I was watching a thread unroll on Linkedin recently where a contact of mine posted a strong opinion for many of his contacts to like and share but others to disagree. This particular contact has just sold his business for millions and is enjoying being outspoken having rid himself of his corporate shackles, wanting his voice to be challenging, questioning and provoke debate about the current situation for businesses in the UK.
As I write this, we are just out of the official mourning period for The Queen. As the media has had a running commentary for the last 10 days, and I would never confess to understanding the intricacies of the monarchy, I am not going to add anything of value about the Elizabethan era that hasn’t already been said.
We have just finished business planning with quite a few of our clients. For us this means sitting down and plotting out different strands of content: who might want to talk about what theme, and when - across the month, quarter, the year - and discussing how the employee advocacy programme aligns with the corporate communications strategy.
I recently read that we are no longer on or offline but now just live our lives digitally. We reach for our phones before our loved ones and scroll Insta to see what everyone is wearing before we get dressed. Which is why social media platforms need to have a content strategy, a plan of action.
Corporate content is often driven by marcoms and corporate comms departments, but how do you find personalised content tailored to senior stakeholders? And how do you make the strategy personal yet still align to your corporate messaging?
At the Antelope Social Club, we support clients by creating personalised content that not only echoes corporate messaging, supporting your business development pipeline, but is personalised to the individual. Here’s a few pointers on themes to think about when it comes to an employee advocacy programme:
Industry events
The easiest way to ease a senior stakeholder into starting to talk on socials is to reflect on an event they attended for work. This could be an industry event, such as the British Council for Offices annual conference or a cross industry summit such as COP26. However, rather than recapping on all the speakers, the programme and where the event was held, all things that anyone who was interested in the event can find online, the aim should be to reflect the expert opinion - what they thought of the event, why they attended, what resonated with them and why.
Projects
What the majority of our clients want to talk about is their great work. Normally how they do this is via the projects they have undertaken and the clients they do it for. However, it’s not always that straightforward. Firstly, clients often operate under non-disclosure agreements (NDA). Secondly, employee advocacy programmes require personal platforms, so shouting about a part in a project will look more like bragging than sharing a success. So, if a project isn’t under NDA, totally use this as a hook to talk about the team’s experience, the how and why the company were involved, but with a personal spin why it was great to be involved, what value you added.
Industry themes
Like a key industry event, there are often key themes that resonate across sectors. These themes can sometimes be across more than one industry – eg. sustainability – or specific to one – for example in construction MMC (modern methods of construction). Many of these themes might also be key criteria that organisations might have to show on a public sector tender document or as be a prerequisite for an investor round of funding for a project.
Often talking about an industry theme is a great way to showing that your stakeholders understand the importance of it in your marketplace, and the challenges and opportunities it might present. But to really resonate and not just look like you are tick boxing all the buzzwords of the moment, own opinion and own voice has to come into play.
Macro and Micro issues
Which brings us onto macro and micro issues. Having an opinion about the state of world affairs can be good, but in context. Summarising a global issue – eg. cost of living crisis – then explaining the impact on a market and then providing a solution (if there is one) or a long term view is adding value. Having a political rant about Brexit is no good to anyone.
Likewise talking about things happening within your own company can be great content fodder. However, it needs to be appropriate, interesting and informative. So, talking about a change of layout in the office isn’t going to be of interest to anyone unless they work there, but shaping it into a piece around different working trends and how commercial fit out specialists can adapt the space to make more flexible and agile is spot on.
Personal Events
And then we get to personal news or events. This is where we see the largest expanse of grey. Many looking to grow their personal brand, replicate what they have been doing for years successfully on Facebook or Instagram – sharing their personal stories. Now, we are all for storytelling – it is the most effective way of attracting people to your posts, and then keeping their interest to find out what happened, and whether there was a happy ending. But, where many go wrong is that the personal doesn’t link with the professional. Great business content needs to make someone feel like they could work with you. It doesn’t mean they need to know how great your daughter did in her ballet exams, your favourite biscuit as a child or your inside leg measurement.
Remember the gold rule of employee advocacy is to remember that content is like a business conversation but via a social platform rather than face-to-face. However, when you have the conversation it might not just be with your work colleague that knows you well and sees you day in, day out, but also with a host of people you might have only met once or are yet to meet. Tailor your conversation accordingly, don’t be over familiar, don’t assume knowledge, and remember the golden thread of etiquette - don’t talk sex, politics or religion.
Ultimately the best content ideas will come from those stakeholders you want to engage on behalf of your company. The reason why they have their roles, the advice they give to other members of the team and clients and their views on the working world – that’s what you want to capture and communicate. Social media is purely the vehicle to giving them that voice.
Pix courtesy of Nick Fewings @jannerboy62 with thanks
Like many others, my eldest son has just finished his A’ levels. In the six months lead up to them we have seen him bounce between doubt and uncertainty, complete distraction, pure boredom and occasional joy. It was like the longest ever car journey of ‘Are we there yet?’, Or like being sat in a traffic jam thinking ‘When is this ever going to end?’
It’s interesting how behaviour can sometimes change overnight, and other times take years and years for people to get with the programme. Take us all washing our hands to ward off coronavirus – for the majority it was only a few weeks of repeated messaging that led us to the sink every time we went outside. But on the other hand, look at how long it has taken us to start thinking about equality in the workplace?
