If you haven’t heard about “social media influencers” before, you have probably been living under a rock. Nowadays, we are “influenced” all day on social media by people who are paid, with money or with products, to tell us about the latest beauty product, tech gadget, vacation resort, or Rosé wine. Much like all forms of advertising, we are getting pretty savvy to the influencer tricks. If you’re anything like me, you are starting to glaze over some of these influenced ads. I talked about this in my most recent blog post – people know when influencers are faking it.

 

However, some influencers put a lot of time and effort into their social media posts. Certainly, that’s something I can appreciate. I will usually take a second to check out a great Instagram post or tweet that grabs my attention with a great photo or quote that resonates with me. I typically love the “influencers” who don’t even know they are influencing me. They really love a product, are not paid by the company, and just really want to gush about it! When I know they genuinely love the product, I will probably want to buy it!

 

 

You have no social media engagement? But you already have so many social media influencers at your disposal!

Because I train people and companies on social media for a living, I am hyper-aware of what the state of social media is at any given time. And lucky (or unlucky) for me, it changes all of the time. One of the ways I like to help companies make an impact is reminding them that the best influencers already work for them. I will audit a company’s social media accounts, and typically what I find is a lack of employee engagement. Facebook posts will have 2-5 likes, no shares, and very few comments. Instagram will look similar, and I will ask, “How many people work here?” And it’s always way more than 2-5 people…hmmm. If you are not asking your employees to engage with the company social media accounts, you are missing out on some great engagement. Moreover, your employees are missing out on an important piece of your business growth. Undeniably, not every employee will want to share every company Facebook post or retweet every company tweet, but even likes and comments can help vastly grow a company’s social media presence. After all, your social media says a lot about you to visitors and potential clients. And for some companies, social media is a very important piece to their sales and marketing plan. 

 

 

Consider making social media engagement a game in your company, and don’t forget – you have to keep reminding your employees to engage.

I worked with a client this month who has over 250 employees, and their social media engagement was not reflecting this at all. They admit they’ve tried to get their employees to engage without success. I suggested they might try monthly contests to “gamify” the social media engagement in their workplace. Also, let’s be honest, people are busy and lazy; you have to remind them and ask them several times before they get in the habit of connecting with the company’s social media accounts. You’ll have employees who are not comfortable with social media (let’s do a training!), and you will have other employees who are simply not on social media (lucky dogs!). 

 

 

It starts from the top.

This effort, however, starts from the top. If the CEO, Owner, President, or Executive Director doesn’t lead this effort, then why would anyone else in the company engage on social media? It takes just a few minutes a week to do this, and you should already be following the social media accounts of your employer and see those posts. Simply hit that like button, add a comment once in a while, and when you are really compelled, share the post. Especially posts that include promotions, anniversaries, or news about co-workers – what a great way to “high five” a co-worker by commenting on the company Facebook post. When the employees in charge of a company’s social media efforts are effective at getting employees engaged, they will see vast growth in reach and following. 

 

 

Consider creating a team of social media ambassadors within your company.

Another idea for growth is to create a team of social media ambassadors in your organization whose (extra) job is to engage and share the company’s social media posts. These are typically people in your organization who are already personally active on social media and enjoy sharing the love. Once you build this team of engagers, your other employees will start to notice and join in the fun as well. I have seen clients’ social media followings grow significantly as a result of an ambassador program. It seems today many people are talking and writing about the algorithm and how to “beat” it. Facebook and Instagram both reward engagement and popularity of posts. If you get your team on board with liking and commenting on social media, your posts will reach more people outside your business. In other words, the algorithm will work in your favor.

 

Here’s the deal

Do you realize 77% of consumers are likely to make a purchase after hearing about a product from someone they trust? That trusted someone just might already work for you. Utilize your built-in social media influencers. After all, they are already on your payroll.

 

 

Contact me. I can help!

If you are interested in starting a social media ambassador program at your company, or maybe your team members need training, email me. I’d love to help you to start growing your business to its full potential.