How Can Brands Use Employee Influencers to Their Benefit?

While a lot of brands have been spending money in lakhs towards their influencer marketing campaigns, a new concept of influencer marketing has been taking off which might be beneficial for a lot of brands. The trend of employee advocacy or employee influencers has been catching up with a number of brands globally as they look to get more efficient with their marketing campaigns and ROI.

According to a study by LinkedIn, there’s a 561% increase in audience for a brand message when shared by employees versus sharing on a corporate channel alone. Macy’s ran with this in the fall of 2017 when it launched an in-house influencer team. What started as the Macy’s Style Crew, which included 20 employee ambassadors, has turned into a 400+ team of Macy’s employee influencers who are active across social media channels. Macy’s pays its employee influencers, who range from executives to cashiers, an unspecified percentage of each sale they drive. The average Macy’s employee influencer has less than 10,000 followers and any Macy’s employee can apply. Once accepted, they have access to all of the store’s products for free to promote via social using the hashtag #MacysStyleCrew and a link to shop the item in their profile bio.

Employees are strong vehicles to carry your brand message because they’re knowledgeable and have a more unique story to tell about products and services than an influencer who may be trying it for the first time. In fact, employee content is proven to drive action as 26 percent of employee influencer programs have been shown to increase revenue by year on year.

H&M US also started activating its employees’ voices when it launched the H&M Insiders program, which includes 15 of the fast fashion retailer’s employee ambassadors from across the country, “who have their own unique take on our brand and incorporate H&M into their everyday lives.” H&M features the 15 members’ photos, Instagram handles and H&M style picks on a dedicated page on their website.

With an employee advocacy programme, employees are able to share curated and personalised content across their own social networks. This means their network receives brand updates in an authentic language and tone that resonates with them from employees who know their products and services extensively.

Never underestimate the influence your employees can yield. Many have influence in circles you aren’t reaching and may never truly reach. Leveraging that influence to elevate your brand can make an immense difference in your marketing success. It will also engage your employees in ways you never thought possible, and help you reap the benefits of a truly influential marketing strategy.