As an employer, you want motivated employees who enjoy coming to work. Obviously. But what if we tell you that there's more than just a team that loves to come to work? That you can also turn your employees into proud ambassadors who proclaim from the rooftops what a great job they have? And that they give your reputation as an employer a positive boost? In this blog we tell you how to turn your employees into real brand ambassadors!
One business, one vision, one team
Make sure your employees know what your company stands for. Do they know your mission, vision and values? Do they support the 'why' of your brand? Communicate about this clearly and frequently. Maybe you can also hang something up in your workplace or give each employee an employee a brand guide to refer to.
Not unimportant: make sure that as an employer you act according to the values of your company, because otherwise you create the opposite effect. Do you communicate that connectedness is central? Then organize team builds and outings on a consistent basis. Do you portray yourself as an empathetic employer? Then actually apply this in the workplace. This way, you not only give your employee-slash-ambassadors your values on paper, but they can also back them up with concrete actions.
Show and tell
Provide your employees with tools to literally walk into the spotlight with your brand. With merchandise you are not only taking a step in the right direction towards employee ambassadorship, you are also giving your employees a nice gift. Such as:
- a work uniform with a twist, for example with a fitting quote or a fun visual on it
- non-boring office items that make your employees' desk or home office shine
- goodies for on and off the job such as an original lunch box, water bottle, headphones or tote bag.
- gifts (for no reason or for a special occasion) such as a candle personalized for them, an apron with a fun pattern, a phone case, etc.
Not only do you want to have brand merch made, but are you looking for someone to think with you about your employer branding and HR merch strategy? At Kick And Rush we love thinking and doing.
Make it social
Positive chats at the bar are one thing, but ideally your employees also talk about your brand on social media. LinkedIn is the ideal place for that, although you may also have employees who reach the right audience on Instagram, Facebook or even TikTok and Clubhouse.
But how do you encourage your employees to mention your brand on social? Of course, you hope they'll do it spontaneously, but that's not always the case. Some tips:
Do not all employees mention that they work for you on LinkedIn? Then kindly ask them to adjust this. You can also organize a small LinkedIn training if your team is not so familiar with it yet.
Big project or impressive launch planned? Set up a campaign with a tool like Social Seeder. This makes it easier for your employees to post about the news and stimulates them via gamification and incentives to do so effectively.
Put your employees in the spotlight on the social channels of your company. Chances are they will in turn share these posts on their personal profiles. If you post pictures of your team members, don't forget to ask for permission!
Referral recruitment campaigns
Are you looking for the right candidate to fill a vacancy or do you want to expand your team with new positions? Here too you can also use your employees as ambassadors. We call this referral recruitment: when you look for new staff through the network of your employees.
Of course you can just ask them to share the vacancy. It's extra cool if they do this spontaneously. But in large teams with many employees it is better to make a plan for this and you can even provide a reward for those who bring in a new employee. Want to bet that it will be a fun search?
Looking for cool goodies as incentives for your employee brand ambassadors? At Kick And Rush we like to turn your employees into real ambassadors. Let's do this together.
