Employee advocacy: expressing employee enthusiasm or churning out corporate can-fodder?

Let’s zoom in on… Employee Advocacy. I see a growing number of profiles on LinkedIn and similar platforms gradually turning into advertising boards for the profile owner’s employer.

Even if the term Employee Advocacy makes it quite clear what the desired goal is, it is much less clear how this is best done; how it’s achieved in ways that are effective, manageable and both feel and are genuine. 

Some organisations have invested in apps that make it easy to amplify corporate messages on people’s personal social media accounts; yet, these fail in one way or another time after time. 

Are you sharing corporate can-fodder?

How about you? Are you sharing corporate can-fodder? If the answer is yes, is it merely because you are part of the team tasked with promoting the solution (if you have to be really honest…)? 

Other organisations have invested in training programmes for employees; guiding employees through pimping their profiles, tuning their tone of voice and securing the sincerity factor…

Invariably (well, in the vast majority of cases) all these initiatives amount to what Tim Hughes, the best-selling author of “Social Selling” calls “Corporate spamming”. 

As a recipient, the content feels impersonal, indifferent, formulaic and automated - because it is!

The format makes us flag it and scroll on

The carefully crafted and never omitted hashtag, the sleek videos with perfect captioning - and the corporate logo hovering in the chosen corner… All in perfect compliance with the corporate guidelines, but also the exact mechanisms that subconsciously make our marketing-bs-weary brains flag it as spam and scroll swiftly on. Unbelievable amounts of this stuff is produced by eager marketing teams who live on to feel they have done the right thing; told the right story, but nevertheless has made zero impact anywhere.

From “thinly veiled advertising” to “advocacy”

There are exceptions; rare, but memorable examples when employees share interesting and informative examples of how their organisation has made the world a better place - as seen through their eyes and told confidently through their words or images - signalling that there is enough mutual trust in the employer / employee relationship to allow this to happen without any style sanitation or corporate filters. That’s what it takes to move it from “thinly veiled advertising” to “advocacy”. And that’s when we take notice - perhaps partly because it is so rare… 

The best tales don’t travel well

I frequently hear workplace tales that are inspiring and leave one feeling that this is an organisation with a good story to its name. But they are told in a small circle of trusted peers; rarely shared beyond those small and closed circles. I often think that these tales would do a great deal of good for the organisation in question if they were shared more widely. But they rarely are; and if they are ever picked up, they are typically put through the aforementioned filters and stripped of all the things that made them interesting and worth listening to in the first place. 

Key: Transparency and mutual trust between employers and employees

How do we nurture an approach that doesn’t simply occupy profiles and utilise them to voice the aspirations of a given organisation, but rather facilitates and supports employees of the same organisations to use LinkedIn to network, share the most truly / universally interesting facts and stories about their working lives – and through this inspire their network [to take an interest]?

My personal experience is that there is lots of possible exposure and potential in having a rich and active profile on LinkedIn. And “rich” doesn’t just mean “busy”; I pay much more attention to those who share something inspiring; something that informs or educates me. Or someone who invites / allows me to participate in a discussion that gives me some new perspectives. Certainly all more stimulating and intriguing than the organisation's latest thrilling financial statements, another impressive sustainability award or an exclusive preview of the latest breathtaking advertising campaign…

Granted: sharing something more personal; perhaps even an opinion while being an employee of an organisation can be both difficult and daunting. It may feel like entering a minefield to start expressing one’s own views - however well-intentioned or non-controversial they may seem. How will it be perceived by your employer? Might there be unintended consequences? 

It's impossible to completely sever yourself from the organisation you're a part of and that almost inevitably means that most of us will refrain from expressing ourselves entirely freely.

Having observed and followed several contacts and the way they behave and communicate on LinkedIn, the most successful and interesting ones to follow are typically the ones who declare their interests and “professional ties” with full transparency. It wipes clean the blackboard (or whiteboard or screen if you are so inclined) before any views, findings or ideas are expressed. It makes me feel I’m taken seriously and allowed to draw my own conclusions with all relevant strings and “potential disruptors” declared openly. And it proves that the person behind the profile in question has considered whatever he is sharing carefully and in the light of the various potential pitfalls.

It may seem trite or banal, but it is nevertheless good, basic housekeeping.

A clear / fully declared and transparent space to post in means you won’t subconsciously be digesting the shared material with the same thick filter of scepticism the constant barrage of “stuff” is normally “auto-sifted” through as we scroll though the endless feed.

Too much self-declaration is tedious

But it is a fine balance; constant self-declaration, disclaimers everywhere and a seeming desire to appear purer than pure is also rather unappealing - at times borderline suspicious.

The profiles who get the “transparency balance” right and moreover shares insights and information that are both interesting and relevant to their network can become “thought leaders” or “trusted sources”; even “brands” in their own right and the organisation they happen to work for becomes a less interesting distraction. Yet, their association with the organisation will inevitably rub off positively on it.

How do we strike the right balance? Is it possible to credibly mix one's own views, personal interest stuff and the odd “out there post” with the role of employee ambassador and the obvious (but rarely spelled out) grey areas and conflicts of loyalty / interest this might lead to and not end up in a mess?

Where are you at?

What do you do? Have you got any personal guidelines for how you act, interact and express yourself? Does your company expect (or explicitly ask) you to follow certain guidelines? How do you maintain personal integrity? Which topics and areas match your desired presence? Which ones do you avoid at all cost? -And why?

Taking employee advocacy to the next level - beyond “Please share this”

Over the coming months, we aim to take employee advocacy to the next level. Let’s evaluate the best and the worst; identify the ingredients that cook up the stuff worth consuming and also the ones that ruin the stew. Let’s find out what it takes and who needs to be involved if we want to move beyond formulaic and irrelevant “blah blah”.

Explore the subject in depth and detail

Many in the network have been tasked with doing exactly this and have found it very difficult. Therefore, we’ll be kicking off at least one and possible more EXPLORER groups focusing on taking Employee Advocacy beyond “Please share this”. My knowledgeable colleague, Jonas Bladt Hansen will launch the first group focusing on this topic on 21. November. Register your interest via the last link.

The EXPLORER format allows participants to dive deep into the details of the topic in question and look at it from any number of angles, test out ideas and thus get a much more robust knowledge base; perhaps even collaborate to create something tangible together that can be used back in the respective participating organisations. For more info about EXPLORER groups and the various topics - including Employee Advocacy, planned launch dates, how to sign up and how to pitch your own topic idea for an EXPLORER group, visit the EXPLORER page on our site.