How Employees Can Use Their Personal Brands On Social Media to Promote Your Business
Social media is much more than posting and commenting. It’s a vibrant community. And within that community, people are making connections. For your business to thrive—online and in person—you need to make the most of those connections. And one of the best, most organic ways to do that is to figure out how your employees can use their personal brands on social media to promote your business.
More than 70% of marketers see employee advocacy on social media as one of the most effective methods of influencer marketing. Why is that? Well, in many ways, the employees are the brand. So having their vote of confidence online is one of the best ways to grow an audience.
But if an employee were to help you promote the business on their personal platforms, what exactly would that look like?
Here’s what you can say:
Create Stories
As an employee, you can create engaging Stories on your social media profile and tag the business. This is especially engaging for people if you create an on-location video or story that shows you or one of your co-workers busy at work.
For instance, at a specialty coffee company, employees can go live from work. This is especially fun if there’s a strong visual component, like new company merchandise, to announce the first day of a seasonal drink, or to show off a barista’s latte art skills.
You can also create Stories just to send people to the brand page when there’s an event going on over there!
Become a brand advocate
As an employee, you have a powerful voice as a business insider. To help your employer gain traction on social media, talk about the brand on your social channels and promote the company as an independent citizen.
If you run across a conversation that has something to do with your industry, chime in! Organic comments on social media can be a powerful way to raise awareness about the company or organization you work for.
Use Linktree
If you use Linktree on your personal Instagram page, consider creating a link to your company. This will help people know where you work and get your place of employment a little more exposure in the community by helping drive traffic to their website.
If you’re promoting something that’s happening at work, this simple link will be a way for people to immediately find out more.
Add relevant hashtags
Whenever you post anything relating to work, use a mix of relevant hashtags to draw more people in. Hashtags should be a mix of your company’s location, your industry, and the places where your ideal audience is hanging out.
On Instagram, use the maximum 30 hashtags. On Twitter, just use one or two. (On Facebook, don’t use any.)
If your company uses a marketing agency, they should be engaging daily on social media to cultivate a bigger audience. As an employee, you can do the same by engaging with other accounts in ways that feel natural to you. No one is looking for salesy language or someone who’s trying too hard. But if you’re enthusiastic about your work, let it show online!
Signal boosting
If your employer has a Facebook group, join in and speak up! This is a great place to learn from your customers or clients and to help them get to know you as someone other than a headshot on the company website. You can also entice these customers/clients by hosting giveaways and exclusives that others don’t receive - they can then be considered your “booster group” in an effort to boost your engagement on the front-facing business page. (Because of Facebook’s algorithm, it can be hard for your company posts to be seen otherwise unless you pay to play big time.)
Optimize social media bios
One last thing: If you have a role at your company, list it on your social media bios. Again, this helps people get to know you and connect you with your work. And it helps your employer have a greater presence in the community.
