In our digital world, we are all in a position to be considered thought leaders. That’s why it’s so important that we all become aware of and share in the responsibility of using our social voices as professionally and respectfully as possible.
This is particularly important when it comes to LinkedIn, the most prominent social media platform for professional networking. LinkedIn is where we go to post or search jobs, as well as connect with, share content with and follow content being shared by a range of people and other companies, including current and potential clients, past and present work colleagues and contacts, business partners, industry bodies, prospective employees, professional groups and past and future employers.
By connecting our current employer to our individual LinkedIn accounts, we are essentially taking on the responsibility of representing the company we work for. This means that our actions on LinkedIn should be in line with the company’s values. That’s why many companies share LinkedIn guidelines for employees or employee advocacy best practices.
Keeping these values, guidelines and best practices front of mind when interacting on LinkedIn will mean you are engaging with the platform in a way that has positive impacts on both your individual networking and career development, as well as the social profile of your company.
It is common knowledge that flying under the social radar is not part of a good business strategy. A strong presence on LinkedIn is vitally important, with the well proven key benefits being:
But companies must be aware that they cannot go it alone in achieving these benefits through their corporate LinkedIn account only. In fact, they will see more benefits sooner if they acknowledge and act on the fact that their employees’ advocacy on LinkedIn is central to their success.
In a competitive and currently highly dispersed business environment, employee advocacy on LinkedIn is important for every company. This is because LinkedIn has found that content shared by employees has 2x higher engagement versus when shared by a company. It also found that salespeople who regularly share content are 45% more likely to exceed quota, and enterprises that are social are 58% more likely to attract top talent and 20% more likely to retain them.
Whether your organization employs 10 individuals or a team of thousands, it’s important to understand the collective value that these people bring to your brand’s identity, reach and success.
While many employers are aware of the power of their employees’ voices on LinkedIn, often it can be a challenge for companies to work out how to get employees regularly engaged on LinkedIn.
There are a number of possible approaches – from the simple and low cost, through to the more advanced and higher cost. Here are a few examples:
LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool for your business if you know how to leverage it. If you would like to learn more about how to turn your employees into motivated LinkedIn advocates, contact Mulberry.
Corinne Nolte is Communications Director – Technology at Mulberry Marketing Communications, an award-winning full-service B2B communications agency based in Chicago, London and Australia. She is committed to delivering strong communications strategy, content, thought leadership positioning, media relations and digital marketing for B2B clients.