As one of the most well-known and respected brands in media,  this technology provider to film, television and music creators holds a unique market position that comes with responsibilities and of course, challenges. The team knew they had a powerful presence with strong social influence, and employees who wanted a voice in that brand identity, but they lacked the resources to weave these two components together.

The opportunity to better engage employees is one many companies pursue through social channels, and it’s ultimately what led the technology leader to Sprout Social’s Employee Advocacy solution. With support from a platform dedicated to employee advocacy and engagement, they were able to bridge this fundamental gap and activate their most powerful internal resource: Current employees.

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From increased engagement to heightened collaboration for outbound marketing, the company’s advocacy program creates excitement around sharing company and industry news on social channels. Employees find gratification in watching their network of like-minded individuals grow, and the company can elevate both their and their employees’ position as industry leaders.

Cultivating a strategic workforce

Any change to the way a business functions should be firmly rooted in purposeful strategy with a clear understanding of intent. This is exactly where the team began. They identified the factors fueling their intent and set a purpose for their program – to leverage the strength of their brand as a means to engage and incorporate employees into the stories their brand shares. This intent remains at the core of their program’s foundation.

While their goal was to enable employees with a voice in their brand, they also knew advocacy was an element that needed to grow organically, as not to disrupt the current state of their ecosystem. In order to achieve this delicate balance, they strategically rolled out Employee Advocacy to their most social-savvy employees first and foremost.

Leaning on the assumption that hand-picking individuals who were already active on social media would lead to faster adoption rates with minimal resistance, they launched their program. And their assumptions were correct.

“They work for a fantastic company that’s well known in the industry, and they should want to share that. It’s a win-win for everyone, too—employees get more followers and receive more engagement, and we benefit in the same way. There’s no negative impact.”

The other critical component the company sought in its employee advocacy platform was ease of use. In order to drive any new behavior, acclimation to the environment needs to be quick and relatively seamless. Employee Advocacy met these needs with its clean interface, intuitive user experience and optimized mobile app.

Just like that, employees were ready to start sharing on Day 1.

Diversifying audience and market reach

Another key benefit the company recognizes in employee advocacy is a more diversified audience that infiltrates all segments of the market. This diversification comes as a result of being able to unlock new avenues through employee networks, exposing their product to audiences previously outside their immediate reach.

“We’re a big name, but we want to maintain our leadership worldwide. It’s important for us to remain present among Hollywood movie producers, post-production houses, even individual artists using the free-versions of our product.”

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Employees found value not only in positioning themselves as a source for information, but also in being able to share their business’ paramount role in media with their network of peers, friends and family members. “Our employees take pride in their work and they’re excited about the products we make—it’s a cool experience to go to a movie knowing it was produced using our tools. People outside of the industry might not fully grasp what we do, but as soon as our employees start sharing stories and creating conversations, it all becomes clear.”

They decided to take their employee advocacy program one step further by activating an additional audience—one outside of their internal workforce: Brand ambassadors. Given that word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most impactful forces for a company, it makes sense to include brand proponents in your advocacy strategy. Not only do brand ambassadors organically increase product awareness, they add a tremendous amount of authenticity to your message, supercharging its reach potential.

Growing a global presence on social media

Given the company’s strong position in the market, surfacing content that’s both product-based as well as thought-leadership based is a top priority for their team. Employee Advocacy provides them with the resource they needed to enable this approach using a method that entices action.

“To be successful on social media requires a global presence and a group effort. You need access to as many channels as possible in order to cover all of your audiences – from fans to customers to channel partners.”

The team’s content curators within the platform make it a point to refresh content on a daily basis, ensuring that the stories shared are diverse, span a wide range of topics and appeal to the varying interests among their team. Employees know that whenever they want industry knews, their Employee Advocacy feed is the place to go. “Since we started our program, we’ve seen over 3 million impressions and attained nearly 6,000 social shares.”

They also gain insights from Employee Advocacy regarding optimal sharing days and times, which allows them to be even smarter and more strategic in their social strategy. “You can learn a lot using the metrics Employee Advocacy provides—for example, we know that our highest performing messages typically happen on Monday morning at 9am. Employees come back to work and catch up on industry news and share stories, and with Employee Advocacy, we’re able to capitalize on that.”