence. It also rein­forces trust, as it proves the brand’s com­pe­tence and abil­i­ty to deliv­er qual­i­ty work.

For the com­pa­ny, this estab­lish­es a com­pet­i­tive edge, as poten­tial cus­tomers, part­ners, or recruits are more like­ly to engage with a brand recog­nised for its exper­tise. Con­sis­tent, knowl­edge­able advo­ca­cy show­cas­es the com­pa­ny as not only capa­ble but also as an inno­va­tor dri­ving the indus­try forward.

6. Builds employer credibility

When employ­ees advo­cate for their work­place, they implic­it­ly vouch for the com­pa­ny’s cul­ture, val­ues, and over­all qual­i­ty as an employ­er. Shar­ing pos­i­tive expe­ri­ences, work­place achieve­ments, or par­tic­i­pa­tion in com­pa­ny events demon­strates that employ­ees feel val­ued, engaged, and aligned with the busi­ness’s mission.

This advo­ca­cy boosts the brand’s rep­u­ta­tion by por­tray­ing it as a desir­able place to work, fos­ter­ing cred­i­bil­i­ty as an employ­er. Prospec­tive tal­ent is more like­ly to view the com­pa­ny as an attrac­tive option, know­ing that cur­rent employ­ees gen­uine­ly sup­port it. It also reas­sures clients, part­ners, and stake­hold­ers that the brand is sta­ble and oper­ates in an envi­ron­ment that pri­ori­tis­es employ­ee satisfaction.

7. Crisis management support

Employ­ee advo­ca­cy dur­ing a cri­sis can play a cru­cial role in pro­tect­ing and even enhanc­ing a brand’s rep­u­ta­tion. When chal­lenges arise (whether due to exter­nal crit­i­cism or prod­uct issues) authen­tic, pos­i­tive voic­es from employ­ees can coun­ter­bal­ance neg­a­tiv­i­ty and pro­vide reas­sur­ance to the public.

Employ­ees who speak out in sup­port of the com­pa­ny dur­ing dif­fi­cult times demon­strate resilience and loy­al­ty, which reflects pos­i­tive­ly on the brand. This advo­ca­cy shows that a com­pa­ny’s staff stand by its val­ues and efforts to address what­ev­er went wrong. It also rein­forces trans­paren­cy, as employ­ee per­spec­tives pro­vide a behind-the-scenes view of how the com­pa­ny is responding.

For the brand, this advo­ca­cy strength­ens pub­lic trust and mit­i­gates rep­u­ta­tion­al damage.

Asking your team to be advocates

Intro­duc­ing the idea of employ­ee advo­ca­cy to staff requires thought­ful com­mu­ni­ca­tion. You should start by clear­ly explain­ing the con­cept: how employ­ees can share their authen­tic per­spec­tives about the com­pa­ny on their per­son­al chan­nels, and how you hope it will ben­e­fit the organisation.

You’ll need to address any con­cerns ear­ly on. Employ­ees might wor­ry about bound­aries between per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al iden­ti­ties or feel unpre­pared to advo­cate pub­licly. Offer reas­sur­ance that par­tic­i­pa­tion is vol­un­tary and pro­vide clear guide­lines about what to share. For exam­ple, encour­age high­light­ing achieve­ments, com­pa­ny mile­stones, or team suc­cess­es, while avoid­ing sen­si­tive or con­fi­den­tial information.

Train­ing is key to build­ing con­fi­dence. It may help to offer work­shops on top­ics like social media best prac­tices, craft­ing impact­ful posts, and under­stand­ing your brand’s voice. Your staff might pre­fer to receive pre-approved tem­plate con­tent that they’re invit­ed to adapt so that it takes the pres­sure off start­ing from scratch.

A slow launch might be best, where a pilot group of enthu­si­as­tic employ­ees start first. When the impact of their efforts can be seen in ana­lyt­ics, show these off! This pilot can also reveal any areas where staff may need extra sup­port, mak­ing it more attrac­tive for oth­er employ­ees to get involved.

Common mistakes when implementing employee advocacy

If you decide you want to imple­ment employ­ee advo­ca­cy, there are some impor­tant things to bear in mind. Con­sid­er this list of com­mon errors before you get started:

  • Unclear guide­lines may cause employ­ees to unin­ten­tion­al­ly share off-brand or sen­si­tive content.
  • Rather than van­i­ty met­rics like the num­ber of posts, focus on mean­ing­ful out­comes like engage­ment, reach, and brand sentiment.
  • Employ­ee advo­ca­cy should always be vol­un­tary. If it’s forced, your team may feel resent­ful or pub­lish half-heart­ed content.
  • If employ­ees are only shar­ing pre-approved con­tent, it may come across as robot­ic. Authen­tic­i­ty is key here, so encour­age per­son­al and gen­uine out­put and go easy on the brand guidelines.
  • Employ­ees may not par­tic­i­pate if they feel uncer­tain about using social media. You should pro­vide train­ing on con­tent cre­ation and how to adhere to your brand guidelines.
  • Employ­ee advo­ca­cy may feel like an infringe­ment of per­son­al bound­aries for some staff. In these cas­es, you should respect the lev­el of involve­ment they’re com­fort­able with.
  • Par­tic­i­pat­ing staff will have insights from their activ­i­ty. Make sure you lis­ten to their feedback.
  • Your team may feel demo­ti­vat­ed if their efforts aren’t rewarded.
  • The advo­ca­cy pro­gram may fiz­zle out if you don’t invest in con­tin­u­al con­tent cre­ation and sup­port employ­ees regularly.

These com­mon areas for fric­tion won’t pose prob­lems if you’re well pre­pared. Get ready to have frank and com­pas­sion­ate con­ver­sa­tions with employ­ees. You should also keep an open mind as the strat­e­gy unfolds, as you’ll like­ly come across new ways of doing things.

Is it toxic to ask for employee advocacy?

Employ­ee advo­ca­cy is def­i­nite­ly some­thing that could be mis­used. In some com­pa­nies, there is a tox­ic cul­ture where ‘home life’ isn’t dis­tin­guished from work, and where employ­ees are expect­ed to go ‘above and beyond’ on a dai­ly basis. These types of com­pa­nies might label them­selves as ‘fam­i­lies’… set­ting the scene for work rela­tion­ships where bound­aries do not exist.

With this in mind, we want to pro­mote employ­ee advo­ca­cy in a cau­tious way. This isn’t some­thing every­one is going to be on board with. How­ev­er, some peo­ple real­ly do live for their job and have no prob­lem pro­mot­ing it online. Instead of see­ing a prob­lem with staff who don’t feel this way, it’s impor­tant to respect their bound­aries and focus on cre­at­ing a cul­ture where advo­ca­cy is entire­ly vol­un­tary. Employ­ees should­n’t feel pres­sured to merge their per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al lives or risk being judged for not participating.

Ulti­mate­ly, employ­ee advo­ca­cy should be a reflec­tion of authen­tic pride and sat­is­fac­tion, not an imposed expec­ta­tion. By valu­ing indi­vid­u­al­i­ty and respect­ing bound­aries, com­pa­nies can build trust with their teams and ben­e­fit from the organ­ic reach and cred­i­bil­i­ty that advo­ca­cy brings.

Final thoughts

We hope this arti­cle has giv­en you a good idea of where to start and what to avoid doing when imple­ment­ing employ­ee advo­ca­cy. As always, you can reach out to us here at pur­ple­plan­et to get help with any of your mar­ket­ing needs.

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