How to build a LinkedIn strategy for employee advocacy in 3 easy steps

You can't grow your business without brand awareness. Your company won't grow if you don't have any leads.

There are many ways to build your reputation and get your name out there.

One of these solutions is to publish consistent, strategy-driven content on your website. This is what we do for our clients and ourselves.

What if we said that you could create a company-wide strategy and not spend a penny on marketing?

We will show you how easy it is to create a LinkedIn employee advocacy strategy that keeps everyone involved.

Quick Takeaways

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  Engaging your employees and sharing company content (aKA employee advocacy) on LinkedIn can help you save valuable time and money.
  
• 
  LinkedIn can be an effective tool for recruiting talent and organic leads for your company.
  
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  Your employees and you don't need to be social media wizards in order to make this happen.
  

LinkedIn is the best social media platform for sharing

Trust is something we all desire in our relationships. Business relationships are no different. We hope you are already sharing useful, informative content on your website. Even if you don't have any creative ideas, why not share them with your LinkedIn community?

While anyone can post short pieces of advice and tips, not everyone can be trusted as much.

This report was recently discovered on the use of LinkedIn by marketers.

LinkedIn is the best place to go for content marketing. Here are some more examples:

70% of the buyer journey is completed before a buyer even touches sales.

Translation: There is no time to waste. To expand your reach, position yourself as a thought leader.

97% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to market their content.

Translated: They are exactly where they should be (in the most professional marketing manner).

All the decision-makers, industry leaders, and people like you are in one place. So? They are just waiting for the right solution. Offer a helping hand!

The likelihood of employees sharing content from their employers is 14x higher than any other type on LinkedIn.

Translated: They will come if you build it.

Let's take a look at the steps that you can follow to activate a LinkedIn share strategy for your company.

1. Tell your employees the facts

Your first step in your LinkedIn employee advocacy plan should be to share the facts and information with your team. We are all here to consume content and wish we could be the talk of the town.

We often overlook the fact that far fewer people are creating content in this space that is being pushed to the top of Google's algorithm.

You'll be able to offer a variety of speakers and real-life examples to answer the questions of potential clients.

These are just a few of the many benefits you might be interested in.

• Employees are recognized as thought leaders in their industry and authority figures
• Relevant audiences reach company content
• Increased brand awareness
• Followers of LinkedIn pages for companies grow
• Lead acquisition costs decrease
• LinkedIn is a great way to promote your evergreen content.

These efforts will not only benefit the organization as a whole but also your team's professional and personal networks.

These will be visible to more people and make you more accessible to those who might not have come across your company profile or your personal information.

YOU will be talking the talk, even as all those decision-makers are praying to a god who won't listen. You already know that you can walk the talk!

2. Expect some resistance from your employees

If you are fortunate enough to have a highly motivated, high-achieving team you should expect hesitation from many of them. Even more so if they aren't already on the platform.

Each of them has a lot of projects and unexpected fires to put out during the day.

You might think that social media is counterproductive. They might see it as a job for someone else. This isn't a job for Social Media Team. Marketing?

As they say, “not mine monkey, not my circus.” However, LinkedIn has plenty of room for creative thinkers.

It requires far less talent and effort than trying to do a headstand on the elephant's back while holding a glass bottle at your feet. It's also safer!

Here's what they are thinking realistically:

• “I don’t have the time to create LinkedIn content.”
• “I don't know what LinkedIn's algorithm looks like or how to optimize a blog post.”
• “I am not social media savvy.”
• “I don’t know how I can find content relevant to my job”
• “Nobody uses LinkedIn except to search for jobs”
• “I have a million things to do today.”
• This sounds great in theory but it is not sustainable.
• “I'm just too busy, stressed, and strapped.”

It's because I am in the same boat as them! Meet them where they are!

This article is secretly being used to ignite a flame under me to be more intentional on LinkedIn. Not because someone is forcing me to, but because I believe strongly in the power and importance of consistently publishing on LinkedIn and other platforms.

While you don't need to be their guide, we can help you navigate the way.

3. Clear avenues to allow employees to implement the LinkedIn strategy easily

Option 1: You have a lot of automation tools you can use to automate social media sharing.

SocialPilot did my job and created a list with 13 social media automation tools. A list of competitors is a great way to compare, with both pros and cons.

Hootsuite is used by us and a few of our clients.

The LinkedIn post is not spammy, filled with junk, nor is it long or intimidating. Hootsuite offers customization options that you can adjust based on your preferences.

If you decide to go automated and invest in a platform you will find one that works seamlessly with your workflow and makes LinkedIn activity easy for you and your staff.

Option 2: You can also post manually.

There is a lot of discussion about how to post on LinkedIn. This research can be done individually in no time.

We recommend that you start somewhere. Start posting on LinkedIn and respond to comments. Tag other thought leaders to start a conversation.

You and your employees will eventually begin to see the real value in taking the time to do things for yourself while still contributing to the company's bottom line (in small but significant ways).

Our weekly content marketing service can help you get more visitors to your website by providing quality content that is published regularly. We'll send you a PDF copy of Michael's books for free if you set up a consultation. Get started today and generate more leads and traffic for your business.