“Employee advocacy”… “Social selling”… You’ve likely seen or used the buzzwords to describe employee-driven content before, but it’s getting a whole new spin on the Convince & Convert blog.
“Participation marketing,” in this context, is when brands mobilize employees to be storytellers, so they can reach new audiences, reach further with organic content, and humanize their brand. Employee storytelling brings a whole new level of authenticity to a brand, and it’s been delivering promising results and illuminating a bright future.
In fact, research from the Boston Consulting Group and the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that people trust “employees of a company,” “consumer opinions,” and “colleagues and friends” when seeking info about a product or a brand. AKA, peer recommendations drive business value.
But, before you put participation marketing into practice, you gotta make sure there is brand alignment with your employee content strategy. That’s where this article if offering its value—by building a framework that’ll help you align employee-driven content to your brand voice and positioning. Here’s what the model looks like (which is explained in full in the article).
In the framework, you’ll see employees can tell their stories through 3 different lenses:
- Your employees are the hero of the story – These are stories all about your employees and the unique insights they bring to the market
- Your employees are characters in a broader story – This narrative is about the value they receive from solving business challenges using your technology or by partnering with your employees
- Your employees are characters in a broader story – These stories are all about thought leadership, education, and how they view the market
Oof.. that was a lot, but if you wanna find how to build a solid employee-driven content strategy, you know what to do →
