How Employee Advocacy Can Benefit Your Business

​We all know how important brand advocacy can be to the growth of a business, especially in the early stages. Brand advocates build your reputation through word of mouth marketing and ultimately win you new customers; word of mouth often being cited as the best kind of marketing, given that it’s free!

So instead, what is employee advocacy – and what benefit can it play in terms of growing not your revenues, but the team itself?

Employee advocacy is effectively the same process, but pertaining to your current workforce telling those around them how great it is to do so – and elevating your desirability as an employer as a result. In today’s world, employee advocacy is largely done online; your current team should be sharing what it’s like to work for you, talking about how you’re doing things differently, and ultimately promoting the company culture as a benefit to working for you via social media. Any candidate worth their salt will look into all of these things upon entering your recruitment process – and it might just make the difference when it comes to capturing the attention of the market’s top talent.

Activating your current employees as advocates could be the key tool to elevating your talent pipeline this year. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from having done so.

Increased staff retention

When a new hire has been enticed to come on board via employee advocacy, they already have a more sound understanding of what it’s like to work for your business and have likely made a more informed decision than otherwise; having a visual of your company culture beforehand will leave them more excited to join. Seeing what their future team is up to before joining gives new hires a better idea of where they can make an impact from the off, helping them to set goals and envision their path toward achieving them. All of these aspects of employee advocacy throughout the hiring process combined mean that new hires are more purpose-driven, and more likely to build a longstanding career within your company.

Increased organic applicants

Do your employees love working for you? Then let them shout about it! When those your employees are connected with online begin seeing the enthusiasm your workforce hold in talking about their role, the company they work for and the company culture they embody, people are going to take notice. This will increase the number of people who add YOUR business to their “target companies” list, meaning that if and when their job search begins, your name will be on their lips. Organic applicants could mean direct approaches from individuals who want to work for you without a specific opportunity in mind, or even those who ask an agency like us to approach you on their behalf!

Improved company culture

Jobseekers want to join a company who have something about them; who promote great culture from within and take doing so seriously. Whilst you really have to live it to learn it, visible employee advocacy on social media can give a great insight to potential hires. And, as an added bonus for you – it means that in order to share it, your employees will have to be living it! Promoting a strong company culture externally means embodying it internally. So, make sure yours is well-defined and encourage your employees to let the world know what it’s like to work here. Remember: company culture doesn’t just mean posting pics of virtual lunch clubs or Zoom beers; it’s about who your employees are, the ups and downs of their roles. The successes, the challenges, and how they overcame them.

A final great thing about employee advocacy? Aside from being a great recruitment tool, it’ll naturally help boost your business’ online presence, exposure and reach on social media. The business benefits that using employee advocacy to attract talent are numerous and vast in their advantage.

When we work onsite with clients in a managed serviced capacity, this is all something which comes under what we do. We’re here to find your next quality hires, but also to improve your overall recruitment strategy as an overarching service led by us. To learn more about how, get in touch today.